Malcolm Allen (born 21 March 1967) is a Welsh football coach, former 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 lea ...

and sports pundit and co-commentator. As a player, Allen was a striker, notably having a brief spell in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

with

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

and a loan spell with

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

, although spells with

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

and

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

brought most of his appearances during his career. He retired having had a brief spell with non-league side

Stevenage Borough Stevenage Football Club (known as Stevenage Borough Football Club until 2010) is a professional association football club based in the town of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. The club competes in EFL League One, the third level of the Engli ...

. He was capped 14 times by

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, scoring 3 goals. Since retiring, Allen has worked as a youth team coach for

Aberystwyth Aberystwyth (; ) is a University town, university and seaside town and a community (Wales), community in Ceredigion, Wales. It is the largest town in Ceredigion and from Aberaeron, the county's other administrative centre. In 2021, the popula ...

, but now works in media and is a pundit and commentator for

S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speakin ...

show

Sgorio is a Welsh-language football television programme produced by Rondo Media for S4C. First broadcast on 5 September 1988, it is one of S4C's longest-running shows and renowned for its coverage of European football, but for the first few years th ...

Early life

Allen was born in

Deiniolen Deiniolen (; ; ) is a village in Gwynedd, Wales, at the foot of Elidir Fawr, in Llanddeiniolen Community. Deiniolen has views over Caernarfon (7 miles away) and on a clear day, Holyhead Mountain and occasionally the Wicklow Mountains in Irel ...

Gwynedd Gwynedd () is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The ci ...

Playing career

Allen began his career with Watford, signing apprentice terms in July 1983, before becoming professional in March 1985.Jones, pp 23 He scored Watford's only goal in 1985

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

final. He played and scored for the Hornets in their

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

semi-final defeat against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

in 1987, and in 19 cup appearances for Watford scored eight goals. He was loaned to

in September 1987 by new Watford manager

Dave Bassett David Thomas Bassett (born 4 September 1944 in Stanmore) is an English football manager and a former player. Bassett won a total of seven promotions and is one of a select number of managers who took charge of over 1,000 matches. After a playi ...

, and after Watford were relegated he joined Norwich for a fee of £175,000 in August 1988. Whilst with Norwich he scored four in their club record FA Cup victory, 8–0 against

Sutton United Sutton United Football Club is a professional association football club from Sutton, South London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. Sutton started out playing in junior, ...

in the fourth round. This was one of the most successful seasons in Norwich's history, as they finished fourth in the league and were semi-finalists in the FA Cup. Allen joined

in March 1990 for £400,000, spending three years there before moving to

for £300,000 in August 1993, in time for their first season in the

FA Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football ...

following their promotion as Division One champions. He started off well on

Tyneside Tyneside is a List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne, England, River Tyne in Northern England. The population of Tyneside as published in the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 774,891 ...

, scoring seven goals in 12 games, before suffering a serious ankle injury. He made just one more appearance for the Magpies, and after a long struggle to regain full fitness, he retired from playing aged 28 in December 1995. In February 1997, Allen signed for

Conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

side

in an attempt to continue his career at non-league level, and continued to play at this level in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

for a few more years.

International career

Allen represented

at youth, B and full international level. He received his first full cap aged 18, after only playing a small number of senior club games, taking to the field on 25 February 1986 in a 2–1 friendly win over

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

Dhahran Dhahran (, ) is a city located in the Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. With a total population of 143,936 as of 2022, it is a major administrative center for the History of the oil industry in Saudi Arabia, Saudi ...

. He was capped a total of 14 times by Wales at senior level, his last appearance coming on 17 November 1993 in the disappointing 2–1 defeat to

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

Cardiff Arms Park Cardiff Arms Park (), also known as The Arms Park, is primarily a rugby union stadium, and also has a bowling green. It is situated in Cardiff, Wales, next to the Millennium Stadium. The Arms Park was host to the 1958 British Empire and Common ...

, which ended their hopes of qualifying for the

1994 World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

. This came shortly before the ankle injury which ultimately ended his career at senior level.

Coaching career

Allen returned to his native Wales in the summer of 2002 to work as the head of youth development for

in the

League of Wales League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

Media career

Allen is a pundit on ''Sgorio'', a

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic languages, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales by about 18% of the population, by some in England, and in (the Welsh c ...

football review programme on

. Malcolm also regularly co-commentates on live

games as well as on

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Radio Cymru BBC Radio Cymru is a Welsh language radio station owned and operated by BBC Cymru Wales, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts across Wales on FM, DAB, digital TV and BBC Sounds. The station broadcasts general factual and entertainment pro ...

's Camp Lawn programme.

Personal life

In August 2006, Allen was in court charged with assault. In April 2008, charged from his

home, he was given a

suspended sentence A suspended sentence is a sentence on conviction for a criminal offence, the serving of which the court orders to be deferred in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation. If the defendant does not break the law during that ...

and a ban for drink-driving after admitting drinking ten pints of beer. In the autumn of 2009 Y Lolfa published his autobiography in his native Welsh language.

References

* *

Notes

External links

*
Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Malcolm 1967 births Living people Footballers from Gwynedd Welsh men's footballers Wales men's international footballers Welsh-language broadcasters Men's association football forwards Premier League players English Football League players Watford F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players Stevenage F.C. players People educated at Ysgol Brynrefail People from Deiniolen