'I had to leave' - May
Last updated 13:46, Thursday, 22 May 2008
KYLE MAY knew he had to get out of Carlisle United when the number of managers he served under started to seriously out-number his first-team appearances.
May recalled: “I never saw eye to eye with Roddy Collins. It was nothing personal against me – there were 11 players he didn’t want. He was trying to get us out and bring his own players in. We used to train on our own at the Sands Centre".
The promising young defender had six gaffers in the space of just three years and found it impossible to pin down a regular place at the club which was in turmoil on and off the pitch during the end of the Michael Knighton regime.
May ended up as another young hopeful whose career was threatening to end up down the plug-hole, and by the time he was freed in 2003, he was so desperate to leave he’d have walked over hot coals to get away from Brunton Park.
Gretna offered him a lifeline in full-time football shortly after they joined the Scottish League, but the move failed to live up to expectations and he surrendered his dream of ever being a pro.
Now the 25-year-old couldn’t be happier as Workington Reds have given him the chance to play with a smile on his face.
He’s won three player-of-the-year awards and is firmly established as one of the best central defenders in the Blue Square North while preparing for a career in the police force.
He doesn’t have a moment’s regret about turning his back on a full-time football career. In fact, life couldn’t be better.
League One Northampton and SPL-bound Hamilton Accies have both tried to tempt him with offers of contracts, but there’s no chance of May’s arm being twisted.
May said: “I’m sticking with my decision and I don’t even think about being a professional now.
“Hamilton offered me a two-year contract at the end of last season. I was tempted and I went for talks, and I suppose I would have been preparing for games against Celtic and Rangers by now.
“Then I had the chance to go to Northampton at the start of the season as they had watched me and contacted the club.
“Two years ago when I didn’t have a house, I would have gone, but I was scared of being in the same position as I was when I left Gretna with no job and no career prospects, fighting for my life in football. It doesn’t become enjoyable when you’re worrying about things off the pitch.
“I’m about to finish my apprenticeship as an electrician and I’ve applied to join the police force. I love playing for Workington and it’s a good standard of football, so I have the best of both worlds.”
May joined Carlisle straight from school in 1999 when the cash-strapped club was on a downward spiral towards the Nationwide Conference.
Warning bells rang when his first manager, the mysterious Keith Mincher, lasted only five days of a training camp in Durham and was never actually seen at Brunton Park.
Then came Neil Cooper, Martin Wilkinson, Ian Atkins and Billy Barr, before colourful Irishman Roddy Collins took charge, spelling May’s departure from the club.
He was one of 11 players, including first-team stars Lee Maddison, Ian Stevens and Mick Galloway, who Collins tried to drive out of the club.
They were banished from the dressing rooms and made to change at the nearby Neil Centre, summoned for punishing 7am runs round the city centre with the United boss racing ahead on a bike and even sent to aerobics classes at the Sands Centre.
May didn’t even kick a ball competitively for nearly eight months, and the players were forced to call in the PFA.
“When he left, Michael Knighton gave me another contract. When Roddy came back for a second spell when John Courtenay took over he wasn’t best pleased I had been kept on.
“I was doing nothing for six to eight months, and wanted to get away but a lot of clubs at that level were cash-strapped. Scarborough offered me £200-a-week but living on that is impossible.
“I remember a mate joking to me that I was the only professional footballer who had weekends off.
“It was disappointing at the time what happened at Carlisle. Ian Atkins rated me. He gave me a professional contract and put me on the bench against Kidderminster, and I thought I would end up playing for Carlisle.
“I don’t feel bitter about what happened but I wish things had been different. I gave it 100 per cent and did everything in my power but it was out of my hands.”
He joined Gretna midway through their first season in Scottish football on loan, before signing permanently for the club which was on the brink of a fairytale rise to the SPL.
Big characters, big cars and big contracts summed up the big-spending Borderers, who were bankrolled to three successive championships, the 2006 Scottish Cup Final and into the UEFA Cup.
May made 28 appearances but soon found himself squeezed out as the club’s dramatic rise gathered speed.
It has come as little surprise to May that the club has now crashed.
“It was like fantasy football,” he said.
“They were spending so much money between the Third and the Second Division, and they had so many players on their books. You could have had two teams which would have finished first and second in the Division Three.
“There was so much money wasted. It was stupid. I couldn’t get a first-team place in the end so I went to Workington on loan. It was the best decision I’ve ever made.”
Hard-working, focused and loyal, May was player-of-the-year in his first season in 2004-05 when Tommy Cassidy’s side won promotion to the Blue Square North, scoring against Farsley Celtic in the play-off final penalty shoot-out.
He clocked up 150 consecutive league appearances and is the bedrock of the defence in a team of local lads managed by Cassidy’s successor Darren Edmondson, who handed him the captain’s armband last season
May asked to be relieved of the captaincy as he felt weighed down by the responsibility – a decision which enabled him to rediscover his best form.
He said: “I was captain for most of the season but I felt it wasn’t for me and that someone else could do it better.
“When things were going wrong I felt it was all my fault and I seemed to pick up more bookings for dissent for sticking up for my team-mates!
“I’ve always been honest during my career and, if I felt I wasn’t doing well, I would say. I know giving up the captaincy was the right decision.”
Not so long ago, winning an egg cup would have been worthy of a lap of honour at Borough Park, but after promotion expectations were raised higher than the cranes at the nearby docks.
One thing is certain, May plans to stick around to be part of any future success.
“It’s the first time I’ve played with a smile on my face,” he said.
“I just enjoy playing football and we’ve a great set of lads and I think a lot of the people at Workington. When you’re happy, it brings out the best in you. It would take a lot for me to move on.”
