ALLEN, Leslie William (1959-1965)
Position: Centre or inside forward
Height: 5ft 10ins
Weight: 10st 3lbs
Born: Dagenham, Essex, 4 September, 1937
Signed from Chelsea, December, 1959, exchange for Johnny Brooks
Transferred to Queens Park Rangers, July, 1965
Also played for:Chelsea, Queens Park Rangers
Spurs Record:
Debut: 19 December, 1959 v Newcastle United (FL) (h) won 4-0
Appearances: League 119, FA Cup 15, Europe 3, Others 10
Goals: League 47, FA Cup 13, Europe 1, Others 14
In four years with Chelsea, Les Allen had scored 11 goals in 44 League games but with Ron Tindall and Jimmy Greaves ahead of him in the pecking order he did not look to have much of a future in West London. At 22 his career appeared to have stalled but within 18 months of joining Spurs it zoomed to new heights as Allen became an ever-present member of the ‘Double’ winning team.
It was a typically shrewd piece of business when Bill Nicholson offered former England international Johnny Brooks in exchange for Allen, who had been an amateur on our books before signing for Chelsea, in December 1959. Nicholson had been in charge for just over a year and was already turning things around but knew he needed more firepower. Having started as an out-and-out centre-forward, Allen’s arrival was sure to take some of the goalscoring burden off the shoulders of Bobby Smith and Cliff Jones.
He did not find the net on his debut but scored 13 in his next eight games including five in the 13-2 FA Cup annihilation of Crewe Alexandra. By the end of the season he had scored 15 goals in 19 matches.
Allen fitted perfectly into the style of play Nicholson demanded of his team. He was strong, had excellent ball control and liked to move the ball around quickly. His intelligent linking of defence and attack was just what Nicholson wanted, his tireless work in closing down space and defending from the front crucial to Spurs’ success and when an opening presented itself he knew how to make the most of it. Playing behind Smith, Allen had time and space and was able to move into the box late to feed off the crosses supplied by Jones and Terry Dyson or pick up the pieces from a Smith knockdown. He was also able to hold back and use his excellent passing ability to create chances.
Ever-present in the Double season, he scored 27 goals, second only to Smith, including the one that clinched the League title against Sheffield Wednesday, a superb right foot volley that sent a packed White Hart Lane into raptures.
Allen collected an England Under-23 cap in February, 1961, but that was the nearest he got to full international honours. The chances of going further on the international scene were not helped by the arrival in November, 1961, of Greaves, the only player who could improve Nicholson’s great team. Greaves was expected to take Allen’s place but it was actually Smith who found himself out of the team at first. For the next two years Allen competed with Smith for the central role, partnering Greaves as often as Smith did but losing out when trophies were at stake, namely the 1962 FA Cup Final and the following years’ European Cup Winner’s Cup Final.
It was only with the arrival of Alan Gilzean in December, 1964, that Allen became surplus to requirements and in the summer of 1965 he was allowed to move to Queens Park Rangers.
At Loftus Road he helped a young Rangers side climb from the Third to First Division in successive seasons and become the first Third Division side to win the League Cup on the first occasion the Final was held at Wembley. Allen moved into management with Rangers in December, 1968, and later managed Swindon Town and in Greece before leaving football entirely.