Les Allen

This article is about the English footballer. For the Australian footballer, see Les Allen (Australian footballer). For the musician and vocalist, see Les Allen (musician).

Leslie William Allen (born 4 September 1937)^[1] is an English former football player and manager who played as an inside forward.

Les Allen

Personal information
Full name	Leslie William Allen
Date of birth	(1937-09-04) 4 September 1937 (age 86)
Place of birth	Dagenham, Essex, England
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)^[1]
Position(s)	Inside forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1954–1959	Chelsea	44	(11)
1959–1965	Tottenham Hotspur	119	(47)
1965–1969	Queens Park Rangers	128	(55)
Total		291	(113)
International career
1961	England U23	1	(0)
Managerial career
1969–1970	Queens Park Rangers
1971	Aris
1972–1974	Swindon Town
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Tottenham Hotspur in 1960 with Danny Blanchflower (captain) and both goalkeepers, Bill Brown and John Hollowbread, in the team with Cecil Poynton as trainer and Bill Nicholson as manager. Les Allen sitting far right in the middle row.

Playing career

Allen started his playing career at amateur club Briggs Sports where he helped them to reach the semi-finals of the Amateur Cup in 1954.^[2] In the same year Allen signed for Chelsea on his 17th birthday in September 1954 but never established his place in the Chelsea first-team. He scored 12 League goals for Chelsea in 44 appearances.

Tottenham Hotspur

Allen joined Tottenham Hotspur in December 1959 as part exchange for Johnny Brooks.^[3] He scored twice in his debut game for Spurs against Newcastle, and five against Crewe Alexandra in the 1959–60 FA Cup tie a few weeks later that ended 13–2, which is the highest scoring FA Cup tie of the 20th century, and the club's record win.^[4]

He was a key member of Tottenham's double winning side of 1960–61, forming a lethal goalscoring partnership with Bobby Smith. He scored 23 goals in the league that season, and four in the cups.^[3] In all, he scored 47 goals in 119 league appearances for the club, and 61 goals in all appearances (134). but struggled to retain his place following the arrival of Jimmy Greaves, and had to compete with Bobby Smith for the centre-forward spot.^[3]

Allen earned an England call-up in February 1961 where he earned one cap for England Under 23s against Wales.^[2]

Queens Park Rangers

Allen joined Queens Park Rangers in July 1965 for a recorded sum of £21,000.^[2] Allen scored 55 goals in 123 starts and five substitute appearances. He was a member of the QPR team who became the first Third Division side to win the Football League Cup Final 1967.^[5]

Managerial career

Allen briefly managed QPR during the 1969–70 season. In November 1972 he became manager of Swindon Town, remaining in charge until 1974.^[6]

Family

His brother Dennis, sons Clive^[7] and Bradley and nephews Paul and Martin were also professional footballers.

Honours

Tottenham

• First Division: 1960-61
• FA Cup: 1960-61

QPR

• League Cup: 1967
• Third Division:1967

References

1. Maurice Golesworth (1965). Soccer Who's Who. The Sportsmans Book Club.
2. "HALL OF FAME: LES ALLEN". Tottenham Hotspur. 8 June 2004. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
3. Goodwin, Bob (29 August 1988). Spurs: A Complete Record 1882-1988. Breedon Books. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-907969-42-6.
4. Powley, Adam; Cloake, Martin (2012). The Spurs Miscellany. Vision Sports Publishing. p. 99. ISBN 978-1-907637-71-1.
5. "'Keep clear of Shepherd's Bush tonight' – QPR at Wembley 1967 - Queens Park Rangers News". Loft For Words. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
6. "Managers: Les Allen". Soccerbase. Century Comm Ltd. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
7. Jason Burt (11 January 2012). "Roman Abramovich determined to keep a close eye on Chelsea's purse strings during the transfer window: Redknapp calls for players to go back to school". The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 14 April 2013.