There’s no guarantees in football, it is a simple but also complicated game with so many variables involved. Players can have hot streaks for a couple of seasons, and never reach those heights again for many reasons.
I’ve got no expectations of May to get 20+ goals and fire us to promotion. But I know we’ve got a player who is going to give it 100%, has an amazing story and slight connection to the club already, so if he does, think we’ve got another legend in the making.
He's got the makings of a proper cult hero/fan favourite, not just because he's (hopefully) going to be scoring the goals but being that talisman on the pitch that even in bad games the fans can get behind and inspire/be inspired by - a new Kermorgant or Jackson.
(And now I wait for this comment to age DREADFULLY.)
His got off to good start I never see the game but by all accounts he went straight in attacked the game from the off Had a few attempts at goal before he got his first for us & definitely not his last At last we have someone who has that real drive & determination we so badly needed
I watched minimal of the Orient game and saw two scruffy scuffy shots , one resulting in a goal . He’s on his way to being Charltonised , just needs to stop scoring , get injured and we’ll be there .
I had the pleasure of meeting young Alfie today along with his family - thoroughly nice young man.
He's said he wants to break the habit of non-scoring strikers at the club and seemed confident he would do that.
Fingers crossed he can walk the walk
I would prefer that Alfie May can run the run. CAFC have had too many walking footballers over the last few seasons.
It started because I told him I was hoping we would sponsor his shirt - then i pointed out our last few (Inniss, Sean Clare, JFC, Lyle Taylor) haven't gone particularly well and he needs to break that trend - he replied he intends to and to break the trend of too many previous Charlton strikers aswell. He was friendly, approachable and a proper family man now with two young boys and another on the way.
He's got a bit of the Garry Nelson abouty him too - cheeky chappie but will run through a brick wall if asked. The sort we fans can really get behind. He'll be living near his friends and family so will be feeling very settled now (and no it's not a flat overlooking the Medway)
I had the pleasure of meeting young Alfie today along with his family - thoroughly nice young man.
He's said he wants to break the habit of non-scoring strikers at the club and seemed confident he would do that.
Fingers crossed he can walk the walk
I would prefer that Alfie May can run the run. CAFC have had too many walking footballers over the last few seasons.
It started because I told him I was hoping we would sponsor his shirt - then i pointed out our last few (Inniss, Sean Clare, JFC, Lyle Taylor) haven't gone particularly well and he needs to break that trend - he replied he intends to and to break the trend of too many previous Charlton strikers aswell. He was friendly, approachable and a proper family man now with two young boys and another on the way.
He's got a bit of the Garry Nelson abouty him too - cheeky chappie but will run through a brick wall if asked. The sort we fans can really get behind. He'll be living near his friends and family so will be feeling very settled now (and no it's not a flat overlooking the Medway)
I really hope he's a good fit for us
I mean this as a compliment to the lad. Imagine being a striker arriving here and knowing if you show the right attitude, give 100% and score some goals you are going to be worshiped by fans that have been starved of those traits for so long.
A longstanding friend and a bit of a legend at E&B, sadly passed away in November 2013. The reception was held at the E&B clubhouse. Apparently Alfie was one of the E&B players who carried Martin's coffin into the Eltham Crem. A nice touch.
He needs to practice a bit of guise on the training ground and all be good.
As a striker at the age of 30 you'd really think he'd either know how to take a good pen or he never will! Hopefully just a preseason thing but have a good feeling about him becoming a firm favourite here.
He needs to practice a bit of guise on the training ground and all be good.
As a striker at the age of 30 you'd really think he'd either know how to take a good pen or he never will! Hopefully just a preseason thing but have a good feeling about him becoming a firm favourite here.
LT's penalties only improved after his run up changed, he was 29 I think.
The tactics behind a transfer – with Charlton’s new No 9 Alfie May and manager Dean Holden
Cheltenham to Charlton is, alphabetically and longitudinally, pretty much a sideways move.
But swapping one club for the other represents a significant step in Alfie May’s career.
The 30-year-old has the most goals by any one player in the past two EFL seasons combined (43, with just one of them a penalty). Both those years were spent in League One, English football’s third tier, having previously scored eight times to help Cheltenham Town to the 2020-21 League Two title.
He was, unsurprisingly, one of the EFL’s most-wanted players this summer.
Charlton Athletic and Cheltenham will be rivals in League One again when the new season kicks off today (Saturday) but there is a difference in the size and stature of the two clubs.
The Valley, Charlton’s home ground, seats over 20,000 more people than Cheltenham’s Completely-Suzuki Stadium.
Londoners Charlton were most recently in the Championship in 2019-20 and spent eight consecutive seasons in the Premier League between 1998 and 2007. West-country side Cheltenham’s last two decades have been almost entirely played in England’s third and fourth tiers, with a one-season (2015-16) dip down into non-League.
Charlton chief executive Peter Storrie has spoken of having top-six ambition this season — meaning either one of the two automatic promotion spots or a play-offs place.
The Athletic sat down with May and Charlton’s head coach Dean Holden to talk tactics, how May will adapt to Charlton’s style, and how they might achieve Storrie’s target.
“It was just a perfect fit for me and coming home, being a local lad, it’s not really sunk in yet,” May says of his summer move.
Born an hour’s drive from London in Kent, May played at academy level for Charlton’s neighbours Millwall and his route to the professional game came via non-League sides in Essex, south-east London and Kent, before joining Yorkshire side Doncaster Rovers in 2017.
His four seasons at Doncaster produced a modest 17 goals in 108 appearances (47 starts; 290 minutes per goal) in all competitions. The goals started to surge after he moved on to Cheltenham in January 2020: six, 12, 26 then 20 goals in all competitions in his three and a half seasons there, playing more than 3,400 minutes in each full campaign. He left in July as the club’s record EFL scorer (66).
A self-described No 9 who likes “to play on the shoulder” of centre-backs, May attributes his goal-scoring explosion to a mindset shift.
“I started believing in myself because when I got my first contract — I obviously played non-League — it was like I was given that chance. At Doncaster, I probably didn’t believe in myself as much as I did when I went to Cheltenham. Especially last year, I used to go into the game saying, ‘I’m scoring today’. I just changed my mentality, I wanted to be the best player on that pitch.”
His 20 goals were the third-most non-penalty goals by any player in League One last season and accounted for 44 per cent of Cheltenham’s total. That was the highest proportion of any player for their team in the division and joint-top across all 72 EFL sides (with Andy Cook of Bradford City in League Two).
Major tactical teething problems are not anticipated, but Holden accepts that May and Charlton might need a bit of time to stylistically adjust to each other.
“There was a lot of talk before we signed him about counter-attack, that’s a big part of the way he plays,” says Holden. “This team — I came in at Christmas — this time last year were building a possession-based game.”
Cheltenham religiously fielded a 3-5-2 last season with May as part of a strike partnership, a different system to Charlton’s 4-3-3, but they have different playing styles too. Cheltenham had 10 per cent less possession than Charlton across the 46 games, pressed less intensely, attacked more directly and counter-attacked more. Their No 9s have different roles and responsibilities, but it is May’s speed that Holden is focused on maximising.
“I think we’re going to have to be that team (high-possession) at times, particularly at The Valley when teams come and sit in,” says the head coach. “But Alfie will probably tell you, one of the biggest things we tell him all the time is get your eyes up the pitch. When we win it, I’m not interested in a sideways or a backward pass, unless it needs to be. Can we get our eyes up and play forward?
“And that might be down the sides, it might be over the top. I think you can see, particularly with Alfie’s movement, I describe him as like a relay runner, where his movement is fantastic to come short and spin, and then he’s on his bike and he’s almost waiting for the baton. He’s waiting for one of our midfielders to get their eyes up and have the quality to play him in.”
Take, for instance, May’s late winner against Charlton at The Valley last December.
He starts in an offside position, to be unmarked, before dropping back onside and running in-behind onto Elliot Bonds’ wedge pass.
Goalkeeper Craig MacGillivray reaches the ball first but, under pressure from May, heads it straight upwards…
…and as it comes down the Cheltenham No 9 hooks it into the empty net.
May has a collection of these lobbed finishes following errors by goalkeepers or defenders after long passes in behind.
“Because the ’keeper’s come out, naturally I know that the ’keeper’s at the edge of the box, (so) the defenders are going to have to run back to the goal,” he says. “If I stand still — as I was going with them — I just sort of stop, then that’s when you get the luck, when it drops down.”
Here is another lobbed finish — one of four goals May scored in a 5-5 draw away to Wycombe Wanderers in February last year — which came after a mix-up between two home defenders. His late equaliser in a 1-1 at home to promotion-bound Ipswich Town in April was another.
“But what you’ll see a lot of the time, which he does really well, is when somebody shoots, he goes past the defender, and the ‘keeper saves it,” says Holden. “The defenders have a habit of turning and just being a mannequin and standing still, whereas he’s on the move. He’s a pure optimist from what I see.”
Holden likens May’s style to that of Teemu Pukki, the Finland and former Norwich City striker, now in MLS, who built a reputation for scoring goals from through balls. “He’ll make so many runs a game that no one will even notice,” Holden says. “It’s the two or three that he lands on and scores the goal where everybody will say, ‘Look at that’.”
One example of this came away to Colchester United in February 2020 — his sixth goal for Cheltenham. They launch a goal kick and May looks to in behind as strike partner Luke Varney gets the ball after some midfield pinball. But Varney passes backwards to midfielder Chris Clements…
… so May has to curve his run back to stay onside, then races onto Clements’ through ball.
Now one-v-one, his finish is central but struck hard and goes through goalkeeper Dean Gerken.
Here’s another away to Bristol Rovers in August 2021, making his run on the outside of the right centre-back…
…then finishing with his left foot.
Almost a quarter (14 of the 58) of his Cheltenham goals were scored with his non-dominant left foot.
His second-ever goal for the club, at home to Walsall in January 2020, capped an attack originating from May timing (and arcing) his press to block a downfield pass from visiting centre-back Dan Scarr…
…then darting between the centre-backs onto George Lloyd’s through ball.
Again, May’s finish here is central and could have been saved, but he shoots early and the frequency of chances he finds in transition — where he gets a clear sight of goal without defenders in the way — means he frequently catches goalkeepers out.
Cheltenham’s transitional style meant May did plenty of individualised attacking.
His 48 shot-ending carries (of five-plus metres) were the second-most in League One last season, behind Bristol Rovers’ Aaron Collins (51), and he was top for goal-ending carries (nine).
On counter-attacks these dribbles will differ, because defensive structures look different, but against set defences May repeatedly cuts inside to try to find the far corner of the goal or fire in a low, near-post finish.
“He’s not going to potentially beat a man; he’s not a flying winger who’s got loads of tricks and speed,” says Holden. “The goals that you’ve seen coming in from the wing, he’s arrived in the wing position from the centre. So he’s not stood out there where he’s been marked by a full-back — he’s recognised that space where centre-backs don’t like playing. So he’s creating the space.
“It’s a bit like a snooker player, he’s thinking two shots ahead.”
Holden particularly likes May’s goal away to Plymouth Argyle, the eventual 2022-23 League One champions, in January:
“He’s recognised Plymouth are a possession-based team, and they’ve advanced, and the centre-back’s (James Wilson) got himself into a position where once the ball turns over, he’s in trouble.
“And all he’s done there is he’s almost gone, ‘Go on, you get out of your space, have the ball; as soon as you lose it, I’m just going to drift into where you’ve vacated’. And when you get him in this position, he’s deadly.”
Isolating the remaining centre-back, May dribbles straight at him, but then goes on the outside rather than cutting in. The 30-year-old says it was the “first time” he scored this way in his professional career: “I’m not a player that’s going to beat a man, (but) if I can shift and shoot, this is obviously one of the big things for me.”
May grabbed headlines in March with a 50-yard volley away to Peterborough United — a spectacular way to score his 50th league goal for Cheltenham.
Goal of the season?! 🤯🤯🤯
Alfie May scored this INCREDIBLE volley from the halfway line for Cheltenham Town!! pic.twitter.com/1daWjx0bwI
“If there’s an opportunity to score, if it’s 50 yards or five yards, I’d just have a scan just to see the starting position of the ’keeper. A lot of ‘keepers now play that high line, because of the (popularity of using a) sweeper-keeper,” says May.
Ironically, he prefers his second goal of that game, another volley, where he was loitering on the edge of the penalty area at a long throw.
When the throw is headed clear, May opens his body out, leaning away from the ball…
…and drives a shot into the top-right corner.
“I love learning, and I’m obviously 30 years old,” says May. “But I’ve come into the game late, so I still feel like I’ve got a few years ahead.”
His new boss Holden’s admission that “he’s a better player than I thought he was” is about as good as compliments get.
Glenn Murray, albeit a different type of striker in terms of physical profile, is the perfect late-peaking role model for May. Murray’s 2018 statement that “it does not matter what league you are in, the goalposts don’t move” is one May has carried with him in his career so far.
In terms of numbers, he has set his sights on 20-plus goals again — but there are dreams to be fulfilled too.
Are there both on and off the field parallels between Alfie May and Jamie Vardy?
Both are all action strikers who shoot on sight, defend from the front and take every opportunity to run in behind. Both were rejected early in their careers as they were deemed too small for pro football - Vardy at Wednesday and May at Millwall. Both had to find full time jobs while playing non league - Vardy worked in a factory and May was a chippy. Both made their League debuts when they were relatively old - Vardy was 25 when Leicester signed him and May was 23 when he joined Doncaster.
It's not just success that drives some footballers. It can be knowing what failure looks and feels like. It's that hunger not to be in that same position again that ultimately makes some find a higher ceiling than more fortunate and even more gifted players do.
The recent law of Charlton suggests he'll either get injured now
Or he'll go off 10-minutes into the first game Leaburn returns, and after what looks a flourishing partnership between them
I'm so prepared for disappointment as a Charlton fan now that what I took from this was genuine brief joy at the idea of it looking like we might have a good set of strikers for 10 minutes. I need a different life.
Comments
I’ve got no expectations of May to get 20+ goals and fire us to promotion. But I know we’ve got a player who is going to give it 100%, has an amazing story and slight connection to the club already, so if he does, think we’ve got another legend in the making.
(And now I wait for this comment to age DREADFULLY.)
Had a few attempts at goal before he got his first for us & definitely not his last
At last we have someone who has that real drive & determination we so badly needed
He’s on his way to being Charltonised , just needs to stop scoring , get injured and we’ll be there .
He's said he wants to break the habit of non-scoring strikers at the club and seemed confident he would do that.
Fingers crossed he can walk the walk
I would prefer that Alfie May can run the run.
CAFC have had too many walking footballers over the last few seasons.
He's also a good family man and he said that helps with his football hence the reason he's been so good over the past couple of seasons.
He's full of confidence and believes he will score every match.
Really wish him well for the season. I think he's going to do great things.
He's got a bit of the Garry Nelson abouty him too - cheeky chappie but will run through a brick wall if asked. The sort we fans can really get behind. He'll be living near his friends and family so will be feeling very settled now (and no it's not a flat overlooking the Medway)
I really hope he's a good fit for us
Seemed to telegraph his placement to the keeper, and both times the keeper read May's body language.
The tactics behind a transfer – with Charlton’s new No 9 Alfie May and manager Dean Holden
Cheltenham to Charlton is, alphabetically and longitudinally, pretty much a sideways move.
But swapping one club for the other represents a significant step in Alfie May’s career.
The 30-year-old has the most goals by any one player in the past two EFL seasons combined (43, with just one of them a penalty). Both those years were spent in League One, English football’s third tier, having previously scored eight times to help Cheltenham Town to the 2020-21 League Two title.
He was, unsurprisingly, one of the EFL’s most-wanted players this summer.
Charlton Athletic and Cheltenham will be rivals in League One again when the new season kicks off today (Saturday) but there is a difference in the size and stature of the two clubs.
The Valley, Charlton’s home ground, seats over 20,000 more people than Cheltenham’s Completely-Suzuki Stadium.
Londoners Charlton were most recently in the Championship in 2019-20 and spent eight consecutive seasons in the Premier League between 1998 and 2007. West-country side Cheltenham’s last two decades have been almost entirely played in England’s third and fourth tiers, with a one-season (2015-16) dip down into non-League.
Charlton chief executive Peter Storrie has spoken of having top-six ambition this season — meaning either one of the two automatic promotion spots or a play-offs place.
The Athletic sat down with May and Charlton’s head coach Dean Holden to talk tactics, how May will adapt to Charlton’s style, and how they might achieve Storrie’s target.
“It was just a perfect fit for me and coming home, being a local lad, it’s not really sunk in yet,” May says of his summer move.
Born an hour’s drive from London in Kent, May played at academy level for Charlton’s neighbours Millwall and his route to the professional game came via non-League sides in Essex, south-east London and Kent, before joining Yorkshire side Doncaster Rovers in 2017.
His four seasons at Doncaster produced a modest 17 goals in 108 appearances (47 starts; 290 minutes per goal) in all competitions. The goals started to surge after he moved on to Cheltenham in January 2020: six, 12, 26 then 20 goals in all competitions in his three and a half seasons there, playing more than 3,400 minutes in each full campaign. He left in July as the club’s record EFL scorer (66).
A self-described No 9 who likes “to play on the shoulder” of centre-backs, May attributes his goal-scoring explosion to a mindset shift.
“I started believing in myself because when I got my first contract — I obviously played non-League — it was like I was given that chance. At Doncaster, I probably didn’t believe in myself as much as I did when I went to Cheltenham. Especially last year, I used to go into the game saying, ‘I’m scoring today’. I just changed my mentality, I wanted to be the best player on that pitch.”
His 20 goals were the third-most non-penalty goals by any player in League One last season and accounted for 44 per cent of Cheltenham’s total. That was the highest proportion of any player for their team in the division and joint-top across all 72 EFL sides (with Andy Cook of Bradford City in League Two).
Major tactical teething problems are not anticipated, but Holden accepts that May and Charlton might need a bit of time to stylistically adjust to each other.
“There was a lot of talk before we signed him about counter-attack, that’s a big part of the way he plays,” says Holden. “This team — I came in at Christmas — this time last year were building a possession-based game.”
Cheltenham religiously fielded a 3-5-2 last season with May as part of a strike partnership, a different system to Charlton’s 4-3-3, but they have different playing styles too. Cheltenham had 10 per cent less possession than Charlton across the 46 games, pressed less intensely, attacked more directly and counter-attacked more. Their No 9s have different roles and responsibilities, but it is May’s speed that Holden is focused on maximising.
“I think we’re going to have to be that team (high-possession) at times, particularly at The Valley when teams come and sit in,” says the head coach. “But Alfie will probably tell you, one of the biggest things we tell him all the time is get your eyes up the pitch. When we win it, I’m not interested in a sideways or a backward pass, unless it needs to be. Can we get our eyes up and play forward?
“And that might be down the sides, it might be over the top. I think you can see, particularly with Alfie’s movement, I describe him as like a relay runner, where his movement is fantastic to come short and spin, and then he’s on his bike and he’s almost waiting for the baton. He’s waiting for one of our midfielders to get their eyes up and have the quality to play him in.”
Take, for instance, May’s late winner against Charlton at The Valley last December.
He starts in an offside position, to be unmarked, before dropping back onside and running in-behind onto Elliot Bonds’ wedge pass.
Goalkeeper Craig MacGillivray reaches the ball first but, under pressure from May, heads it straight upwards…
…and as it comes down the Cheltenham No 9 hooks it into the empty net.
May has a collection of these lobbed finishes following errors by goalkeepers or defenders after long passes in behind.
“Because the ’keeper’s come out, naturally I know that the ’keeper’s at the edge of the box, (so) the defenders are going to have to run back to the goal,” he says. “If I stand still — as I was going with them — I just sort of stop, then that’s when you get the luck, when it drops down.”
Here is another lobbed finish — one of four goals May scored in a 5-5 draw away to Wycombe Wanderers in February last year — which came after a mix-up between two home defenders. His late equaliser in a 1-1 at home to promotion-bound Ipswich Town in April was another.
“But what you’ll see a lot of the time, which he does really well, is when somebody shoots, he goes past the defender, and the ‘keeper saves it,” says Holden. “The defenders have a habit of turning and just being a mannequin and standing still, whereas he’s on the move. He’s a pure optimist from what I see.”
Holden likens May’s style to that of Teemu Pukki, the Finland and former Norwich City striker, now in MLS, who built a reputation for scoring goals from through balls. “He’ll make so many runs a game that no one will even notice,” Holden says. “It’s the two or three that he lands on and scores the goal where everybody will say, ‘Look at that’.”
One example of this came away to Colchester United in February 2020 — his sixth goal for Cheltenham. They launch a goal kick and May looks to in behind as strike partner Luke Varney gets the ball after some midfield pinball. But Varney passes backwards to midfielder Chris Clements…
… so May has to curve his run back to stay onside, then races onto Clements’ through ball.
Now one-v-one, his finish is central but struck hard and goes through goalkeeper Dean Gerken.
Here’s another away to Bristol Rovers in August 2021, making his run on the outside of the right centre-back…
…then finishing with his left foot.
Almost a quarter (14 of the 58) of his Cheltenham goals were scored with his non-dominant left foot.
His second-ever goal for the club, at home to Walsall in January 2020, capped an attack originating from May timing (and arcing) his press to block a downfield pass from visiting centre-back Dan Scarr…
…then darting between the centre-backs onto George Lloyd’s through ball.
Again, May’s finish here is central and could have been saved, but he shoots early and the frequency of chances he finds in transition — where he gets a clear sight of goal without defenders in the way — means he frequently catches goalkeepers out.
Cheltenham’s transitional style meant May did plenty of individualised attacking.
His 48 shot-ending carries (of five-plus metres) were the second-most in League One last season, behind Bristol Rovers’ Aaron Collins (51), and he was top for goal-ending carries (nine).
On counter-attacks these dribbles will differ, because defensive structures look different, but against set defences May repeatedly cuts inside to try to find the far corner of the goal or fire in a low, near-post finish.
“He’s not going to potentially beat a man; he’s not a flying winger who’s got loads of tricks and speed,” says Holden. “The goals that you’ve seen coming in from the wing, he’s arrived in the wing position from the centre. So he’s not stood out there where he’s been marked by a full-back — he’s recognised that space where centre-backs don’t like playing. So he’s creating the space.
“It’s a bit like a snooker player, he’s thinking two shots ahead.”
Holden particularly likes May’s goal away to Plymouth Argyle, the eventual 2022-23 League One champions, in January:
“He’s recognised Plymouth are a possession-based team, and they’ve advanced, and the centre-back’s (James Wilson) got himself into a position where once the ball turns over, he’s in trouble.
“And all he’s done there is he’s almost gone, ‘Go on, you get out of your space, have the ball; as soon as you lose it, I’m just going to drift into where you’ve vacated’. And when you get him in this position, he’s deadly.”
Isolating the remaining centre-back, May dribbles straight at him, but then goes on the outside rather than cutting in. The 30-year-old says it was the “first time” he scored this way in his professional career: “I’m not a player that’s going to beat a man, (but) if I can shift and shoot, this is obviously one of the big things for me.”
May grabbed headlines in March with a 50-yard volley away to Peterborough United — a spectacular way to score his 50th league goal for Cheltenham.
“If there’s an opportunity to score, if it’s 50 yards or five yards, I’d just have a scan just to see the starting position of the ’keeper. A lot of ‘keepers now play that high line, because of the (popularity of using a) sweeper-keeper,” says May.
Ironically, he prefers his second goal of that game, another volley, where he was loitering on the edge of the penalty area at a long throw.
When the throw is headed clear, May opens his body out, leaning away from the ball…
…and drives a shot into the top-right corner.
“I love learning, and I’m obviously 30 years old,” says May. “But I’ve come into the game late, so I still feel like I’ve got a few years ahead.”
His new boss Holden’s admission that “he’s a better player than I thought he was” is about as good as compliments get.
Glenn Murray, albeit a different type of striker in terms of physical profile, is the perfect late-peaking role model for May. Murray’s 2018 statement that “it does not matter what league you are in, the goalposts don’t move” is one May has carried with him in his career so far.
In terms of numbers, he has set his sights on 20-plus goals again — but there are dreams to be fulfilled too.
Both are all action strikers who shoot on sight, defend from the front and take every opportunity to run in behind. Both were rejected early in their careers as they were deemed too small for pro football - Vardy at Wednesday and May at Millwall. Both had to find full time jobs while playing non league - Vardy worked in a factory and May was a chippy. Both made their League debuts when they were relatively old - Vardy was 25 when Leicester signed him and May was 23 when he joined Doncaster.
It's not just success that drives some footballers. It can be knowing what failure looks and feels like. It's that hunger not to be in that same position again that ultimately makes some find a higher ceiling than more fortunate and even more gifted players do.
Or he'll go off 10-minutes into the first game Leaburn returns, and after what looks a flourishing partnership between them
Made the comparison of Simon Church but at least May has a stronger shot.