Football League World
·4 October 2024
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·4 October 2024
The striker is set to face off against his former club on Saturday afternoon
Alfie May says the full story of his move from Charlton Athletic to Birmingham City in the summer transfer window is yet to come out.
The striker had only joined the Addicks in the summer of 2023, signing from Cheltenham Town for a reported £250,000 on a two-year contract, with the option of a further 12 months.
May then enjoyed an excellent debut campaign at The Valley, scoring 27 goals in 50 appearances in all competitions, and winning the League One golden boot.
However, he would then move on again in this summer's transfer, signing for Birmingham City following their relegation from the Championship to League One at the end of last season.
It was reported that the Blues paid around £750,000 for his services, and with the two sides set to meet on Saturday, May has been reflecting on his move between the two in the summer.
The fact that the striker left Charlton for another club targeting League One promotion this season, seemingly did not go down well with some Addicks fans.
Indeed, May feels that some of the stick he received from supporters was uncalled for, due to the fact that the whole circumstances about the move have not become clear.
He does, though, believe that will change in the future, and it seems he does have a good deal of respect and admiration for the club as a whole, regardless of that.
With his Birmingham side set to travel to The Valley to face Charlton at the weekend, May was inevitably asked about his switch between the two sides in the lead-up to the game.
Responding to those questions, the 31-year-old was quoted by The South London Press as saying: "They’re a massive club, an ex-Premier League club.
"They have a manager in there that’s a very good coach. At the minute, their results are not showing in the league.
"It’s a hard one talking about Charlton to be honest. I was only there for a year and some of the abuse when I left… they don’t know half of the story. I think I said it last time, eventually, the story will come out.
"The club itself is fantastic, I really enjoyed my time there. The players and the fans supported me so much. It’s a local club to me.
"There’s a bit of frustration. Hopefully, I can score Saturday. Will I celebrate? I won’t be celebrating."
It has been a good start to life at Birmingham for May, who has already scored five goals in eight league games for the Blues so far.
That has helped them to 22 points from their eight league games at the start of this season, putting them five points clear at the top of the early third-tier standings.
Charlton have had a more challenging start to the campaign, taking 13 points from nine league games so far, meaning they go into this one 13th in the table.
In some ways, you can understand why supporters of the Addicks would have been frustrated to see May leave for Birmingham in the summer.
Given the size of the club, and their strong end to last season following the appointment of Nathan Jones as manager, they will have been expecting to push for promotion this season.
As a result, it will have been a frustrating blow for them to see one of their biggest assets, in the form of May, leave to join another club eyeing League One promotion in the coming campaign.
However, as May himself says, it is only those behind the scenes at the club who know what is going on with a transfer at the time.
The striker might therefore feel harshly treated by some of the assumptions he believes have been made about his deal, and may want to get one over some of those fans with a goal on Saturday.
Given the way he has started the season for Birmingham, it would not be a huge surprise if he did manage to do just that.
With that in mind, it will be interesting to see how things play out between May and Charlton both on the pitch this weekend, and beyond.
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