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Jimmy Allen
Edit ProfileEducation
He attended Street Mary"s School in Longfleet, playing football for the school team, and also played for Poole Central.
Career
He played as a defender for and, making over 250 league appearances. He made two appearances for England at full international level After World World War II, Allen became manager of, who he led from the Southern League into the Football League in 1950.
Born in Poole, Allen was the youngest of thirteen children to Samuel and Fanny Allen.
Allen played for his local club Poole Town, earning a transfer to for a sum of £1,200 in 1930. Allen made 132 appearances for, scoring one goal.
Allen joined in 1934 for a record transfer fee of £10,775. He played in 147 league matches for Villa, scoring two goals, unable to help the club avoid relegation from the First Division in 1936, but captaining the side to the Second Division championship in 1938.
He was in his prime when his career was interrupted by the outbreak of World World War World War II He was forced to retire through injury in 1944, following wartime guest appearances for Birmingham City, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Luton Town, and Southampton, where he made eight appearances.
His second and final appearance for England came in a 2–1 defeat to Wales on 15 November 1933 at Street James" Park, Newcastle upon Tyne. He was injured after 36 minutes. Allen was the 588th player to appear for England.
After the war and retiring from playing, Allen became a sports and welfare officer for a Birmingham company, but in 1948 took up the opportunity to manage.
With the 1947-1948 Southern League Cup final postponed until the 1948-1949 season, Colchester were required to fulfil two cup finals in the space of 10 days, finishing as runner-up in both to Merthyr Tydfil in the 1948 final and losing to Yeovil Town in the 1949 final. On 3 June 1950, with the expansion of the Third Division South, Colchester were elected to the Football League for the first time in their history under Allen"s stewardship.
Allen led the U"s to 16th and 10th position in the 1950-1951 and 1951-1952 seasons respectively, but a poor run of form left Colchester to finish 22nd in the 1952-1953 season, as Allen resigned on 2 May 1953. Following his departure from Colchester, he became a landlord in Southsea.
He died in Southsea aged 85 on 5 February 1995.
As a player As manager.
