One of the first moves in the January transfer window has been probably one of the worst kept secrets in the Kent Football community; the transfer of Alfie May from Hythe Town to SkyBet League Two Doncaster Rovers for an undisclosed fee. 

May was given a final 62 minutes in the Cannons’ red shirt in the New Year’s Eve derby match against Faversham Town before being replaced and having the chance to say goodbye to the Hythe supporters.

The 23-year old May, took a moment to speak to Kent Sports News, suitcase in hand ready to travel to link up with Doncaster ahead of their game with Stevenage Borough on Monday.  He explained ““I am devastated to be leaving Hythe.  Obviously this is a move to bigger things and a chance to move away and start fresh with a new team.  I’ve had eighteen months here and it is the best group of lads and staff that I’ve been with, I didn’t want it to end.  “I’m travelling up tonight though and am so excited about this opportunity.”

May has been prolific over the last 30 months, scoring 98 goals in spells in the Kent League with Erith and Belvedere, and Hythe Town in Ryman South that brought him to the attention of League clubs.  May explained “I was so desperate to score today, which is why I asked the gaffer to let me play.  I’ve been on his case for the last couple of games because until tonight (New Year’s Eve), I’m still a Hythe player. I go into tomorrow as a Doncaster player and it’s like I’m living a dream.”

For the forward, who has been working for his brother as a timber framer and carpenter, getting up at 5:30 in the morning, it looked as though the chance of full-time football might not come along having been released by Millwall when he was 16.  He said “I sort of stopped playing, just with my mates in park football, and then I started enjoying it again.  I didn’t think this sort of chance was going to happen having got to 23, but I’ve worked hard, getting to training and doing my best for the team.  Without the boys here at Hythe, I would never have got the goals.”

Stevenage, who ironically could be his first League opponents if he gets the chance on Monday, were the first club to take Alfie May on trial earlier this season.  “I definitely got the incentive from Stevenage that I could do this”, May said.  “I’ve not got a bad word to say about them.  I rang Clive after the first day of training and said that their boys had made me feel so welcome.  But something really clicked when I went up to Doncaster.  They made the effort to come and speak to me, so that was welcome as a triallist.  I felt I was really buzzing up there.”

Even though both Doncaster and their manager, Darren Ferguson, haven’t been able to make too many public statements about the (then) proposed move, there was always a sense of their interest.  May admitted that “Darren Ferguson would speak to me after training sessions, but it’s had to stay quiet for a long time.  Tomorrow (1st January) it will all come out officially, but having been up there doing full-time training for a week, I came back to Hythe and scored a hatrick, and I felt that it had shown a real difference.  I’ve just had training up there, but I’m going to work my hardest to progress.  It’s incredible to be able to say that someone like Darren Ferguson is your manager, and I’m going to listen, work hard, stay after training, pretty much carry on what I’ve done at Hythe.”

May’s Hythe Town manager, Clive Cook, could have been happier for the player he brought to the club eighteen months ago, and has seen hit an incredible 50 goals in just 70 appearances.

“Alfie has now gone to Doncaster on a very nice 2 ½ year deal and I’m over the moon for the lad.  Everyone here is elated for him and I’ve said many times, he’s so easy to manage.  He’s a great guy and I’m so privileged to have had him at this football club.  I always wanted to have him if I got back into management and made him one of my first signings.  He’s been an absolute asset to us, scores goals out of nothing”

“It is a big step to take (Ryman South to League Two) but I believe he can take it with both hands.  I hope he gets every success that he deserves.  We just have to look for the next “Alfie” now and move on.  Other players will have to step up, and that’s what we’ve brought them in for.  We’ll be fine; I’ve got three very good strikers in Frankie Sawyer, Jay May and Dean Grant and we’ve got to build them into a strike force.”

Alfie May is the first Hythe Town player to move into full-time professional football since Peter Heritage’s move to Gillingham in 1989.