Profile of Clive Allen on Famous Like Me

Clive Allen (born Stepney, London, May 20, 1961) was an English international football player and a prolific scorer for a number of clubs.

Allen is the son of ex-Tottenham Hotspur forward Les Allen, who was a member of the legendary team which won the First Division title and FA Cup "double" in 1961 (the Cup success occurred exactly two weeks before Allen Jnr's birth).

A fearfully accurate centre forward, Allen joined Queens Park Rangers as a youth player, making his debut in 1978. After the club was relegated in 1979, Allen became a first-choice striker in their quest to return to the top flight, scoring a phenomenal 28 goals. This prompted Arsenal to make a bid of one and a quarter million pounds for him in the summer of 1980, which QPR accepted. This was big news in the sports pages as Allen was still a teenager.

There followed a most bizarre sequence of events which led to Allen leaving Arsenal before he had even kicked a ball. Two months after arriving at Highbury, he was sold in part-exchange to Crystal Palace in another seven-figure deal which saw England full back Kenny Sansom come the other way. There was a rumour that QPR and Palace had secured a deal for Allen on the condition that QPR did not sell Allen to Palace directly, and Arsenal acted as go-betweens. This has never been confirmed or disproved.

Allen scored eight goals for Palace but found himself on the move again another year later, with his former club QPR making a bid to bring him back to Loftus Road after a tumultuous two years elsewhere in London.

QPR, still in the Second Division, were now coached by Terry Venables and Allen's first season back at the club revived his fortunes as he scored 13 goals to help the club to promotion. They also got to the FA Cup final - unusual for a club outside the top flight - and, adding extra intrigue to the occasion, QPR's opponents were Tottenham, with whom Allen Snr. had been so successful.

The day went appallingly for Allen - he was injured after just two minutes at Wembley and he had to be substituted. The match ended 1-1 after extra-time but Allen wasn't fit enough to take part in the replay, which Tottenham won 1-0.

Over the next two seasons, Allen scored 27 League goals as QPR consolidated their new status back in the First Division. In the summer of 1984, Allen was given his first England cap by Bobby Robson in a friendly against Brazil, coming on as a substitute. England won 2-0 but when Allen started the next game of this tour of South America three days later, they lost 2-0 to Uruguay. He played in the third game of the tour too, which was a goalless draw against Chile. Upon arriving home, Allen joined Tottenham, following in his father's footsteps, for 700,000 pounds.

A settling-in period at Spurs followed, with Allen scoring twice on his debut and ultimately weighing in with eight goals from 15 appearances in his first season. He suffered with injury during his first two years but a fully-fit Allen took to the field at the start of his third season as Spurs found themselves able to chase three trophies thanks to their red-hot goalscorer. By now, Allen's cousin Paul had also joined the club.

Allen, playing as a lone forward with the creative forces of Glenn Hoddle, Osvaldo Ardiles and Chris Waddle laying on the chances, fired 33 League goals plus 16 more in the League Cup and FA Cup competitions as Spurs reached both semi-finals while challenging for the League. In the League Cup semi, Spurs faced their fierce rivals Arsenal and Allen scored three goals over three matches (it was level after two legs so a replay was required) but still Arsenal won through to the final. However, Spurs reached the 1987 FA Cup final at Wembley after easily overpowering Watford in the semi. As the season drew to a close, Allen got his fourth England cap in a goalless draw versus Turkey.

At Wembley, Spurs' opponents were Coventry City and Spurs started as clear favourites. Five years earlier Allen picked up an injury in the second minute of the FA Cup final; this time he picked up a goal. An early Hoddle free kick was cleared to Waddle on the right flank, and the England winger thundered in a near post cross which the perfectly-positioned Allen headed home. Still it would end in heartbreak though, as Coventry fought back to win 3-2 in extra time. Allen's final tally of 49 goals that season broke the Spurs club record held by Jimmy Greaves. He also picked up the titles of PFA Player of the Year and Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year.

Tottenham seemed to peak at this point and the following season Allen's touch wasn't quite the same. He scored eleven goals and won a fifth and final England cap in another goalless draw, versus Israel. He never scored for his country. In March 1988, Spurs sold Allen to French champions Bordeaux for one million pounds. Eighteen months later he joined Manchester City but despite a good goalscoring record, fell out of favour when Peter Reid took over as manager. He subsequently had short spells with Chelsea, West Ham United, Millwall and Carlisle United before retiring in 1995. In an intriguing change of sport, he had a brief spell with London Monarchs in the NFL Europe.

Allen, who suffered from alopecia for a spell, is now a pundit for a variety of media organisations, most often seen on Sky Sports.

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