John Allen (footballer, born 1964)

John Allen (born 14 November 1964) is a Welsh-Finnish football player and coach. He is the head coach of the Under-19 squad of Finnish club TPS.

John Allen

Personal information
Date of birth	(1964-11-14) 14 November 1964 (age 59)
Place of birth	Chester, England
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	TPS (U19 manager)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1981–1984	Chester City	79	(5)
1984–1985	Mansfield Town	2	(0)
1985–1986	Huima	40	(10)
1987–1988	MP	47	(10)
1989	Västra Frölunda	8	(1)
1989	Malmö FF	5	(1)
1990–1992	MP	80	(8)
1993–1994	RoPS	49	(13)
1995	TPS	26	(8)
1996–1997	MYPA	36	(6)
1998	RoPS	26	(4)
1999	TPV	18	(1)
1999	KuPS	4	(0)
2000–2001	Salpa	37	(2)
Managerial career
2003–2008	TPS (assistant)
2008	TPS
2009	ÅIFK
2010–2011	RoPS
2012–2014	SalPa
2015–2016	FC Jazz
2016–2018	Inter Turku (assistant)
2018	Inter Turku
2019–2020	Oskarshamns AIK
2020–2022	TPS (Women's) (assistant)
2022–	TPS (U19)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career

Allen started playing football at his local club Chester City. After a brief visit at Mansfield Town, he emigrated to Finland.^[1] At MP he made his top flight debut in 1987. He made a total of 282 appearances and scored 50 goals while playing for RoPS, TPS, MYPA and TPV. As a player, he won the Finnish Championship, then known as Mestaruussarja, twice.

Managerial career

After retiring as a player he joined his former club, TPS, as an assistant coach in 2003. He took charge of the first team as a caretaker in 2008 after Martti Kuusela's dismissal.^[2] After the appointment of Pasi Rautiainen in 2009, Allen became the manager of TPS's feeder club, ÅIFK as well as the youth teams of TPS.^[3]

In November 2009 Allen signed a two-year contract with RoPS, then playing in the second highest division of Finnish football system.^[4] After only one season with RoPS they gained promotion to Veikkausliiga after being crowned the champions of Ykkönen.

In October 2014 he was signed by FC Jazz.^[5]

Allen joined Swedish team Oskarshamns AIK in December 2018, where he lasted as headcoach until April 2020.^[6] In May 2020, he returned to TPS as an assistant coach of the club's women's team.^[7]

Honours

• Ykkönen: 2010

References

1. Brown, Neil (2 September 2012). "Chester City: 1946/47 – 1999/2000 & 2004/05 – 2008/09". Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database. Retrieved 3 November 2012.
2. John Allen as caretaker of TPS Archived 22 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine (in Finnish)
3. Pasi Rautiainen replaces John Allen as TPS manager Archived 22 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine (in Finnish)
4. John Allen takes charge of RoPS (in Finnish)
5. "John Allen FC Jazzin päävalmentajaksi" (audio) Radio Pori, 30 October 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
6. John Allen ny huvudtränare för Oskarshamns AIK, oskarshamnsaik.se, 30 December 2018
7. "JOHN ALLEN LIITTYY TPS:N NAISTEN EDUSTUKSEN VALMENNUSRYHMÄÄN" (in Finnish). Turun Palloseura. 7 May 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2022.