Former Player Remembers: Larry May

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.
“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.”
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.
“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.
“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!