John Allen (born 14 November 1964) is a Welsh-Finnish football player and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

. He is the head coach of the Under-19 squad of Finnish club TPS.

Playing career

Allen started playing football at his local club Chester City. After a brief visit at

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ...

, he emigrated to Finland. At MP he made his top flight debut in 1987. He made a total of 282 appearances and scored 50 goals while playing for

RoPS Rops may refer to: People * Daniel-Rops (1901–1965), French writer and historian * Félicien Rops (1833–1898), Belgian artist Places * Rops (peak), a mountain in Kosovo Sports * Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS), a Finnish football club T ...

, TPS, MYPA and TPV. As a player, he won the

Finnish Championship Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

, then known as

Mestaruussarja Mestaruussarja (Championship series) was the top division of Finnish football from 1930 to 1989. It was replaced by Veikkausliiga in 1990. In 1930 league format was used for the first time to decide the Finnish champion. Before that from 1908 to ...

, twice.

Managerial career

After retiring as a player he joined his former club, TPS, as an assistant coach in 2003. He took charge of the first team as a caretaker in 2008 after

Martti Kuusela Martti Kuusela (born 9 October 1945 in Rovaniemi) is a Finnish football manager and former midfielder. Kuusela enjoyed a moderately successful career as a player in Finland. As a coach, he won the Finnish championship in 1981 and 1990 with ...

's dismissal. After the appointment of

Pasi Rautiainen Pasi Pentti Rautiainen (born 18 July 1961) is Finnish football manager and former player. He has coached PK-35, FC Jokerit and FC KooTeePee in Finland and FC Levadia Tallinn and FC Flora Tallinn in Estonia. His last club was TPS. Rautiainen ...

in 2009, Allen became the manager of TPS's

feeder club In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

, ÅIFK as well as the youth teams of TPS. In November 2009 Allen signed a two-year contract with

, then playing in the second highest division of Finnish football system. After only one season with RoPS they gained promotion to

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga (; sv, Tipsligan) is the premier division of Finnish football, the highest tier of the Finnish football league structure, comprising the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agency Veikka ...

after being crowned the champions of Ykkönen. In October 2014 he was signed by FC Jazz. Allen joined Swedish team Oskarshamns AIK in December 2018, where he lasted as headcoach until April 2020. In May 2020, he returned to TPS as an assistant coach of the club's women's team.

Honours

Ykkönen ''Ykkönen'' ( Finnish for 'Number One'; sv, Ettan) is the second highest level of the Finnish football league system (after the Veikkausliiga), although it is the highest league managed by the Football Association of Finland. The teams also pla ...

: 2010

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, John 1964 births Living people English football managers Turun Palloseura footballers Rovaniemen Palloseura managers Myllykosken Pallo −47 players Kuopion Palloseura players Footballers from Chester Expatriate men's footballers in Finland English men's footballers Chester City F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players English expatriate men's footballers Turun Palloseura managers Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Malmö FF players FC Jazz managers Men's association football midfielders English expatriate sportspeople in Finland English expatriate sportspeople in Sweden FC Inter Turku managers Salon Palloilijat players Salon Palloilijat managers Veikkausliiga players Allsvenskan players Tampereen Pallo-Veikot players