| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ronald Allen[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1929-01-15)15 January 1929[2] | ||
| Place of birth | Fenton,Stoke-on-Trent,Staffordshire, England[2] | ||
| Date of death | 9 June 2001(2001-06-09) (aged 72)[2] | ||
| Place of death | Great Wyrley,Staffordshire, England[3] | ||
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[2] | ||
| Position(s) | |||
| Youth career | |||
| 1941–1944 | Northwood Mission | ||
| 1944–1946 | Port Vale | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1946–1950 | Port Vale | 123 | (34) |
| 1950–1961 | West Bromwich Albion | 415 | (208) |
| 1961–1965 | Crystal Palace | 100 | (34) |
| Total | 638 | (276) | |
| International career | |||
| 1952–1954 | England | 5 | (2) |
| 1954 | England B | 2 | (0) |
| Football League | 1 | (0) | |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1965–1968 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | ||
| 1967 | →Los Angeles Wolves(USA) | ||
| 1969–1971 | Athletic Bilbao | ||
| 1972 | Sporting CP | ||
| 1973 | Walsall | ||
| 1977 | West Bromwich Albion | ||
| 1977–1978 | Saudi Arabia | ||
| 1980 | Panathinaikos | ||
| 1981–1982 | West Bromwich Albion | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Ronald Allen (15 January 1929 – 9 June 2001) was an Englishinternationalfootball player andmanager. He was a professional footballer for 19 years, between 1946 and 1964, making 638 appearances in theFootball League and scoring 276 goals. He also won fivecaps for the England national team. He later became a manager at clubs in England, Spain, Portugal, and Greece. His son,Russell, also played professional football throughout the 1970s.
Starting his career in 1946 withPort Vale, he spent four years with the club before making a record-breakingtransfer toWest Bromwich Albion. He was one of the best strikers of the 1950s, playing over 400 games, with a ratio of a goal every two games. He lifted theFA Cup in1954, and helped the club to theFA Charity Shield in1954, and a second-place finish in theFirst Division in1953–54. In 1961 he signed withCrystal Palace, where he spent the final four years of his playing career. He helped Palace winpromotion out of theThird Division in1963–64.
His management career began in 1965 withWolverhampton Wanderers, as he led Wolves out of theSecond Division in1966–67. In 1969, he took up the reins at Spanish clubAthletic Bilbao, leading the club to a second-place finish inLa Liga in1969–70. In 1972, he was appointed manager of Portuguese clubSporting Lisbon; after one season with the club, he moved back to England to manageWalsall for a brief period. In 1977, he spent a short time as manager of West Bromwich Albion. After a spell advising theSaudi Arabia national team, he took charge of Greek clubPanathinaikos for a short time in 1980. His last management position was back at West Brom in 1981–82, following which he served the club as acoach andscout.
Ronald Allen was born on 15 January 1929 inFenton,Stoke-on-Trent,Staffordshire.[1] He attendedHanley High School.[1] Despite playing for the school rugby team, his preferred sport was football. He turned out for his localBoys' Brigade team and, later, WellingtonScouts. He then moved on to Northwood Mission, where he played atoutside-right, alongsideBill McGarry andBasil Hayward, who would later become his teammates atPort Vale. Allen scored 57 goals for the Mission in the 1943–44 season.[4]
Allen signed amateur forms with Port Vale in December 1944 at the age of 15.[5] He made his full debut on 2 April 1945 in a 2–2 draw against Wrexham in theFootball League North, playing at outside-right and laying on one of Vale's goals. At this point in his life he was a mere 4 feet 10 inches (1.47 m) and weighed under 8 stone (50 kg).[1] He scored his first goal for the club in a 4–3 win againstNorwich City in August 1945, and in March 1946 signed as a part-time professional, for which he received a£10 signing-on fee. The1946–47 season was the first full season of competitive football in England following the end of the Second World War; Allen made hisFootball League debut on 7 September 1946 in a 2–1 defeat toExeter City. Due to hisnational service commitments, he only made 18 appearances during that season, scoring five goals. He was theclub's top scorer in the1947–48 season with 13 goals.
Allen joined theRoyal Air Force early in 1947 and represented their football team several times. He wasdemobbed on 1 June 1949.[6] In total, he played 156 games for the club (including wartime appearances), scoring 40 goals.[7]
"For three seasons at least, Ronnie Allen was, in my mind, the best centre-forward in the country... There is no doubt that between 1952 and 1955 he was right on top of his game."
Allen wastransferred toWest Bromwich Albion on 2 March 1950 for £20,000, aclub record fee for both clubs at the time.[9] This was more than double the previous Albion record, set whenJackie Vernon was brought to the club three years earlier. Allen scored on his debut two days later to secure a 1–1 draw againstWolverhampton Wanderers in aFirst Division match.[10] The attendance of 60,945 remains a record for a league game atThe Hawthorns. Though only 5 feet 8 inches (1.73 m) and barely 11stone (70 kg), he emerged as a talented striker, helping to define the modern role of target man.[2] Signed byJack Smith, he was soon converted from a wide player into a centre-forward.[1] Allen also benefited from the ultra-modern training techniques ofJesse Carver, who served Albion asmanager for a brief time in the1952–53 campaign.[2] Carver's successor,Vic Buckingham, also had aTotal Football philosophy and appreciated thetechnical skill Allen possessed, allowing him to play as a deep-lying attacker with room todribble at will – a revolutionary position andtactic.[1]
Davy Walsh, the club's top-scorer since the war, was sold on toAston Villa in December 1950 for a £25,000 fee. Allen managed to fill the attacking void and formed a deadly partnership withJohnny Nicholls, feeding poacher Nicholls many of the 58 league goals he scored between 1951 and 1957.[2] Allen became the club's top-scorer for three successive seasons, hitting ten goals in1950–51, 32 goals in1951–52, and twenty goals in1952–53. His run was interrupted by Nicholls, who became the top-scorer in1953–54, as the club recorded a second-place finish in the league. During the campaign, Allen scored against former club Port Vale in theFA Cup semi-final and then scored twice againstPreston North End in the1954 final, which Albion won 3–2. He then scored ahat-trick in the1954 FA Charity Shield atMolineux, ensuring a 4–4 draw with league champions andBlack Country rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers. He wasFirst Division top scorer in1954–55 with 27 goals,[11] though the "Baggies" struggled in the league, finishing a disappointing 17th.
He became the club's top-scorer for a fifth and final time in1955–56, hitting the net 17 times. Allen's transfer record was broken in March 1956, when the club paidFulham £25,000 forBobby Robson. The club reached the FA Cup semi-finals again in1956–57, only to lose out toeventual winners Aston Villa, following areplay. Albion managed to improve their league form in1957–58, finishing fourth, as Robson andDerek Kevan'sstrike partnership replaced that of Allen's and Nicholls'. Though Nicholls departed, Allen remained a key member of the first-team, as West Brom finished fifth in1958–59; he further enhanced his legendary status at Albion by scoring theequaliser late in the game against Aston Villa to send Albion's biggest rivals down.[12] New managerGordon Clark led West Brom to a fourth-place finish in1959–60, which was followed by a tenth-place finish in1960–61.
He scored a total of 234 goals in 458 appearances for West Brom, making him the second-highest scorer inthe club's history, behindTony Brown. This record also makes him eighth in the club's all-time appearance charts.
Allen was sold on toCrystal Palace for a £4,500 fee in May 1961.[13] UnderArthur Rowe's stewardship, the "Glaziers" finished1961–62 15th in theThird Division.Dick Graham then took the reins for the rest of Allen's time atSelhurst Park, as the club struggled in mid-table in1962–63, only to winpromotion as runners-up in1963–64. Although his appearances in 1963–64 were restricted by injury (to 27), he was officiallycaptain of the side that season.[14] After scoring aSecond Division goal in1964–65, he became the only player to score a Football League goal in the first twenty consecutive seasons of post-war football.[13] He left Crystal Palace in March 1965 at 36, having scored 34 goals in 100 league games for the club.[1]
Allen made hisEngland debut at the age of 23, in a 3–0friendly win againstSwitzerland inZürich on 28 May 1952.[15][16] He had to wait almost two years for his secondcap, which came againstScotland on 3 April 1954,[15] the same day that his club West Bromwich Albion were playing rivalsWolverhampton Wanderers in a vital First Division match. Allen scored with a header in the second half to help England beat the Scots 4–2 in the match atHampden Park, and also had anotherheaded goal disallowed.[17] He also appeared againstYugoslavia, and was included in England's initial squad for the1954 FIFA World Cup, but did not make the final travelling party.[1][18] He nevertheless earned two furthercaps, the first of which was a 3–2 win againstWales in aBritish Home Championship game, and the last of which was againstWest Germany on 1 December 1954.[1][15] Allen scored from 6 yards (5.5 m) out in a 3–1Wembley win against the World champions.[17] He was again overlooked in the selection for the1958 FIFA World Cup.[1] He was seen to be too far ahead of his time.[1] On his lack of England caps, Allen himself said, "No two people see the game the same way and everyone is entitled to his own judgement".[19] Albion teammateFrank Griffin stated that "There was too much emphasis put on height for England strikers. They all had to be likeLawton and be over 6ft. He should have played for England more, there was no doubting Allen's sheer skill. That should have been enough."[20]
In addition to scoring two goals in five full internationals, he also appeared twice for theEngland B team; both matches took place in 1954.[21] He also scored twice for England B when they beat a Sheffield XI 5–4 in October 1957. However, this match is not included in the England B records compiled by RSSSF.[17][21] Allen travelled with England to the1958 and1982 World Cups as the team's official interpreter.[18]
Allen was a skilful and intelligent forward player who used his speed rather than his physique to get the better of opposition defenders.[2] He was an accomplishedpasser of the ball, able to make pinpoint through passes at both short and long range.[2] He had fantastic vision on the ball, and could play with both feet.[3] He also had a powerfulshot, was an accomplishedpenalty taker, and couldvolley the ball with ease.[22] The official West Brom website describes Allen as "the complete footballer", and compares him to the Hungarian legendFerenc Puskás.[3]
In March 1965, Allen joinedWolverhampton Wanderers as seniorcoach, working under managerAndy Beattie. Following Beattie's departure, Allen replaced him as manager in September 1965, just after theirrelegation to theSecond Division. He signed quality players, bringing names such asDerek Dougan andMike Bailey toMolineux.[1] He guided them to promotion in1966–67, and Wolves consolidated their top-flight status in1967–68. However, he was sacked in November 1968,[23][24] and replaced by former Port Vale teammateBill McGarry.
Allen took up the post of manager at Spanish clubAthletic Bilbao in the summer of 1969, replacingRafael Iriondo. He led Athletic to the runners-up spot inLa Liga in1969–70, as they finished one point behindAtlético Madrid. In1970–71 theLions finished fifth, eight points behind championsValencia CF. He remained at the club until November 1971, leaving shortly after being eliminated from theUEFA Cup byEintracht Braunschweig.[25][26]
He was appointed manager at Portuguese sideSporting CP for the1972–73 campaign. He was sacked before the end of the season due to a poor showing in thePrimeira Liga – the club ended up in fifth place, equalling their worst-ever finish, despite the goalscoring form ofHéctor Yazalde. ChampionsS.L. Benfica won 28 of their 30 league games. Despite their league form, new manager Mário Lino did lead Sporting to their ninthTaça de Portugal success after defeatingVitória 3–2 at theEstádio Nacional.
He returned to the Midlands to take up the management reins atWalsall in July 1973.[13] However, he spent just six months in charge atFellows Park.[13] The "Sadders" finished the1973–74 campaign 15th in theThird Division. He returned toWest Bromwich Albion as ascouting advisor in January 1977 before being installed as manager six months later.[3] He recommended the club signCyrille Regis, who would become the club's main striker for the next seven years and part of the "Three Degrees" withBrendon Batson andLaurie Cunningham.[27] He stepped down in December, to take up the financially lucrative post as advisor to theSaudi Arabia national football team.[28][3] He returned to management in June 1980, this time at Greek clubPanathinaikos.[13] Again he enjoyed only a short reign, and was gone within six months.[13] In his absence, the "Greens"finished fifth in theSuper League Greece.
He returned tothe Hawthorns as manager again in July 1981,[3] succeedingRon Atkinson – who had just moved toManchester United. Two of Albion's finest players,Remi Moses andBryan Robson, soon joined Atkinson atOld Trafford, and this hurt Albion's previously good league fortunes.[29] He signedSteve MacKenzie,Andy King,Martin Jol, andRomeo Zondervan; none of whom would prove particularly effective.[30] Albion did well in the cup competitions, reaching the semi-finals of both theFA Cup and theLeague Cup, although they suffered an early exit from theUEFA Cup. But Allen could not put together a good run of form in theFirst Division, and Albion only stayed up after winning their final game of the season. He then ended his managerial career in May 1982, choosing instead to work as the club's general manager.[3] He stepped down from this post in June 1983, though he continued to coach and scout for the club during his retirement until 1996.[1][3] He even played in atestimonial match atCheltenham in 1995, at the age of 66.[1]
His autobiography,It's Goals That Count, with a foreword byVic Buckingham, was published in 1955.[31] He had a son,Russell Allen, who started his career at West Brom, before playing close to 300 league games atTranmere Rovers andMansfield Town between 1971 and 1981.[1]
Ronnie Allen died suffering withAlzheimer's disease on 9 June 2001 in Hardwick Court Nursing Home,Great Wyrley, Staffordshire.[1] West Bromwich Albion's pre-season friendly against Athletic Bilbao later that summer was designated as the "Ronnie Allen Memorial Match", in recognition of his contribution to both clubs.[32][33] A minute's silence was held beforekick-off and proceeds from the match donated to theAlzheimer's Society,[34] a disease he had been diagnosed with in later life.[1] Allen had himself played and scored the only goal for West Brom in a testimonial match for Athletic's long serving playerAgustín Gaínza in 1958,[35][36] and while managing the Spanish side in 1971 he had arranged twofriendlies between the clubs for the benefit ofBobby Hope andJosé Ángel Iribar.[35][37]
In 2004 Allen was named as one of West Bromwich Albion's 16 greatest players, in a poll organised as part of the club's 125th anniversary celebrations.[38]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | Other | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Port Vale | 1945–46 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | |
| 1946–47 | Third Division South | 18 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 5 | |
| 1947–48 | Third Division South | 38 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 13 | |
| 1948–49 | Third Division South | 40 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 10 | |
| 1949–50 | Third Division South | 27 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 8 | |
| Total | 123 | 34 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 135 | 38 | ||
| West Bromwich Albion | 1949–50 | First Division | 11 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 5 |
| 1950–51 | First Division | 40 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 10 | |
| 1951–52 | First Division | 40 | 32 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 36 | |
| 1952–53 | First Division | 41 | 20 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 21 | |
| 1953–54 | First Division | 39 | 27 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 34 | |
| 1954–55 | First Division | 42 | 27 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 45 | 30 | |
| 1955–56 | First Division | 34 | 17 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 18 | |
| 1956–57 | First Division | 37 | 10 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 15 | |
| 1957–58 | First Division | 39 | 22 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 28 | |
| 1958–59 | First Division | 36 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 17 | |
| 1959–60 | First Division | 36 | 15 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 15 | |
| 1960–61 | First Division | 20 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 6 | |
| Total | 415 | 208 | 42 | 23 | 1 | 3 | 458 | 234 | ||
| Crystal Palace | 1961–62 | Third Division | 28 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 31 | 13 |
| 1962–63 | Third Division | 36 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 40 | 12 | |
| 1963–64 | Third Division | 27 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 9 | |
| 1964–65 | Second Division | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 3 | |
| Total | 100 | 34 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 109 | 37 | ||
| Career total | 638 | 276 | 61 | 30 | 3 | 3 | 702 | 309 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | 1952 | 1 | 0 |
| 1953 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1954 | 4 | 2 | |
| Total | 5 | 2 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 April 1954 | Hampden Park,Glasgow, Scotland |  Scotland | 3–1 | 4–2 | 1954 FIFA World Cup qualification | [41] |
| 2 | 1 December 1954 | Wembley Stadium,London, England |  West Germany | 2–0 | 3–1 | Friendly | [42] |
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | |||
| Wolverhampton Wanderers | 19 September 1965 | 17 November 1968 | 150 | 66 | 35 | 49 | 044.0 |
| Los Angeles Wolves | May 1967 | 15 July 1967 | 13 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 046.2 |
| Athletic Bilbao | September 1969 | November 1971 | 88 | 40 | 21 | 27 | 045.5 |
| Walsall | 6 July 1973 | 20 December 1973 | 26 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 023.1 |
| West Bromwich Albion | 21 June 1977 | 22 December 1977 | 22 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 050.0 |
| West Bromwich Albion | 1 July 1981 | 31 May 1982 | 58 | 19 | 15 | 24 | 032.8 |
| Total | 357 | 148 | 92 | 117 | 041.5 | ||
West Bromwich Albion
Crystal Palace
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Los Angeles Wolves
England
General
Specific
