Ian Allinson

Ian James Robert Allinson (born 1 October 1957) is an English football manager and former player who is the current manager of St Albans City.

Ian Allinson
Personal information
Full name Ian James Robert Allinson[1]
Date of birth (1957-10-01) 1 October 1957[1]
Place of birth Hitchin, England[1]
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2]
Playing position(s) Winger
Club information
Current team
 St Albans City
Youth career
1974–1975 Colchester United
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1975–1983 Colchester United 308 (69)
1983–1987 Arsenal 83 (16)
1987 Stoke City 9 (0)
1987–1988 Luton Town 32 (3)
1988–1989 Colchester United 38 (10)
1989–1992 Baldock Town
Total 470 (98)
Teams managed
1989–1992 Baldock Town
1992–1994 Stotfold
1994 Corby Town
1994–1998 Stotfold
1999–2000 Barton Rovers
2000–2001 Harlow Town
2001–2003 Barton Rovers
2004–2005 Boreham Wood
2005–2006 Stotfold
2006–2008 Stotfold
2008–2015 Boreham Wood
2016– St Albans City
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

In his playing career, Allinson amassed over 300 league appearances for Colchester United in two spells, and played over 100 games in all competitions for Arsenal. He also appeared for Stoke City and Luton Town. During his managerial career, he has managed a number of non-league teams, including Baldock Town, Barton Rovers over two spells, Harlow Town, Stotfold over two spells and has had a previous stint with Boreham Wood.

Career

Born in Hitchin, Allinson began his career with Colchester United as an apprentice in the summer of 1974 and made his debut later in the season, coming on as a substitute for Jimmy Lindsay against Bobby Charlton's Preston North End on 19 April 1975. The match at Layer Road resulted in a 2–2 draw.[3] After picking up the club's 'Young Player of the Year' award after his first season with the club, he was rewarded with his first professional contract in October 1975.[2]

Allinson played a crucial role in Colchester's promotion winning side of the 1976–77 season, netting the winning goal in the final game of the season against Bradford City that secured a promotion slot. A consistent performer with the U's, it was not until the 1981–82 season that Allinson began to be noticed by the wider football world. Colchester boasted a powerful strike force of Roy McDonough, Kevin Bremner, Tony Adcock and Allinson, who scored 43 league goals in just two seasons. Allinson was valued in the region of £100,000 to Colchester, but an administration error cost the club dearly when his future benefits and bonuses were erroneously entered as less than his previous contract, entitling the player to a free-transfer. Fulham were the club most likely to sign Allinson, before a late bid from Arsenal was placed, joining them in the summer of 1983.[2]

Allinson's debut came in a shock League Cup defeat to Walsall on 29 November 1983, signalling the end of Terry Neill's tenure as manager of the club. Under new manager George Graham, he was at times able to keep Charlie Nicholas out of the side, and in one run of form scored eight goals in 11 consecutive appearances.

Allinson was influential during a League Cup semi-final game with local rivals Tottenham Hotspur in 1987, coming on as a substitute to score the goal to draw the sides level after 82 minutes, and then providing the assist for David Rocastle to score the winner. However, Allinson was left out of the squad for the final, in which Arsenal defeated Liverpool.[4]

Having only made 14 appearances for Arsenal in the 1986–87 season, Allinson joined Second Division club Stoke City, but only made nine appearances for the team before signing for Luton Town for a £10,000 fee in October 1987. He scored three goals in 32 league games for Luton, before rejoining Colchester United in December 1988 on a free transfer.[5] He had helped Luton to the FA Cup semi-final and the Full Members Cup final in 1988 prior to his Colchester return.[2]

Allinson was tasked with having to help save Colchester from relegation from the Football League to the Conference by caretaker manager Steve Foley, and under new manager Jock Wallace, United clawed their way back up from the bottom of the league table, with Allinson scoring seven crucial goals to stave off the threat of relegation in the 1988–89 season. However, the club's form failed to improve, and he was released just before Christmas 1989, when he joined Baldock Town as player-manager.[2]

Managerial career

Following his retirement from playing, Allinson became player-manager at Baldock Town from 1989 to 1992[5] before spending six years managing Stotfold.[2] He later managed Barton Rovers on two occasions, Harlow Town, Boreham Wood, Stotfold on a further two occasions, and back to Boreham Wood where he is currently manager.[4]

In 1994, he managed Corby Town F.C. whose Chairman at the time was Steve Evans, the current Manager of Leeds United F.C Upon taking on the Chairmanship of the Northamptonshire club, Evans dismissed the managerial duo of Bryn Gunn and Gerry McElhinney in favour of Allison but he resigned just a day after his appointment when he tendered his resignation after returning home from his first training session where he was introduced to the players. Allison later commented of the episode: "I hadn't met Steve Evans before and didn't know why he had approached me. But after thinking about it I doubted if we would be able to work together."

Allinson took Boreham Wood to promotion in the Isthmian League Premier Division via the play-offs in the 2009–10 season, defeating Kingstonian 2–0 in the final.[6]

During a game against Havant & Waterlooville in January 2011, the ball was put out of play so a Havant player could receive treatment, and upon passing the ball back to the Havant keeper, Boreham Wood player Mario Noto overhit his pass back to the goalkeeper and the ball hit the back of the net. Allinson signalled to his players to allow Havant to score a goal unchallenged. For this gesture, Allinson was hailed for his sportsmanship by Havant manager Shaun Gale.

Allison left Boreham Wood in October 2015 due to other work commitments. However, he confirmed that he would not retire from football. On 12 February 2016 Allinson took over managerial duties at St Albans City FC.

Personal life

Alongside his managerial duties, Allinson has worked in sales,[7] and during Boreham Wood's FA Trophy run in 2006, he was working as a marketing representative for the competition's sponsors, Carlsberg. Allinson was acting as the club's director of football at the time.[8]

In February 2019, Allinson was inducted into the Colchester United Hall of Fame.[9]

Career statistics
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other[A] Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Colchester United 1974–75 Third Division 1000000010
1975–76 5000000050
1976–77 Fourth Division 397202000437
1977–78 Third Division 456405100547
1978–79 465702000555
1979–80 382414100464
1980–81 466412000527
1981–82 Fourth Division 42215352005226
1982–83 46221042325426
Total 308692752463236282
Arsenal 1983–84 First Division 90001000100
1984–85 27102011003011
1985–86 3365351004310
1986–87 140215100212
Total 8316941230010423
Stoke City 1987–88 Second Division 90001000100
Total 90001000100
Luton Town 1987–88 First Division 273510040364
1988–89 5000100060
Total 323511040424
Colchester United 1988–89 Fourth Division 257310031319
1989–90 133002000153
Total 38103120314612
Career total 470984411409103564121

Source: The English National Football Archive

A. ^ The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the Football League Group Cup, Football League Trophy and Full Members Cup.

Honours

As a player

Club
Luton Town
  • 1988 Full Members Cup runner-up

Individual

As manager
Boreham Wood
All honours referenced by:[2][6]
gollark: Also a live workingish setup back at my overworld cube.
gollark: Well. Triangulation, anyway.
gollark: I have code for that.
gollark: Well, they don't boot off disk, I'm not that dumb.
gollark: I'll have to check the street signs tomorrow. They have very slight security issues.

References
  1. "Colchester United – Player profile". Coludata.co.uk. Archived from the original on 4 November 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
  2. Whitehead, Jeff; Drury, Kevin (2008). The Who's Who of Colchester United: The Layer Road Years. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-85983-629-3.
  3. "Colchester United – Match details – Colchester Utd 2–2 Preston North End". Coludata.co.uk. Archived from the original on 18 July 2013. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
  4. "Ian Allinson - Arsenal.com". Arsenal.com. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  5. "Arsenal old boys, 1986/87 to present". Arseweb. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  6. "Ian Allinson – BWFC". Boreham Wood FC. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  7. "ALLINSON, Ian – Footballers – Where Are They Now?". Where Are They Now?. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  8. "Allinson eyes final date for Wood". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  9. Waldron, Jonathan (26 February 2019). "Colchester United legend Steve Foley inducted into club's Hall of Fame". Daily Gazette. Colchester. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
  • Ian Allinson at Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database
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