Clive Darren Allen (born 20 May 1961) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward for seven different London clubs. Allen was a prolific striker throughout his career. In 1986-87 he won the PFA and Football Writers' Association player of the year awards. He also won 5 caps for England from 1984 to 1988. Early life 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. Club career Queens Park Rangers He started his career at Queens Park Rangers in the late 1970s, and scored 32 league goals in 49 appearances, 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 notorious incident in the defeat against Coventry City on 6 September 1980, his shot flying into the goal and rebounding 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. Highlights of the match 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 promotion. QPR also had their most successful FA Cup run, reaching the final for the first time with Allen scoring the goals in 1–0 victories in both the 6th Round (vs Crystal Palace) and semi-final (vs West Bromwich Albion). Allen was injured in the final against Tottenham Hotspur and subsequently missed the replay. Over the next two seasons, Allen scored 27 League goals as QPR first won the Second Division Championship