This from The Sunday Telegrpah:
Less than six years ago he was a member of the Manchester United squad who completed the Treble by lifting the Champions League
trophy on a night of nerve-jangling drama in Barcelona. The medals remain safely stashed away in a bank vault and David May is now content to turn out for a little non-League club in the Lancashire hills, filling out the occasion petrol expenses slip for £20.
The contrast could not be more stark but for the Oldham-born defender, still only 33 and on Burnley's books in the Championship last season, the motivation is simple: he just loves playing, whether it's at Old Trafford's 68,000-capacity stadium or for Bacup Borough in front of 60 hardy souls at most.
"To be honest, I was missing being involved in matches," said May, who had hung up his boots last summer when Burnley manager Steve Cotterill rang to say there would be no new contract. Rather than drift down the divisions, he planned to spend more time with his wife, Maxine, four-year-old Sebastian and daughter, Willow, aged two.
"But Bacup [pronounced 'bake up'] kept ringing me and, though I kept saying I'd quit, I eventually signed. It's only two miles up the road. All I do is train on Thursdays and play Saturdays. There's no pressure and I'm loving it. I wanted to put something back and if I can help local youngsters progress in the game or put 20 or 30 more on the gate, then some good's come from it. I always played with a smile on my face and I'll go on doing so."
Not that he was initially too pleased on that heady night at the Nou Camp in 1999. He admits being "gutted and pissed off" when he was only named as one of the substitutes against Bayern Munich. "I honestly thought I'd play in the final," he recalls.
"I'd played against Spurs in the title clincher and Newcastle in the FA Cup final and I wanted the hat-trick. I was rooming with Teddy [Sheringham] and he [Sir Alex Ferguson] didn't tell us until the team talk that we weren't playing."
Sheringham famously poached the equaliser to set the stage for fellow sub Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's last-gasp winner but May stayed on the bench. Nevertheless he celebrated wildly afterwards and bears no grudge against Ferguson. In fact, he has nothing but admiration for his old boss who takes charge of United in an FA Cup semi-final for the seventh time today against Newcastle in Cardiff.
"What we achieved that year was fantastic," adds May, "but he was soon champing at the bit to do it all again. He doesn't rule by fear, it's respect and off the pitch he's more relaxed than the media make out. He was the biggest cheat going in quizzes we had, bullying the lads so he always won. But when you cross that white line, it's serious stuff and if you make a balls-up, he'll be down your throat."