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With 41 points in the bank before the end of November, Martin Allen had already steered Gillingham on an unwavering course – final destination the npower League Two title. That award, and, of course, with it, promotion back to League One, was secured with a 2-2 home draw against AFC Wimbledon on April 20. And the 47-year-old manager admitted the achievement was the best of his career.
“Oh, this is the best highlight of my career, without question. I’m the worst Allen in the Allen family. The others are multi-talented, and for me, to be nicknamed Mad Dog just because I tackled people and make a living from football, and to be known as a manager who keeps clubs up, to be champions, is unbelievable.
“It’s a lottery win, Christmas Day, money can’t buy that. It is a priceless moment.”
You look very much at home here, Martin. Do you think - at last - now you’re 47 years old and managing your seventh club, that this could be the real deal for you?
“A lot has been made of my comings and goings but in most cases, the reason I didn’t stay too long was because I was sacked. It wasn’t my choice to leave Notts County, nor Leicester City, and when I left Barnet it was to move up two divisions. At Brentford I resigned after two crazy years of - both times - reaching the play-offs and the fifth round of the FA Cup because I was exhausted.”
“The chairman said to me when I arrived that he thought I would do well and he wanted to know how I’d react if we were winning matches and another club came for me. I told him I’ll see out my contract and we shook hands on it. And as anyone who knows me will tell you, I’m a man of my word.”
“You mustn’t forget that Andy’s team finished eighth for each of the last two seasons and we didn’t have a ‘clean sweep’ when I took over. I’ve been able to add to the squad by signing experienced players like Adam Barrett, Stuart Nelson and Deon Burton and with some talented home-grown youngsters also emerging, it has all come together very nicely. People don’t believe me but it’s true when I say that I’ve never ever been at the top of the League before. It really is a fantastic feeling and I can’t tell you how much I want to stay there.
“My relationship with Andy has been brilliant since I arrived here. He managed Gillingham in the Championship for five years. He had a tremendous career at this club as both player and manager and now he is here to help me. What more could I ask for?
“He helps in dealing with the youngsters, agents and loans and he regularly gives me his opinion because I ask him for it. He’s a proper bloke. I promised him in the summer when he brought me here that we’d work closely together and I’d make his transition to Director of Football an easy one. I think it has been.”
“The policy at this club is that we never publicly criticise players unless they step out of line. It’s my fault if we play badly and lose - not theirs. They can always come and talk to me whenever they like. I have a lovely office and they are welcome to come here and we’ll work things out together.
“We don’t have a fines system in place. I left it with the senior players to decide what is right and wrong and since they wrote out what they thought was needed, the senior staff have done their best to put it in place.
“The players wanted a professional, well-run club and we’ve tried to create that. We’ve brought in a sports scientist, an analyst and a part-time masseur and since they said they wanted the food to be better, we’ve provided that and turned the players’ lounge into a restaurant. We’ve worked together to make this a really good football club.”
“Very much so. When I first started out in management, as Alan Pardew’s assistant at Reading, he set up a library of books that could expand your understanding about leadership, psychology, training and so on - and he encouraged the players to use them. I do the same here.
“Management of players has changed - the old style is absolute history. It used to be the case that if you played for England you got a good job but not anymore. One of the most successful managers ever, Jose Mourinho, was an interpreter and the likes of Brendan Rodgers, Karl Robinson and Rafael Benitez have shown that you don’t have to play the game at a high level to become successful managers. These days, man-management and sports science skills are absolutely key if you want to be successful.
“I’ve worked to improve myself and maybe that is now coming through. The sackings have definitely helped. I’ve adopted an attitude of not blaming any of those who sacked me and I’ve shown no bitterness or anger towards them. Instead of that, I’ve tried to look deeply at why it happened and what I must do to avoid a repeat.”
“Ian Bishop landed me with it when we were together in the West Ham midfield. He did the smiling and I did the snarling. One day I was apparently foaming at the mouth during an especially hard game and he said: ‘You look like a mad dog’.
“It’s not very complimentary in some respects, but how many people have a nickname that’s known up and down the country? I love characters and personalities - and maybe that runs in my family. When I used to watch my dad Dennis playing for Reading, he was known as Daisy. He loved to make the crowd laugh and they all used to sing: ‘Daisy, Daisy, Give Us A Goal or Two’. He added value to their afternoon and hopefully, in some way, I do the same.”
“I would say that 97 per cent of the time, they’ve just been things that I’ve done off the cuff and, with virtually all of my antics, there’s been a method to my madness. Like the time soon after I joined Brentford when I swam across the river after we finished our training session at Hartlepool. I’d listened to the players talking about doing it but when it came to the crunch, no-one did. So I just ran along the riverbank and jumped in - and I said to them afterwards that they have to be brave enough to carry out their threats.
“There was an important message in what I did that day. After that, we only lost one of our last nine games and avoided relegation by a point. And the motto we carried with us was: ‘If you say you’re going to do it, do it’.
“A lot of people ridicule me for the wacky things I’ve done, but not everyone. I remember getting a call from David Pleat when he was manager of Tottenham and we chatted for two hours about the reasons why I did things and the psychology behind it. I also bumped into Terry Venables when he was manager of England and he said: ‘I love what you are doing’.
“Am I really so mad? Everyone gets bored at work, so why not do something that helps to stimulate you? Anything that opens people’s minds surely has to be good.”
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