| Andy May was a Bury-born midfield player who was a product of
Manchester City's youth policy, playing for the club from 1981 until
1987. He signed for the Blues straight from school and had just turned
eighteen years of age when manager John Bond gave him his First Division
debut as a substitute in a 0-0 away draw at Middlesbrough on March 27th
1982, going on to make a further 5 first-team appearances that season.
The
following 1982/83 season saw May make only 8 sporadic league
appearances as he tried to establish himself in the side, but with Bond
having resigned at the end of January to be replaced by John Benson the
club were relegated on the last day of the season after a 1-0 home
defeat to Luton Town. Benson himself was replaced by ex-Celtic boss
Billy McNeill before the start of the next season and for the next three
years Andy was to become a permanent fixture in the side.
His
first goal for the club came on the opening day of the 1983/84 Division
Two season when he scored the opener in a 2-0 win at Crystal Palace.
After a run of five successive wins in September and October, including a
6-0 thrashing of Blackburn Rovers with May on the scoresheet once
again, City sat second in the table behind Sheffield Wednesday. In spite
of some inconsistent results the push for promotion was still on the
rails by early February, but a disastrous run-in to the end of the
season saw the Blues finish in fourth spot, just outside the promotion
places. Defeats in the third round of both the FA Cup to Blackpool (1-2)
and the League Cup to First Division Aston Villa (0-3) meant a
disappointing season overall but Andy, along with keeper Alex Williams,
had been an ever-present in the side and his 5-goal return was a
respectable effort considering the fact that he had played at full-back
in a number of games due to his versatility.
The 1984/85 campaign
turned out to be the best of Andy's career and one in which he really
flourished under boss McNeill. Although the team got off to a bad start,
which coincided with May missing his only three games of the season, a
four-game winning run saw them climb the table. With Cup defeats at
Coventry and Chelsea the Blues were left to concentrate on promotion by
the turn of the year, and when May scored in a 4-0 win over Shrewsbury
Town at home in March, culminating in another four consecutive wins,
they sat at the top of the table. But a run of only two wins from the
next eight games meant that by the time Charlton Athletic arrived at
Maine Road for the last game of the season City needed all three points
to secure promotion. In front of a crowd of 47, 285 Andy scored his
third league goal of the season in a 5-1 win to make sure they went up
in third place at the expense of Portsmouth.
1985/86 was always
going to be a year where survival in the top-flight was the aim, and a
final fifteenth place finish in the table was a satisfactory
achievement. Despite early exits in the FA Cup to Watford (1-3) and the
League Cup to Arsenal (1-3) Andy did manage to put in a Wembley final
appearance in March, when he played in an entertaining 5-4 defeat to
Chelsea in the first-ever Full Members Cup final.
Hopes were high
for the 1986/87 season but a terrible start saw manager McNeill leave
for Aston Villa in September to be replaced by Jimmy Frizzell. Andy had
played in the first eleven league matches, with the only win a 3-1 home
defeat of Wimbledon on the opening day of the season, but lost his place
after a 2-1 away reverse at Chelsea in October, and from then onwards
he featured in only six more games until the end of a season that saw
the Blues relegated on the last day at West Ham.
When Mel Machin
took over the reins in the close season it was clear that May did not
figure in his plans and he was sold to Huddersfield Town in July 1987
for £25, 000, a fee set by a tribunal as City valued the player at £60,
000. During his career with the Blues he had played a total of 174
league and cup games (including 10 as substitute), scoring 8 goals, and
won one England Under-21 cap. Ironically he returned to Maine Road four
months later as part of the Huddersfield team that lost a famous
encounter 10-1, and is remembered by City fans for scoring their
consolation goal from the penalty spot that day. He later went on to
play for Bolton Wanderers (loan), Bristol City and Millwall before
retiring from professional football in 1995 and moving into coaching and
local media work. (David Redshaw)
1987-1990 Huddersfield Town 114 (5)
1987 Bolton Wanderers (loan) 10 (2)
1990-1992 Bristol City 90 (4)
1992-1995 Millwall 54 (1)
1995 Larne (loan) 10 (1)
|