When Malcolm Allison was coaching schoolboys he took a liking to me when I don't think anyone else at West Ham saw anything special in me.
34 Facts About Malcolm Allison
2.
Malcolm Alexander Allison was an English football player and manager.
3.
Malcolm Allison's playing career was cut short in 1958 when he had to have a lung removed because of tuberculosis.
4.
Malcolm Allison managed several more English clubs including Crystal Palace and Middlesbrough, as well as three in Portugal and the Kuwait national team.
5.
Son of an electrical engineer, Malcolm Allison was born in Dartford in September 1927.
6.
Malcolm Allison started his career with Charlton Athletic but struggled to make a difference on the pitch, playing just twice in six years.
7.
Malcolm Allison joined West Ham United in February 1951, after seven seasons at Charlton Athletic.
8.
Malcolm Allison came back to football to play a final season for non-league Romford in 1963.
9.
Malcolm Allison replaced the veteran Bob Hewson, who had retired.
10.
Malcolm Allison soon returned to Bath to sign full-back Tony Book.
11.
However, Malcolm Allison knew the Argyle board would be reluctant to permit the purchase of a player with no League experience, who was approaching his thirtieth birthday.
12.
Malcolm Allison encouraged Book to doctor his birth certificate, making him appear two years younger.
13.
Malcolm Allison offered the position to Allison, whom he knew from coaching courses at Lilleshall.
14.
Malcolm Allison was due to meet Raich Carter to discuss a position at Middlesbrough, but Mercer was able to arrange a meeting the day before, and persuaded Malcolm Allison to accept his offer.
15.
Malcolm Allison was left in sole charge at City, but the team struggled and in March 1973 he resigned.
16.
On 31 March 1973, Malcolm Allison was appointed manager of Crystal Palace.
17.
Malcolm Allison 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.
18.
Malcolm Allison's larger than life image was a mixed blessing in Division Three for it raised hopes and aspirations of supporters while serving to motivate other clubs when they visited Selhurst Park.
19.
The FA Cup run was notable for the first appearance of Malcolm Allison's trademark fedora hat during a third-round game at Scarborough and his use of the sweeper system in football which, at the time, was a relatively new idea.
20.
In 1979, Malcolm Allison was offered the chance to return to Manchester City by then-chairman Peter Swales.
21.
Daley turned out to be an expensive flop, and Malcolm Allison always said that he had agreed a much lower fee with the Wolves manager for Daley.
22.
Malcolm Allison later said Swales intervened on a chairman to chairman basis and secured the transfer instantly but at a much higher, possibly rip-off price.
23.
Malcolm Allison later admitted on his first meeting with chairman Swales: "I looked at him, saw the comb-over, the England blazer and the suede shoes and thought 'this isn't going to work'".
24.
Malcolm Allison left a year later in 1980 with City struggling in the league.
25.
Malcolm Allison later got involved in a verbal scrap with his successor and fellow maverick manager, John Bond.
26.
Malcolm Allison managed overseas, in Turkey with Galatasaray, and in Portugal with Sporting.
27.
Malcolm Allison was remembered as one of the most exuberant characters in football.
28.
Whilst at City, Malcolm Allison enjoyed winding up rivals Manchester United.
29.
Malcolm Allison later said he had hired a steeplejack to lower the flag on top of Old Trafford's main stand to half-mast.
30.
In 1976, Malcolm Allison received a Football Association disrepute charge after a News of the World photograph appeared showing him in the Crystal Palace players' bath with porn star Fiona Richmond whom he had invited to a training session.
31.
In 2001 it was revealed by his son that Malcolm Allison was suffering from alcoholism and in 2009 that he had developed dementia.
32.
Fans sporting Malcolm Allison's favoured Fedoras smoked cigars and drank champagne while cheering on their side.
33.
Malcolm Allison died in a nursing home on 14 October 2010 at the age of 83.
34.
Malcolm Allison was known as a great innovator in revolutionising training methods in English football.