MALCOLM ALLISON

'Malcolm Alexander Allison' (born 5 September 1927 in Dartford) is an English former football player and manager.

Contents

Playing career

Management career

Manchester City

Crystal Palace

References

Playing career

Allison joined West Ham United in February 1951, after seven seasons at Charlton Athletic. A promising career as a centre-half was ended prematurely by a bout of tuberculosis. He fell ill after a game against Sheffield United on 16 September 1957 and had a lung removed in hospital. This turned out to be his last senior game for West Ham, although he battled on in the reserve team. He also later played for Romford.

Management career

Allison's first taste of coaching was at West Ham, where - under Ted Fenton - he took charge of coaching sessions and acted as mentor to a young Bobby Moore. He was a flamboyant and widely travelled football coach and manager, who was seldom seen without his fedora and a cigar. His management career included clubs such as Plymouth Argyle, Manchester City, Crystal Palace and Middlesbrough. He also managed overseas, in Turkey with Galatasaray (1976-1977), and in Portugal with Sporting, where he won the championship title, and the Portuguese Cup, in 1981-1982.

Manchester City

His most successful managerial period was probably not in a job where he had full control, but in his post as assistant manager (to Joe Mercer) at Manchester City between 1965 and 1972. This era is believed to be strongest in Manchester City's history - they won the First Division (1967-68), FA Cup (1969), League Cup (1970) and Cup Winners' Cup (1970), with a team including such greats as Colin Bell, Mike Summerbee and Francis Lee. However his reputation was blighted by his second spell at the club when he sold crowd favourites such as Peter Barnes and Gary Owen and replaced them with unknowns such as Michael Robinson and the absurdly overvalued Steve Daley. He is also fondly remembered at Crystal Palace for taking the then third division side to an FA Cup Semi Final in 1976, beating first division Leeds United, Chelsea and Sunderland before losing to Southampton in the semi final at Stamford Bridge. During this cup run his image was iconic, being associated with his lucky Fedora hat, large cigars and sheepskin coat.

Crystal Palace

Allison was certainly one of the most flamboyant characters in Crystal Palace's history and his time at Selhurst Park was a rollercoaster ride for Palace supporters.
On March 31 1973 Malcolm was appointed Palace manager after previously holding the role at
Bath City, Plymouth Argyle and Manchester City where he helped the club to top domestic honours along with Joe Mercer. Despite his arrival the Eagles were relegated losing five out of the last seven games.
The following season was even more disastrous because of a second successive relegation.
Malcolm completely restructured the side in an attempt to halt the club's decline and he angered many fans with his decision to replace favourite John Jackson in the Palace goal. Malcolm's larger than life image was a mixed blessing in Division Three for it raised hopes of and aspirations of supporters while also serving to motivate other clubs when they visited SE25.
However, 1975-76 was the most successful season for Malcolm at Selhurst Park as he spurred his side onto a FA Cup semi-final appearance. Brilliant victories against higher league opposition in the shape of Leeds United, Chelsea and Sunderland lead to the club's first FA Cup semi but unfortunately eventual winners Southampton proved too strong at Stamford Bridge.
With the team failing to reach Wembley and win promotion Malcolm resigned in May 1976 but he returned to the club in 1980-81 for a two-month period in doomed attempt to avoid relegation from the top-flight.
In January 2007, Crystal Palace fans organised a tribute to Allison, which they named Fedora Day. Fans set up a campaign on [www.cpfc.org] an unofficial forum dedicated to the club to mark the 31st anniversary of the famous FA Cup run which Allison masterminded. The date chosen was that of the game against Preston North End in the 4th Round of the FA Cup on 27 January 2007. Fans sporting Allison's favoured Fedora's smoked cigars and drank champagne whilst cheering on their side. Whilst this caught major national press coverage, including ''The Sun'' newspaper, Crystal Palace - managed by Peter Taylor, a star of the 1976 side - were unable to match their predecessors and were knocked out of the cup 2-0.

References

★ Who's Who of West Ham United, , Tony, Hogg, Profile Sports Media, 2005, ISBN 1 903135 50 8

★ Malcolm Allison management statistics at Soccerbase