Ronnie Allen

Ronald Allen (15 January 1929 – 9 June 2001) was an English international football player and manager.

Ronald Allen was born on 15 January 1929 in Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.

He attended Hanley High School.

Despite playing for the school rugby team, his preferred sport was football, and he turned out for his local Boys' Brigade team and later, Wellington Scouts.

He then moved on to Northwood Mission where he played at outside-right, alongside Bill McGarry and Basil Hayward, who would later become his teammates at Port Vale.

Allen scored 57 goals for the Mission in the 1943–44 season.

Allen signed amateur forms with Port Vale in December 1944 at the age of 15.

He made his full debut on 2 April 1945 in a 2–2 draw against Wrexham in the Football League North, playing at outside-right and laying on one of Vale's goals.

At this point in his life he was a mere 4 ft and weighed under 8 stone (50 kg).

He scored his first goal for the club in a 4–3 win against Norwich City in August 1945, and in March 1946 signed as a part-time professional, for which he received a £10 signing-on fee.

He was a professional footballer for nineteen years, between 1946 and 1964, making 638 appearances in the Football League, and scoring 276 goals.

He also won five caps for England national team.

He later became a manager at clubs in England, Spain, Portugal, and Greece.

Starting his career in 1946 with Port Vale, he spent four years with the club, before making a record breaking transfer to West Bromwich Albion.

The 1946–47 season was the first full season of competitive football in England following the end of the Second World War; Allen made his Football League debut on 7 September 1946 in a 2–1 defeat to Exeter City.

Due to his national service commitments, he only made 18 appearances during that season, scoring five goals.

He was the club's top scorer in the 1947–48 season with 13 goals.

Allen joined the Royal Air Force early in 1947 and represented their football team on several occasions.

He was demobbed on 1 June 1949.

In total he played 156 games for the club (including wartime appearances), scoring 40 goals.

He was one of the best strikers of the 1950s, playing over 400 games, with a ratio of a goal every two games.

Allen was transferred to West Bromwich Albion on 2 March 1950 for £20,000, a club record fee for both clubs at the time.

This was more than double the previous Albion record, set when Jackie Vernon was brought to the club three years earlier.

Allen scored on his debut two days later to secure a 1–1 draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a First Division match.

The attendance of 60,945 remains a record for a league game at The Hawthorns.

Though only 5 ft and barely 11 st, he emerged as a talented striker, helping to define the modern role of target man.

Signed by Jack Smith, he was soon converted from a wide player into a centre-forward.

Davy Walsh, the club's top-scorer since the war, was sold on to Aston Villa in December 1950 for a £25,000 fee.

Allen also benefited from the ultra-modern training techniques of Jesse Carver, who served Albion as manager for a brief time in the 1952–53 campaign.

Carver's successor, Vic Buckingham, also had a Total Football philosophy, and appreciated the technical skill Allen possessed, allowing him to play as a deep-lying attacker with room to dribble at will – a revolutionary position and tactic.

He lifted the FA Cup in 1954, and helped the club to the FA Charity Shield in 1954, and a second-place finish in the First Division in 1953–54.

In 1961 he signed with Crystal Palace, where he spent the final four years of his playing career.

He helped Palace win promotion out of the Third Division in 1963–64.

His management career began in 1966 with Wolverhampton Wanderers, as he led Wolves out of the Second Division in 1966–67.

In 1969, he took up the reins at Spanish club Athletic Bilbao, leading the club to a second-place finish in La Liga in 1969–70.

His son, Russell, also played professional football throughout the 1970s.

In 1972, he was appointed manager of Portuguese club Sporting Lisbon, after one season with the club he moved back to England to manage Walsall for a brief period.

In 1977, he spent a short time as manager of West Bromwich Albion.

After a spell advising the Saudi Arabia national team, he took charge of Greek club Panathinaikos for a short time in 1980.

His last management position was back at West Brom in 1981–82, following which he served the club as a coach and scout.