David May (footballer)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| David May | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | David May | |
| Date of birth | June 24, 1970 | |
| Place of birth | Oldham, England | |
| Playing position | Centre-back, right-back | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| Blackburn Rovers | ||
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1988-1994 1994-2003 1999-2000 2003-2004 2005-2006 |
Blackburn Rovers Manchester United → Huddersfield Town (loan) Burnley Bacup Borough |
123 (3) 85 (6) 1 (0) 35 (4) ? (?) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
David May (born June 24, 1970 in Oldham, Lancashire, England) is a retired English footballer. He was primarily a centre half, but was sometimes deployed as right back.
Contents |
[edit] Career
May started his career with Blackburn Rovers as a trainee before graduating to the first team. He made over 100 appearances for the club and was part of the Blackburn team which was promoted to the FA Premier League in 1992 and finished as runners-up to Manchester United in the 1993-94 season.
In July 1994, Manchester United bought May for £1.2 million, as he was apparently unhappy at Blackburn in his final months due to the breakdown in contract negotiations[1]. Manchester manager Alex Ferguson had been searching for a defender to add to the squad, and specifically needed an Englishman who would not be affected by the restrictions on foreign players in European competition which were in place at the time. Injuries to first-choice right-back Paul Parker meant that May was often used as a right-back in his first season, but rarely played in his preferred centre-back position due to the strong partnership of Steve Bruce and Gary Pallister. As May underperformed, by the end of the season, Gary Neville had emerged to become the new first-choice right defender. Manchester United finished the season in second place behind May's old club Blackburn Rovers.
May finally managed to establish himself in the team towards the end of the 1995-96 season, and scored the first goal in the final game of the season against Middlesbrough. The 3-0 victory clinched the title for Manchester United. He was also in the starting lineup for the 1996 FA Cup Final victory over Liverpool.
With the departure of Bruce in the summer of 1996, May became a regular starter in the 1996-97 season making over 40 appearances. His contributions were important as United retained the league trophy. The team also reached the semi-final of the UEFA Champions League after a memorable 4-0 victory over F.C. Porto in the quarter-final, in which May scored the first goal. His form meant that he was even considered for a call-up to the England national football team, but he never actually won an international cap.
However, injuries kept May sidelined for much of the next couple of seasons. The purchases of Henning Berg and Jaap Stam as well as the emergence of Wes Brown limited his chances further and he saw very little action with the first team. However, towards the end of the Treble-winning 1998-99 season, May played some games for the first team as Ferguson rotated his squad to cope with the mounting fixture congestion. He was also named in the starting lineup for the 1999 FA Cup Final as Stam was being rested for the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final against Bayern Munich. May was named on the bench for that match, and became something of a cult hero with the Old Trafford faithful for the way he led the celebrations despite featuring very little throughout the campaign. A popular chant with the crowd was "David May, superstar! Got more medals than Shearer!"
The following season, May was loaned out to Huddersfield Town in order to assist the managerial career of his old team-mate Steve Bruce. In his first game playing for the Terriers, however, he picked up an injury and had to return for treatment to Old Trafford, where he would remain until 2003, but often sidelined by injury and playing mainly in the reserve team. May's last four seasons with United saw him make only 12 appearances in total for the club.
At the end of his contract in 2003, May was released and snapped up by Burnley manager Stan Ternent, an old friend of Ferguson's, in order to bolster his leaky defence. He captained the Burnley side throughout the 2003/04 season and made a significant contribution to the team. His lack of pace cost him a contract for any longer than 12 months - for instance, in an away game at Coventry City he was easily outpaced by Julian Joachim despite having a significant head start.
After his one-year spell at Burnley, May played at an amateur level with Bacup Borough for one year and finally retired to work in the wine distribution industry, importing South African wines.[2] In 2007 he was voted in at number 43 in The Times poll of the "50 Worst footballers (to grace the Premiership)."[3]
[edit] Hairstyle & Facebook
Despite not being noted for it during his playing career, David May has lent his name to a hairstyle, "The David May." It is not clear where this originated, but a group has been set up on the popular social networking website, Facebook, called "Next time I'm getting my haircut, I'm getting a David May."[4] Such is the international popularity of this hairstyle, a large proportion of members in this group are from Norway, where May appears to be something of a cult hero.
[edit] References
- ^ David May, what happened next?. Four Four Two. Retrieved on 2008-03-27.
- ^ Sunday's gossip column - And finally.... BBC Sport (6 January 2008). Retrieved on 2008-01-06.
- ^ 50 worst footballers. The Times (July 4, 2007). Retrieved on 2008-01-06.
- ^ Next time I'm getting my haircut, I'm getting a David May (login required). Facebook (April 8, 2008). Retrieved on 2008-04-08.
