Percy William Allen (2 July 1895 – 21 October 1969) was an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played predominantly as a

right half A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He was born in

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancien ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. A Lieutenant, Allen served in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and played as an amateur before moving to

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

for the club's initial Division Two season. Having played for the club three times in the

London Combination The Football Combination was a football competition for the reserve teams of English Football League clubs from Southern England, the Midlands and Wales; other clubs from the Midlands and those from the North playing in the Central League (it is n ...

between December 1917 and October 1918, he made his full debut in a 2–1 home defeat to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

on 1 November 1919, at outside-right. He was also played at centre-forward, but became an ever-present at right-half during the 1921–22 season. Allen lost his place in the team to Sid Bishop due to the reappearance of a blood ailment which he had suffered from during his time in the Army. Allen made 86 league and cup appearances for the Irons, scoring 5 goals. He played his final competitive game for the club on 17 February 1923, against

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

. He was part of the group that travelled to Austria and Hungary in May 1923, but did not feature. Allen was transferred to Lincoln City in January 1924. After 61 appearances for the Imps, he joined

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

in the summer of 1925, leaving them at the end of the 1926–27 season. He later played for Weymouth, Peterborough & Fletton United and Stamford Town. After retirement, Allen went on to work for West Ham Corporation, and later owned a newsagents in

East Ham East Ham is a district of the London Borough of Newham, England, 8 miles (12.8 km) east of Charing Cross. East Ham is identified in the London Plan as a Major Centre. The population is 76,186. It was originally part of the Becontree Hun ...

References

1895 births 1969 deaths Footballers from the London Borough of Newham People from West Ham English men's footballers Men's association football wing halves West Ham United F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Weymouth F.C. players Peterborough & Fletton United F.C. players English Football League players British Army personnel of World War I Military personnel from the London Borough of Newham {{England-footy-forward-1890s-stub