Clive Allen

Queens Park Rangers

Allen started his career at Queens Park Rangers in the late 1970s. He made his league debut coming on as a substitute at home against Chelsea in November 1978 and scored 32 league goals in 49 appearances which included a hat trick on his full debut at home to Coventry later the same season, before moving to Arsenal.

Arsenal

Allen signed for Arsenal in the summer of 1980 for a fee of £1.25m. He did not play a competitive match for the club, although he did play three pre-season matches. He soon moved on to Crystal Palace in a swap deal with Kenny Sansom.

Crystal Palace

Allen was Palace's top scorer for the 1980–81 season with nine goals in the league and 11 in all competitions, when Palace finished bottom of the First Division. In one of his earliest games for the club, Allen was at the centre of a notable incident in the defeat against Coventry City on 6 September 1980, when his shot flew into the goal and rebounded from the stanchion holding up the netting so quickly that it was ruled not a goal, the referee mistakenly ruling that the ball had hit the frame of the goal. As highlights of the match were being televised by the BBC, the incident was captured on camera.

Return to Queens Park Rangers

QPR, still in the Second Division, were now managed by Terry Venables (who had signed Allen for Palace) and in Allen's first season back at the club (1981–82) he scored 13 Second Division goals, though not enough to win…

In the summer of 1984, Allen was given his first England cap against Brazil. In total he made five appearances for England without scoring.

In 1997, Allen played American football as a placekicker for the London Monarchs of NFL Europe. He converted six of six field goals and seven of ten extra points.

Clive Allen was born in Stepney, London on 20 May 1961. His father, Les Allen, was a member of Tottenham Hotspur's Double-winning team of 1960–61. His younger brother, Bradley Allen, and cousins Martin and Paul Allen also played football professionally.