davieG Posted 25 February 2015 Posted 25 February 2015 Posted: Wed 25 Feb 2015 Author: Leicester City image: http://www.lcfc.com/cms_images/news/larry-may-4-3280-2295616_478x359.jpg Larry MayImage by: Press Association Last season, Club Historian John Hutchinson drove to Brighton to talk to Larry May, a popular central defender who played over 200 games for Leicester City between 1977 and 1983. Larry then went on to play for Barnsley, Sheffield Wednesday and Brighton and Hove Albion. Thinking back to his early days in football, Larry began by recalling how he came to sign for Leicester City in the first place. “When I was playing for a local youth team in Birmingham, Leicester invited me to a trial during school half term. I stayed in digs with some other lads, and loved it so much I signed for them even though West Brom wanted me. “Jimmy Bloomfield gave me my debut as a 17-year-old in an old First Division match against Bristol City. I played alongside Dennis Rofe and Alan Woollett. It was a 0-0 bore, but I loved it. I was doing what I’d wanted to do all my life. I got a good write up. I remember Jimmy Bloomfield singing my praises at the end of the game. “I only played a couple of times the following season under Frank McLintock. I had my cartilage out, and at the end of the season went to get some games in America, where I ruptured my cruciate ligament. That was a big thing in those days. I had it repaired over there and was back in time for the new season but wasn’t fit. A lot of people thought that I wouldn’t play again, but new manager Jock Wallace started playing me. My knee was still killing me but now I was in the first team I didn’t want to come out! I used to ice my knee and do exercises and it gradually settled down and I played the whole season alongside John O’Neill. image: http://www.lcfc.com/cms_images/news/larry-may-480280-2295615.jpg “Jock gave a lot of youngsters their chance, like me, Gary Lineker, Tommy Williams, John O’Neill and Andy Peake. Tommy was a good player and I teamed up well with John O’Neill. We had a great bunch of players. I became a professional a year before Gary (Lineker) and he was allocated to clean my boots! To start with they played him wide but he was never a winger. He was quick, but in the box. He didn’t want to get involved in setting stuff up. “We struggled in that first season under Jock, but the next year we went up as Champions. “In the promotion season, Jock Wallace was brilliant. He wasn’t the best coach, he had others to do that, but he was a great motivator. He made us work hard. He had great passion and determination. He gave us a great will to win. Before games he would just say to me, ‘you just play how you can play and we will be fine’. Jock’s strategy was to play a lot of lads from the youth team and we ended up having a really good run towards the end of the season.”image: http://www.lcfc.com/cms_images/news/larry-may-480-2280-2295619.jpg When Larry scored the only goal of the game at Leyton Orient on the last day of the season, he secured Leicester City’s sixth ‘old’ Second Division title. This was a great end to Larry’s season as he had played in every league game. The only other two players to be ever-presents were skipper Mark Wallington and striker Alan Young. “We took about 10,000 fans to Orient for that last game. We were virtually already up, but we had to win that game to win the league. We won 1-0. A free kick was whipped in at the back post. I got to it and volleyed it in. It was just fabulous for us to win that league. The crowd was amazing! I had always loved playing in front of Leicester fans. I never experienced anything like it at any other club I played at.” The next season, back in the old First Division, was tough for the newly promoted, young Leicester City side. “When we went up we didn’t really realise what a young team we were. We were inexperienced and we could probably have done with a few older heads. It was great to be in the top division but I think we might have got a bit intimidated by the players who were there. When Eddie Kelly left for Notts County we didn’t have an experienced person there and we needed that. We needed a couple of old heads in there in the top division and if we’d had that we might have stayed up. image: http://www.lcfc.com/cms_images/news/larry-may-480-3280-2295624.jpg “That season we were up against players like Kenny Dalglish who was cunning, Joe Jordan who was so good in the air, and Trevor Francis who was so quick. “There were some real highlights that season though. We did the double over Liverpool. That was good. We didn’t always play as well as we could in every game but to beat the Liverpool of that time twice (ending their undefeated home run of 85 games) was brilliant.” At the end of the season, Leicester City were relegated along with Norwich City and Crystal Palace. “There is a big gap between the top two divisions although it was great to play at the top level. It’s where all footballers should want to be. “When we went down again we kept a lot of our players. We had a strong spine to the side. Mark Wallington stayed. I played in front of him for my whole Leicester career. He didn’t miss a game for six seasons until the famous Shrewsbury FA Cup game, when we had three goalkeepers. We beat them 5-2 and I scored. The atmosphere at Filbert Street that day was brilliant. image: http://www.lcfc.com/cms_images/news/larry-may-480-4280-2295626.jpg “We reached the semi-final that season. Earlier in the run we won at Hereford on a horrible pitch and I scored the winner. “The semi-final was against Spurs at Villa Park. It was a massive stadium and it was absolutely ram packed. I thought we could beat Spurs but we didn’t really play. Ian Wilson scored a horrendous own goal. He chipped the ball back from about 35 yards! Tommy Williams broke his leg. I remember hearing a big crack! I also remember Gary Lineker being whacked after about five minutes. They had Hoddle and Ardiles who were very good players. It would have been fabulous to get to the Final. We were still in the promotion race but Norwich (I think it was) beat us at home and we didn’t come back from that.” Manager Jock Wallace left at the end of that season and his replacement Gordon Milne led Leicester City back to the top division at the end of his first season. An ever present for most of that season, Larry lost his place for the last few games, following a suspension. To the consternation of the fans, Larry left Leicester for Barnsley in August 1983. “I was happy at Barnsley but in retrospect, I should have bided my time and stayed at Leicester really. But I was a bit young and naïve. I loved it at Leicester. Leicester were the best club I ever played at. It was my best time in football and I loved it there.” Larry is pictured below in 2014, and his appearance has certainly changed a lot! image: http://www.lcfc.com/cms_images/news/larry-may-480-5280-2295628.jpg Read more at http://www.lcfc.com/news/article/former-player-remembers-larry-may-2295643.aspx#6UuoSPIhKQTeeC1K.99
stingray Posted 25 February 2015 Posted 25 February 2015 A great player for us, remember him well. I'd also like to apologise to Larry for the vile racist chanting that marred every match during that era from City supporters. Larry, one of our own, was black, yet the abuse from pen 3 and 4 was well out of order.
Crazy Kop Corner Posted 25 February 2015 Posted 25 February 2015 Another superb player from 30 odd years ago. Will always be remembered for Orient Away in May 1980 and the header that clinched the old 2nd Division title for us. Larry May is a legend.
ElusiveEd Posted 25 February 2015 Posted 25 February 2015 Great read. He looks well. Another legend it's good to hear about.
Vacamion Posted 25 February 2015 Posted 25 February 2015 Another hero. I recently found a drawing I did at school aged 10 of Larry May. Not a great likeness. If it wasn't for the moustache you might not have known it was him, apart my childish scrawl "Larry May is Magic!" underneath.
Webbo Posted 25 February 2015 Posted 25 February 2015 Another superb player from 30 odd years ago.Will always be remembered for Orient Away in May 1980 and the header that clinched the old 2nd Division title for us.Larry May is a legend. My first away game. I'll always remember that day.
Guest bss9401 Posted 26 February 2015 Posted 26 February 2015 Larry didn't play enough in the top flight. Ironically he was often referred to as the best defender outside of the (old) first division after he left us.
TrentFox Posted 26 February 2015 Posted 26 February 2015 Remember him with such fondness. What a super player. Simple. Gritty. Effective. And as for that day at Orient, has there been a better away day ?? Amazing.
ElusiveEd Posted 26 February 2015 Posted 26 February 2015 Another hero. I recently found a drawing I did at school aged 10 of Larry May. Not a great likeness. If it wasn't for the moustache you might not have known it was him, apart my childish scrawl "Larry May is Magic!" underneath. C'mon, you gotta show us.
Guest Posted 26 February 2015 Posted 26 February 2015 Ooooh Larry, Larry. Larry, Larry, Larry, Larry, Larry May. My favourite player at the time.
hackneyfox Posted 28 February 2015 Posted 28 February 2015 Great player, I was gutted when he left. Orient away and the Shrewsbury game are two of the all time classic games for me and he played in both of them.
49er Posted 28 February 2015 Posted 28 February 2015 One of my favourite players at the time. Always remember the goal he scored against Shrewsbury, early on, in the Cup. I was in the East Stand amongst the Shrewsbury fans (they hadn't sold out their allocation, so the tickets were available for City fans). Biggest attribute was his pace and threat from corners.
gazzer Posted 28 February 2015 Posted 28 February 2015 a great player from the era when football was actually good. had a season ticket in double decker, wonderful memories
1972 Fox Posted 2 March 2015 Posted 2 March 2015 Towards the end of the 1980 div 2 title winning season I remember we played Wrexham away and I saw Larry May make one of the greatest goal line clearances I've ever seen. He prevented a certain goal when he had no right to by diving back towards goal in a very dry and dusty goalmouth. Somehow he managed to hook the ball off the line and a huge cloud of sand appeared in and around the Leicester goal in front of the away end. As the cloud dispersed Larry reappeared needing treatment to clear the sand from his eyes. He carried on manfully and helped us to see out a 1-0 win which was vital to our promotion hopes. Great era following City.
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.