Richard Allen is currently the Senior Football Executive and Technical Advisor at Yokohama FC in Japan where the club on all aspects of football business.
He has worked at all levels of football in a variety of roles. From grassroots through to international level, running a youth organization in one of the countries most challenging city boroughs to being responsible for the identification, recruitment, development and selection of players at Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers and for the England National teams (The FA) where he was also tasked with creating a Talent Identification education pathway. He also developed a world leading Football and Futsal programme at Loughborough University where he held the position of Director of Football for the past 4 years. Richard has worked with many of England most talented players including Harry Kane, Phil Foden and Jadon Sancho.
His work has been reported on in numerous articles and reports and he is often asked to comment and give his expert opinion on both Television and Radio.
Richard also acts as a consultant to a number of national governing bodies and professional domestic and foreign football clubs around setting up effective player identification, recruitment and development structures and strategies. He currently leads the FA Level 4 Talent Identification course and tutors on both the Level 2 and 3 courses. These courses are designed for professional staff working within both Premier League and English Football League Clubs. In 2022 Richard became a High Performance Specialist for FIFA working within their Talent Development Scheme,advising and supporting Member Associations.
He also sits on a number of boards, committees and charitable trusts where he gives advice and support to their work. This included being a member of the English Football Association Council.
Football Qualifications:
- FA Level 5, Technical Directors Award, UEFA A Licence
- UEFA Advanced Youth Award, FA Academy Managers Licence
- FA Developing the Developers Award, FA Coach Educator