Электронная книга: Martin Allen «The Hitler–Hess Deception»

Martin James Allen (born 14 August 1965) is a former football player and current manager of Notts County. He played more than 100 games for each Queens Park Rangers and West Ham United before finishing his playing career with Portsmouth and Southend United. Five years later, he took his first job in management, at non-league Barnet. He has since managed Brentford, Milton Keynes Dons, Leicester City and Cheltenham Town.

Playing career

In his playing career he was known as 'Mad Dog', he played for Queens Park Rangers, signing professional in 1983 and spending six years at Loftus Road and played in the 1986 League Cup Final against Oxford United, before a £670,000 move to West Ham United. He played in their promotion teams of 1991 and 1993.

Allen stayed with the Hammers until September 1995 when he made a £500,000 switch to Portsmouth after a successful loan spell at Fratton Park.^[1] After three frustrating years with Pompey, which took in a brief loan stint at Southend United, he hung up his boots and began a coaching career. He was a combative midfield player.

His cousins, Paul Allen, Bradley Allen and Clive Allen, were also footballers, as was his uncle Les Allen. His father, Dennis, played for Reading, Charlton Athletic and Bournemouth. His son Charlie Allen also plays professional football for Notts County.

Management career

Reading

Allen began his management career as an assistant manager at hometown club Reading, where he joined Alan Pardew when the Royals were in the relegation zone. The team produced championship form in their closing 20 fixtures, winning 12 and drawing 4 to secure a top 10 finish. Two years later they won promotion to Division One.

Barnet

Allen's first full manager role was at Conference side Barnet, from March 2003 to March 2004. He succeeded from Peter Shreeves, to whom he was assistant manager from March 2002. Allen built a team from scratch in pre-season of the 2003–04 campaign. The team shot straight to the top end of the table, however Allen left for Brentford with a few weeks of the season remaining in a move that disappointed many Barnet fans. Under the guidance of new manager Paul Fairclough, the Bees made the play-offs but were beaten in the semi-finals by Shrewsbury Town.

Brentford

Allen had a good run at Brentford, saving the club from relegation from League One in his first season. In the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons he took Brentford to the play-offs, but they were eliminated by Sheffield Wednesday and Swansea City respectively. He also took Brentford to the fifth round of the FA Cup in two consecutive years, going out to Southampton in the 2004–05 season, losing 3–1 after a 2–2 draw at St Mary's, and to Charlton Athletic 3–1 in the 2005–06 season. He also was in charge of one of the major giant killings in the fourth round in the 2005–06 season, beating Sunderland 2–1.

At Brentford, he proved to be a very popular manager with the fans and an object of curiosity to opponents and media alike due to his unconventional managerial methods, which seem to have paid off due to the relative success Brentford had under him on a limited budget. For example, he participated in a 25 mile sponsored bike ride on November 2005 to raise funds for Brentford.^[2] In May 2006, Allen announced his resignation as manager of Brentford, citing lack of Board commitment to investing in the team to take it to the next level.^[3]

Milton Keynes Dons

Allen then dropped down a level to manage League Two team Milton Keynes Dons for the 2006–07 season, a club with heavy financial backing and ambitions from owner Pete Winkelman, albeit one that had been in severe decline for the past few years and had dropped from the Championship to League Two in three seasons. Allen managed to arrest the club's decline and took his team to the play-offs, but lost in the semi-finals to Shrewsbury Town.

Leicester City

In May 2007, Allen became the new manager at Championship side Leicester City,^[4] after Leicester and Milton Keynes Dons had negotiated a compensation package.

In August 2007, striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink agreed contract terms with Leicester and chairman Milan Mandarić invited him to undergo a medical at Leicester.^[5] But when Hasselbaink arrived in Leicester on 13 August, Allen told him that the medical was no longer going take place.^[6] Six days later, Mandarić confirmed an interest in striker Derek Riordan, who was lacking first team football at Celtic. However, Allen refused to make an offer for Riordan, which further aggravated Mandarić.^[7] Relations with chairman Milan Mandarić quickly deteriorated and his contract was terminated by mutual consent on 29 August 2007 after just four games in charge.^[8]

After leaving Leicester, Allen declared his interest in managing Swindon Town,^[9] which eventually went to Maurice Malpas.

Cheltenham Town

Allen was appointed as manager of Cheltenham Town on 15 September 2008, on a three year contract.^[10] His father, Dennis, had been manager at Whaddon Road between 1974 and 1979.^[11] With financial difficulties hitting the club and an increasingly troubled dressing room atmosphere, the entire Cheltenham squad were put up for sale. Allen allowed key players to leave mid-season either on loan or for reduced prices, contributing to a run of results which left Cheltenham near the foot of the League Two table. On 20 October 2009 and amidst poor results on the pitch, Allen was suspended by Cheltenham Town and placed on gardening leave pending an internal investigation into allegations that he racially abused a nightclub bouncer.^[12] In November Gloucestershire police announced that no action would be taken against Allen concerning the alleged nightclub incident. He remained on leave whilst Cheltenham Town considered his future at the club.^[13] On 11 December it was announced he had left the club.^[14] In January 2010 he was appointed part-time scout for Queens Park Rangers.^[15]

Return to Barnet

On 23 March 2011, Allen returned to his first managerial club, Barnet, until the end of the 2010–11 season.^[16] He was working on an eight game contract but left after only three games, in which Barnet were unbeaten,^[17] to take charge of Notts County.

Notts County

Allen took charge of Notts County on 11 April 2011 signing a one-year rolling contract.^[17] Notts County won eight points out of the seven games Allen was in charge of at the end of the 2010–11 season, enough for them to avoid relegation. Allen was named League One Manager of the Month in September 2011 after leading the team to four wins and a draw in the league. Alan Curbishley chairman of the Manager of the Month judging panel said: "It was a great month for Notts County as Allen's men earned the most points in npower League 1. In addition to their five league games, they also drew with Juventus in a friendly in Italy to mark a memorable occasion for the club. Martin and his side truly deserve this award."^[18]

Managerial stats

As of 19 November 2011.

Business career

Having run his own soccer schools programme across 13 towns while still playing professionally. Allen, a UEFA Pro License holder and a graduate of the LMA's Certificate in Applied Management at Warwick University, created the company Pro FC which finds young people with the potential to become footballers. He is also non-exec director of the football charity, Coaching for Hope.^[19]

References

External links

• Martin Allen management career stats at Soccerbase
• Martin Allen at westhamstats.info