We’re Gunner do you proud! Arsenal grounding inspires St Albans chief Ian Allinson

By David Richardson
Ian Allinson was lucky enough to play for the team he supports. On Thursday evening, sitting in a café at Hertfordshire University before taking 75 minutes of training in the cold and wet, he even got a glimpse of them playing, albeit on TV.
“Signing for Arsenal was unexpected and came about quickly,” said the highly experienced former winger and St Albans City manager, as he momentarily glanced away to see Nacho Monreal put Arsene Wenger’s side ahead in their Europa League tie with Ostersunds.
Allinson had spent eight years at Colchester United after breaking into the first team and making over 300 appearances before sealing a move to Highbury.
“I made my Colchester debut when I was 17 against Preston North End in 1974,” the 60-year-old told The NLP. “I won the young player of the year award and Bobby Charlton, who was Preston manager at the time, presented it to me.
“It was only eight years after he won the World Cup, so it was a big thing.
“I had a great grounding there. You don’t see that side now when you had to clean players’ boots, changing rooms, stands and help the groundsman.
“Colchester had offered me a new contract in 1982-83, but in those days if they offered you lesser terms than the year before, you could leave on a free. I had agreed to sign for Fulham. Then Arsenal came in.
“To get the opportunity to play for the team you supported all your life was a dream come true.”
In a four-year spell with the Gunners, Allinson played almost 100 times and at one point kept the great Charlie Nicholas out of the side with a goalscoring streak.
Allinson was the unsung hero of their 1987 League Cup triumph, but admits it was also the lowest moment of his career.
“I came off the bench in the League Cup semi-final against Tottenham and scored the equaliser, then helped set up [David] Rocastle’s winner,” he explains. “But I wasn’t in the squad for the final at Wembley. It was tough to take. That’s one of the lowest points for me. You get knocks in football; this is what I try to explain to some of the players now.
“The manager is there to pick sides. I find it difficult to disappoint players by leaving them out, which is why I go with a smaller squad.”
Allinson left Arsenal in 1987, signing for Stoke before joining Luton. Due to being cup tied, he again missed out on a League Cup final that year as Luton beat Arsenal.
He re-signed for Colchester before finishing his playing career at Baldock Town where he began managing.
Allinson has had four spells at Stotfold, two at Barton Rovers and two at Boreham Wood along with a stint at Harlow Town.
He took over at Wood in 2004 before returning to the club four years later and staying until 2015, overseeing two promotions from the Isthmian League and Conference South.
In 2016, he joined St Albans with the club bottom of the division but a run of seven wins and two draws eventually kept them up on the final day of the season. Now they’re embroiled in one of the most competitive promotion races in the country.
“Management was something I wanted to have a go at,” says Allinson, who has spent the last 28 years working for Carlsberg.  “I’ve been one for 27 years now and never had a relegation, and you have to be proud of stuff like that. Even at my age now, you still look forward to Saturday’s and coming to training.
“I left Boreham Wood in 2015 because the club was moving full-time and it wasn’t right for me, which was a shame. It’s worked for them and Luke Garrard is doing a great job there.
“If you lose that edge then I wouldn’t want to hang around and mess people about.
“We have 14 games to go now. It’s about putting a run together at just the right time. You hope you don’t have that blip like we did around November.
“As long as I’ve got my health, I still want to manage; I feel as good as what I did when I started out.”
 
*This article originally featured in The @NonLeaguePaper which is available every Sunday and Monday