Martin Allen

For other people named Martin Allen, see Martin Allen (disambiguation).

Martin Allen

Allen in 2013
Personal information
Full name	Martin James Allen
Date of birth	(1965-08-14) 14 August 1965
Place of birth	Reading, Berkshire, England
Team information
Current team	Barnet (head coach)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1984–1989	Queens Park Rangers	136	(16)
1989–1995	West Ham United	190	(25)
1995–1997	Portsmouth	45	(4)
1997–1998	Southend United	5	(0)
Total		376	(45)
International career
1986–1987	England U21	2	(0)
Managerial career
2003–2004	Barnet
2004–2006	Brentford
2006–2007	Milton Keynes Dons
2007	Leicester City
2008–2009	Cheltenham Town
2011	Barnet
2011–2012	Notts County
2012	Barnet
2012–2013	Gillingham
2014–	Barnet
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Martin James Allen (born 14 August 1965) is an English former football player and current head coach of Barnet. 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, Cheltenham Town, Barnet and Notts County. He rejoined Barnet as manager on 16 April 2012 on a short term, three-match contract succeeding Lawrie Sanchez. In July 2012 he became manager of Gillingham and in the 2012–13 season led the team to the Football League Two title, earning Allen his first promotion as a manager and Gillingham's first divisional title in 49 years. He was sacked as Gillingham manager in October 2013. He played as a midfielder.

Playing career

Often referred to by his nickname of "Mad Dog", Allen began his career with Queens Park Rangers, signing professional in 1983 and spending six years at Loftus Road playing in the 1986 League Cup Final defeat against Oxford United, before a £670,000 move to West Ham United. Signed by manager Lou Macari, Allen made his debut on 26 August 1989 in a 3–2 home win against Plymouth Argyle. He scored the second goal, the other West Ham goals coming from David Kelly and Kevin Keen. Under manager Billy Bonds Allen was part of the team which won promotion to the First Division in 1991 and to the Premier League in 1993. Allen was frequently booked during his West Ham career and had a reputation for poor discipline. He was sent off in a match on 17 January 1990 for a two-footed lunge on Derby County's Mark Patterson. During a game on 30 November 1991 against Sheffield Wednesday, managed by Allen's manager at Queens Park Rangers, Trevor Francis, Allen was booked after only 20 seconds of being on the pitch for a jump tackle on Carlton Palmer which saw Palmer carried off with a suspected broken leg. Although not sent-off, West Ham manager Bonds fined Allen a week's wages. During his time at Queens Park Rangers Allen had been refused permission, by manager Francis, to attend the birth of his first child as Allen would miss an important match. Allen attended the birth and was disciplined by the club. Under Bonds and Harry Redknapp Allen formed a successful partnership with Peter Butler with Allen contributing 34 goals from midfield in 234 appearances. However, by 1995 team discipline was poor at West Ham and with Allen playing alongside Julian Dicks, John Moncur and Don Hutchison bookings were commonplace. Allen was again dismissed in a match against Queens Park Rangers on 3 May 1995 after fouling Rufus Brevett. He would play only five more games before being allowed to leave.

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. After three frustrating years with Pompey, which took in a brief loan stint at Southend United, he retired and began a coaching career.

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 exiting the Brentford team bus at Victoria Park in 2005.

Allen took over the from Wally Downes at Second Division side Brentford in March 2004. He had a good run at the club, saving them from relegation to the Third Division in what remained of the 2003–04 season. In the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons he took Brentford to the play-offs with fourth and third-place finishes respectively, but they were eliminated by Sheffield Wednesday and Swansea City respectively in the semi-finals on both occasions. Allen won press attention during the 2004–05 season for the success of his self-described "two bob team", which was composed of ageing pros (John Salako, Andy Myers, Scott Fitzgerald and Jamie Lawrence), free transfers (Deon Burton, Chris Hargreaves, Stewart Talbot and Isaiah Rankin) and young guns who would go on to play in the Premier League (Jay Tabb, Stephen Hunt, Sam Sodje and Michael Turner). Allen took Brentford to the fifth round of the FA Cup in two consecutive years, going out to Premier League sides Southampton in the 2004–05 season (losing 3–1 in a replay, after a 2–2 draw at St Mary's) and 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 Premier League side 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 paid off due to the relative success Brentford had under him on a limited budget. He participated in a 25 mile sponsored bike ride on November 2005 to raise funds for Brentford. To inspire the team, Allen swam in the Tees before a 1-0 FA Cup fourth round replay victory over Hartlepool United in February 2005 and jumped naked into the Solent before Brentford's 2-2 draw at Southampton in the following round. 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. In July 2006 he completed his UEFA Pro Licence in coaching. With the club struggling in League One in late 2010, there was speculation that Allen would replace Andy Scott as manager, but the reports were quashed by Brentford chief executive Andrew Mills.

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, 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. But when Hasselbaink arrived in Leicester on 13 August, Allen told him that the medical was no longer going take place. 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. 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.

After leaving Leicester, Allen declared his interest in managing Swindon Town, 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. His father, Dennis, had been manager at Whaddon Road between 1974 and 1979. 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. 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. On 11 December it was announced he had left the club. In January 2010 he was appointed part-time scout for Queens Park Rangers.

Return to Barnet

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

Notts County

Allen took charge of Notts County on 11 April 2011 signing a one-year rolling contract. 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.

Allen was sacked by Notts County on 18 February 2012.

Third spell at Barnet

Allen was appointed caretaker manager of Barnet on 16 April 2012 for the last three games of the 2011–12 season, replacing Lawrie Sanchez. Barnet managed two wins under Allen's managership, finished 22nd and avoided relegation from League Two with a 2–1 win on 5 May 2012 on the last day of the season, against Burton Albion. Following the end of the season, Allen's contract ended.

Gillingham

On 5 July 2012, Allen was appointed manager of Gillingham signing a two-year contract. His first match as Gillingham manager came on 14 August 2012, a 2-1 away win against Bristol City in the League Cup. While at Gillingham, Allen oversaw the Kent side's best ever start to a league season. He also broke the club record for most away wins in a football league season with a 1-0 win over Chesterfield, the eleventh of the season on 23 February 2013. On 6 April 2013 Gillingham secured promotion to League One, Allen's first ever promotion in his career as a manager. They secured the League Two title with a 2-2 draw against AFC Wimbledon at Priestfield on 20 April. On 20 May 2013, Allen was crowned League 2 Manager of the Year by the LMA for his achievements with the club. Allen was sacked by Gillingham in October 2013 after sixteen months in charge. Gillingham had won just two games from eleven played on their return to League One.

Fourth spell at Barnet

Allen was appointed head coach of Barnet on 19 March 2014 until the end of the 2014–15 season, marking his fourth spell at the club. He coached them to the 2014-15 Football Conference championship on April 25, 2015 to secure promotion to League Two.

Honours

Managerial honours

Brentford

• Supporters Direct Cup (1): 2004

Gillingham

• Football League Two (1): 2012–13

Barnet

• Football Conference (1): 2014–15

Family

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 played under his management at several clubs and now plays for Margate. His nephews Harry and Freddie are also young footballers. Freddie is the captain of Oxford United's youth team.

Business career

Having run his own soccer schools programme across 13 towns while still playing professionally. Allen, a UEFA Pro Licence 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.

Journalism

In December 2013 Allen began writing for the Daily Mail. His column, "Mad Dog on Monday", is published online via the Daily Mail's website, Mail Online Sport.

Managerial statistics

As of 9 January 2016.

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
Barnet		March 2003	March 2004	47	20	17	10	42.55
Brentford		18 March 2004	31 May 2006	124	54	36	34	43.55
Milton Keynes Dons		21 June 2006	25 May 2007	55	28	11	16	50.91
Leicester City		25 May 2007	29 August 2007	4	2	1	1	50.00
Cheltenham Town		15 September 2008	11 December 2009	60	13	19	28	21.67
Barnet		23 March 2011	11 April 2011	3	2	1	0	66.67
Notts County		11 April 2011	18 February 2012	43	16	10	17	37.21
Barnet		16 April 2012	11 June 2012	3	2	0	1	66.67
Gillingham		5 July 2012	13 October 2013	64	27	17	20	42.19
Barnet		19 March 2014		91	43	18	30	47.25
Total				495	207	130	158	41.82

External links

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