Leslie William Allen (born 4 September 1937) is an English former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and manager who played as an inside forward.

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. 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 Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

in December 1959 as part exchange for

Johnny Brooks John Brooks (23 December 1931 – 7 June 2016) was an English professional footballer and manager who played for Reading, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, Brentford, Crystal Palace in the Football League. Brooks won three England caps and scored two ...

. He scored twice in his debut game for Spurs against Newcastle, and five against Crewe Alexandra in the

1959–60 FA Cup The 1959–60 FA Cup was the 79th staging of the world's oldest football cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup. Wolverhampton Wanderers won the competition for the fourth time, beating Blackburn Rov ...

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

Queens Park Rangers

Allen joined Queens Park Rangers in July 1965 for a recorded sum of £21,000. 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.

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.

Family

His brother

Dennis Dennis or Denis is a first or last name from the Greco-Roman name Dionysius, via one of the Christian saints named Dionysius. The name came from Dionysus, the Greek god of ecstatic states, particularly those produced by wine, which is someti ...

, sons

Clive Clive is a name. People and fictional characters with the name include: People Given name * Clive Allen (born 1961), English football player * Clive Anderson (born 1952), British television, radio presenter, comedy writer and former barrister * ...

and Bradley and nephews Paul and

Martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...

were also professional footballers.

Honours

Tottenham * First Division: 1960-61 *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

: 1960-61 QPR * League Cup: 1967

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Les 1937 births Living people Footballers from Greater London Men's association football inside forwards English men's footballers England men's under-23 international footballers Chelsea F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players English Football League players English football managers Queens Park Rangers F.C. managers Aris Thessaloniki F.C. managers Swindon Town F.C. players Footballers from Dagenham Footballers from Hornchurch English Football League representative players Les