Ronnie Allen (r) shakes hands with West Ham United's Johnny Byrne prior to kick-off

Clubs: Port Vale, West Bromwich Albion, Crystal Palace

International honours: England

Although Ronnie Allen was only 5ft 8in tall he played equally effectively as centre-forward or at outside-right and he had appeared in both positions for England prior to joining the Eagles in the summer of 1961.

After arriving in SE25 Ronnie immediately struck up a superb strike partnership with Johnny Byrne as newly promoted Palace made an impact on Division Three. It was, however, after Palace had acquired Cliff Holton that and Dickie Dowsett that supporters saw the best of Ronnie as he sprayed passes and crosses which they could score from. During the 1964/65 promotions season Ronnie was Palace's captain but unfortunately injury limited his appearances.

Ronnie returned to his native Midlands to become the senior coach at Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1965 but not before scoring a hat-trick against Charlton Athletic in one of his last few games for the club.

Statistics

Games

Goals

1961/1962

31

13

1962/1963

40

12

1963/1964

29

9

1964/1965

9

3

Total

109

37

Source: The Palace Centurions, Rev. Nigel Sands (Sporting and Leisure Press, 1991)

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