Happy Birthday to QPR Great, Les Allen, who Turns 75 Today
Various Photos from the Bushman QPR Photo Archives
- Photos from the Bushman QPR Photo Archives
- Video: Playing in QPR 1967's League Cup Final
QPR's Les Allen Turns Seventy-Five
Les Allen - Ex-QPR player and manager (and father of Clive and Bradley Allen and uncle of martin Les Allen, Turned Seventy-Five : Born September 4, 1937.
Started with Chelsea; joined Spurs and was part of Spurs double-winning team. Allen was "surplanted" at Spurs by Jimmy Greaves.
Allen joined QPR in July 1965 for a then-record fee paid by Jim Gregory on behalf of Alec Stock. Allen was part of the 1966/1967 League Cup Winning/Division III Championship team and QPR's 1967/68 Division II promotion team. In his first season, 1965/66, Allen scored 30 goals, including a 6 game streak in which he scored 12 goals - and in one of those games he didn't score.
Allen scored QPR's first-ever goal in Division One coming on as sub at home to Leicester. Allen became player manager in late 1968, replacing Tommy Docherty. Shortly after that Allen stopped playing (see below last game match report!)
Allen managed QPR from then (the Division One relegation season; the whole next season in Division Two, which saw lots of goals; and then the following season until January 1971 when he was replaced by coach, Gordon Jago. (And arguably, since Allen brought Jago to QPR; without Allen, probably no Stan Bowles, Dave Thomas, etc...which impacted deeply on QPR!)..
.As manager, among other players he (and Owner Jim Gregory) bought: Terry Venables and Phil Parkes. He may have become 'relegated' in some minds to being "father of Clive Allen and Bradley Allen" or "Uncle of Martin Allen" - but in his own right, he played a major part in QPR's breakthrough in the mid and late 1960s.
JOINING QPR - (Sunday Times 'Caught in time')
"2 Les Allen (QPR)
A striker in Tottenham's Doublewinning side of 1960-61, Allen moved to QPR for 21,000 pounds in July 1965. "I met Jim Gregory, the chairman, and he laid out the plans about what they wanted to do. I was impressed, even though they were in the Third Division," recalls Allen. "It was quite a change. When I started, we were only getting gates of 3,000 or 4,000 people, but that trebled when we began to get results". Allen became player-manager in December 1968 after the premature departure of Stock and the stormy 28-day reign of the colourful Scot Tommy Docherty. However, the club was relegated, and he moved on to manage Swindon, then spent time in Greece.
He then became a professional model-maker. Allen, who recently underwent hip replacement surgery, is retired and lives in Brentwood." Times.
See also:
Allen's Last Game for QPR - Match Report/summary from Feb 15, 1969
[Note: This was actually the last game Les Allen played for QPR - appropriately enough against Spurs - And the game in which Roger Morgan made his Spurs debut after having just been sold to Spurs for 100,000 pounds+]
"There was a frosty reception for recently signed Roger Morgan as he returned to Loftus Road, but it was only the freezing conditions that conspired to produce the chill. Most players on both teams wore gloves with Greaves donning fingerless fawn mittens.
Rangers were still near the bottom of the table and although both teams put on a good display of football in difficult conditions, the score was 0-0 at the break. The frosty pitch made errors likely and when Les Allen got past our defence, he put in a cross for Frank Clarke to head QPR into the lead soon after the second half started. It was late in the game that things swung Tottenham's way, with Mullery's free-kick being cleared and Morgan putting the ball back into the area for Jimmy Greaves to knock the ball past the keeper. The home side claimed Greaves had handled in the act of scoring, but the referee waved away their complaints.
Rangers almost won the game at the death with a shot from Ian Morgan (twin of Roger) being kicked off the line by Cyril Knowles to preserve the draw.
Teams :
QPR - , , , , Les Allen, Ian Morgan, Clarke
Spurs - Knowles, Mullery, Roger Morgan, Greaves
Attendance : - 30,013
Referee : - Report http://www.mehstg.com/qprmatch.htm
[Team: Kelly - Clement Hazell Hunt Watson
Morgan Sibley Allen
Bridges Clarke Marsh
- Les Allen/Wikipedia Profile
- Les Allen/Spurs Profile
|
- QPR REPORT on TWITTER!
Les Allen - Ex-QPR player and manager (and father of Clive and Bradley Allen and uncle of martin Les Allen, Turned Seventy-Five : Born September 4, 1937.
Started with Chelsea; joined Spurs and was part of Spurs double-winning team. Allen was "surplanted" at Spurs by Jimmy Greaves.
Allen joined QPR in July 1965 for a then-record fee paid by Jim Gregory on behalf of Alec Stock. Allen was part of the 1966/1967 League Cup Winning/Division III Championship team and QPR's 1967/68 Division II promotion team. In his first season, 1965/66, Allen scored 30 goals, including a 6 game streak in which he scored 12 goals - and in one of those games he didn't score.
Allen scored QPR's first-ever goal in Division One coming on as sub at home to Leicester. Allen became player manager in late 1968, replacing Tommy Docherty. Shortly after that Allen stopped playing (see below last game match report!)
Allen managed QPR from then (the Division One relegation season; the whole next season in Division Two, which saw lots of goals; and then the following season until January 1971 when he was replaced by coach, Gordon Jago. (And arguably, since Allen brought Jago to QPR; without Allen, probably no Stan Bowles, Dave Thomas, etc...which impacted deeply on QPR!)..
.As manager, among other players he (and Owner Jim Gregory) bought: Terry Venables and Phil Parkes. He may have become 'relegated' in some minds to being "father of Clive Allen and Bradley Allen" or "Uncle of Martin Allen" - but in his own right, he played a major part in QPR's breakthrough in the mid and late 1960s.
JOINING QPR - (Sunday Times 'Caught in time')
"2 Les Allen (QPR)
A striker in Tottenham's Doublewinning side of 1960-61, Allen moved to QPR for 21,000 pounds in July 1965. "I met Jim Gregory, the chairman, and he laid out the plans about what they wanted to do. I was impressed, even though they were in the Third Division," recalls Allen. "It was quite a change. When I started, we were only getting gates of 3,000 or 4,000 people, but that trebled when we began to get results". Allen became player-manager in December 1968 after the premature departure of Stock and the stormy 28-day reign of the colourful Scot Tommy Docherty. However, the club was relegated, and he moved on to manage Swindon, then spent time in Greece.
He then became a professional model-maker. Allen, who recently underwent hip replacement surgery, is retired and lives in Brentwood." Times.
See also:
Allen's Last Game for QPR - Match Report/summary from Feb 15, 1969
[Note: This was actually the last game Les Allen played for QPR - appropriately enough against Spurs - And the game in which Roger Morgan made his Spurs debut after having just been sold to Spurs for 100,000 pounds+]
"There was a frosty reception for recently signed Roger Morgan as he returned to Loftus Road, but it was only the freezing conditions that conspired to produce the chill. Most players on both teams wore gloves with Greaves donning fingerless fawn mittens.
Rangers were still near the bottom of the table and although both teams put on a good display of football in difficult conditions, the score was 0-0 at the break. The frosty pitch made errors likely and when Les Allen got past our defence, he put in a cross for Frank Clarke to head QPR into the lead soon after the second half started. It was late in the game that things swung Tottenham's way, with Mullery's free-kick being cleared and Morgan putting the ball back into the area for Jimmy Greaves to knock the ball past the keeper. The home side claimed Greaves had handled in the act of scoring, but the referee waved away their complaints.
Rangers almost won the game at the death with a shot from Ian Morgan (twin of Roger) being kicked off the line by Cyril Knowles to preserve the draw.
Teams :
QPR - , , , , Les Allen, Ian Morgan, Clarke
Spurs - Knowles, Mullery, Roger Morgan, Greaves
Attendance : - 30,013
Referee : - Report http://www.mehstg.com/qprmatch.htm
[Team: Kelly - Clement Hazell Hunt Watson
Morgan Sibley Allen
Bridges Clarke Marsh
- Les Allen/Wikipedia Profile
- Les Allen/Spurs Profile
|
- QPR REPORT on TWITTER!
