Coventry City feature from CoventryLive as Jamie Allen opens up on his very different relationships with Mark Robins and Frank Lampard, the highs and lows of his Sky Blues career and disappointment of still being out of work
Frank Lampard leading a rendition of “Jamie Allen, baby, Jamie Allen woah-oh!” on stage in front of more than 50,000 fans at Coventry City ’s promotion party at the War Memorial Park is a memory that will live with the former player forever.
It signalled a triumphant end to seven years of exemplary service to the Sky Blues from the central midfielder who had been taken in to the hearts of the fans. The open top bus parade through the streets of the city ranks as “one of the best” things he experienced during his time at the club – such was the out-pouring of love on that special day.
It was particularly poignant for the 31-year-old who, although had not been told officially, knew deep down that the occasion marked the end of his time at the football club.
Out of contract, Allen became a free agent and, perhaps, a victim of City’s success in reaching the Premier League where Lampard clearly had to strengthen.
Time for a fresh start, then. A new chapter in the Sky Blue stalwart’s career.
But just over four months on and the consummate professional whose energy, work-rate and tactical discipline are second to none at any level, is out of work.
The fact that he’s not been snapped up by a Championship or League One club is a source of amazement to many Coventry fans. And Allen admits it’s come as a bit of a shock to himself.
“I have been quite surprised myself, to be fair,” he said, speaking exclusively to CoventryLive.
“I thought I would be in somewhere by now. Obviously I miss playing games at the weekend and am sat watching Soccer Saturday at home and it’s not a good feeling when you know you should be playing football. But I am keeping fit, training well and am ready to get going again, to find a new place of work and club I can call home.”
Reflecting on his time at the CBS Arena, it’s clear it will take something special to beat the bond he had with Coventry – a club for which he will always have a great deal of affection.
“From the first year I joined, back in 2019, the changing room that I went into was a really good one and it didn’t change in terms of the feeling for my entire time at the club,” he said.
“The personnel obviously changed from time to time but the changing room in itself was just unbelievable and a joyful place to go into work.”
Team spirit and camaraderie have been a constant in the club’s rise up from the depths of League Two to when Allen joined for the League One title season and through the Championship years.
“From the moment I signed, we were all similar ages and we all felt like we were in the same boat, all wanting to get promoted in that first year and everyone just took on board what we wanted to do and we just hammered it really,” he said.
“And then the second season, our first in the Championship, we stayed up with a few games to go but from then we just pushed on to be at the level we needed to be in the league and kept pushing on and pushing on and thankfully we got the ending that we deserved.”
Allen has forged close friendships over the last seven years, many of whom he still keeps in touch with to this day. Asked who he’s been closest with, he said: “Probably Ben Wilson, who I have known for a long time, was at Rochdale with him for a while; Matthew Godden, Simon Moore, Jake Bidwell, Fadz, Dom, Shippers… I could list so many because I have been fond of them all and I still speak to most of them now, and that’s when you know you have made a good friend in football when you still speak to them even though you don’t play with them anymore.
“It doesn’t happen very often because you find you’re busy with things but when you stay in contact you know that you have made friends for life.”
As for his highlights of his time at the club, the player who has been part of two promotions, a play-off final and semi-final and an FA Cup semi-final, said: “I think just going in every day, to be fair, and spending time with my mates and enjoying training and going to work.
“Obviously it’s everyone’s dream to get promoted to the Premier League and that’s high on my list but going into training with my mates every day and enjoying it so much, you can’t get much better than that in terms of a job. There aren’t many people who go to work and really enjoy it, and to have your mates around you as well is a really good thing.”
In terms of low points, two spring to mind; the summer of 2023 when he was hospitalised with pericarditis, a virus-induced heart inflammation, and then last season with the sudden passing of his mum.
“They’re big things to happen to anyone,” he said. “I can’t thank the club enough for what they did when I lost my mum. They supported me as much as they could, really good with me during that period and let me take my time and take the time I needed to get through it.”
He added: “As for the football, I have been left out a bit in terms of playing so I wish I had played more than 200 games, but it wasn’t meant to be. It is what it is now.”
His relationship with the fans has always been good but feels like it evolved over time. Certainly, from Frank Lampard’s perspective he’s a manager’s “dream” – one of those low maintenance players, about whom he said: “Jamie is a player who is a bit of a dream to work with. He comes in, he loves his job, he doesn’t say much and that’s his character, but he’s a good footballer with a good work ethic and he’s a great trainer.”
Although he’s not always been a bolt-on regular, he’s a player who manager’s can trust to do a job whenever called upon and often been an unsung hero who’s diligence, ability and attention to tactical detail have often gone unnoticed by some supporters.
“I don’t go on social media so I couldn’t tell you anything the fans have said about me, good or bad,” he said.
“All I can say is that every fan that I have come across has always been polite and said, ‘well done,’ or, ‘good game,’ whatever and been approachable and spoken to me on a normal level. And most of the time when I have been on the pitch I heard my song being sung, so I feel like we got on well.”
Arguably one of his best performances in a City shirt was the 3-0 home victory over Sunderland in March 2025, courtesy of a Haji Wright hat-trick. Although the USA striker got the headlines that day, Allen was many fans’ and Lampard’s man of the match.
“I do remember that game,” he said. “I think you always remember the games where you felt like you never put a foot wrong and I think that day, as a team, everyone was just at it and we deserved to win, which was a big game towards the end of the season.
“But I think we did that a lot, stepped up in the big games when we needed to, especially the last few years when we got to the play-off final and then the FA Cup quarters and semi-finals, and then play-off semis again, against Sunderland, before going on to win the league last season. So there was real progression there and it happened quite quickly.”
City, of course, came so close to promotion in 2023 when they reached the play-off final against Luton at Wembley Stadium.
“I started that game and the manager changed formation at half-time and I got taken off,” he recalled. “I don’t think we at the races at all in the first half but we were a lot better in the second half. I know a lot of people said we’d have won if Gus (Hamer) hadn’t got injured and had to go off but it was just one of those things and penalties are such a lottery, so it was a heart-breaking day to be fair.”
Asked if he thinks he and his team-mates were stronger for the experience that may well have laid the foundations for the subsequent success, he said: “I think it took us a bit of time to get over that play-off final because we started slowly again the following season. But I think it was different after the play-off semi defeat to Sunderland because we had been flying after Frank came in.
“And although we were beaten by the last moment of the game, that (Dan Ballard) header, we just got into pre-season and he just said to us, ‘this club has a habit of starting slow and we don’t want to do that again,’ but I think we were on such a high after going so close.
“We were disappointed but we had fire in our bellies and didn’t want to go through that pain again, and because we were playing so well it just transferred to the next season and we never looked back. We were ruthless at times.”
“I never imagined how many people would be there. It was amazing and one of the best sights and feelings since I have been at the club. And then to be on stage and for the gaffer to sing my song was mind-blowing, and really went down well.”
