Graham Allner (born 7 September 1949) is an English former football player and manager. He was manager of

Kidderminster Harriers Kidderminster Harriers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team compete in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. Formed ...

from 1983 until 1998, winning the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

in 1987 and the

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

championship in 1994.

Early life

Allner was born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

, England.

Playing career

Allner started his playing career as a schoolboy at

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

before signing amateur forms at

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is t ...

playing reserve football. After being released he drifted into non-league football, firstly at Paget Rangers, where he won the Midland Combination under the guidance of manager Rhys Davies. Allner had a trial with

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa P ...

during the 1970–71 season. He then rejoined Davies at

Alvechurch Alvechurch ( ) is a large village and civil parish in the Bromsgrove district in northeast Worcestershire, England, in the valley of the River Arrow. The Lickey Hills Country Park is 2.5 miles (4 km) to the northwest. It is south of Birm ...

, winning another Midland Combination title in 1971–72. During that season Allner played in all 6 FA Cup games against Oxford City. Two years later he scored the winning goal against

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

in the FA Cup before eventually being knocked out by

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. ...

. A trial at

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'Th ...

followed in 1974 before signing for

Stourbridge Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England, situated on the River Stour. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The ...

in September 1974 under Allan Grundy. He only spent a season at

before moving to

Redditch United Redditch United Football Club is an English football club based in Redditch, Worcestershire. The club participates in the and play their home games at the V Trico Stadium. They are managed by former Captain and Assistant Manager Matt Clarke. ...

, then quickly moving on to

Bromsgrove Rovers Bromsgrove Rovers F.C. was a non-League football club from the town of Bromsgrove in Worcestershire. The peak of the club's success was in 1993 when Rovers finished runner-up in the Football Conference. They went into administration during the ...

. He joined

Stafford Rangers Stafford Rangers Football Club is a semi-professional English football team from Stafford which plays in the Northern Premier League Premier Division. The team wear black and white stripes with black shorts. Stafford Rangers' rivals include T ...

in 1976, spending two seasons with them. He joined

Worcester City Worcester City Football Club is an English football club based in Worcester, Worcestershire. The club play in the Midland Football League, the ninth tier of English football. Established in 1902, the club play at Claines Lane. Worcester City ...

in 1978; in his first season they won the Southern Football League but injury sidelined him for most of the first

Alliance Premier League The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...

season. Allner then made his first entry into coaching, being appointed player assistant manager at

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league sy ...

Managerial career

Allner began his managerial career with

AP Leamington Leamington Football Club is a football club based in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England. They are currently members of and play at the New Windmill Ground near Bishop's Tachbrook. History The club was established in 1933 as the works t ...

. He led

to the

Southern League Premier Division The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English foot ...

in 1983. However, Leamington were denied promotion to the

Football Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called th ...

, their place being taken instead by the club that had finished second that year, Kidderminster Harriers. Soon after this, Allner left Leamington and took charge at the Worcestershire club. Kidderminster quickly established themselves as a top non-league side under Allner's management, winning the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

in 1987 and reaching the final in 1991 and 1995, in addition to making the final of the

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup ( cy, Cwpan Cymdeithas Pêl-droed Cymru), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the mo ...

in 1986 and 1989. Their most successful season came in 1994–95 when they reached the fifth round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

, knocking out second-tier side

(Allner's first club as a player), and

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syst ...

. They also won the Conference title that season, but were denied promotion because their

Aggborough Aggborough Stadium is a football stadium in Kidderminster, England. It is the home ground of Kidderminster Harriers, and has a capacity of 7,000, of which 3,140 can be seated. The ground was also the home of Worcester City between 2013 and 201 ...

ground was not deemed up to Football League standards. Kidderminster almost made it to the Football League in 1996–97 after leading the Conference by 15 points at Christmas, but a storming run by close contenders

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was wound-up after a High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially known as Macclesfield F.C., the club was formed in 1874 and ...

pushed them into second place. Allner quit in November 1998 after almost 16 years in charge, and was eventually replaced by

Jan Molby Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to: Acronyms * Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN * Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code * Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group * Japanese Article N ...

. A brief tenure as

manager followed. He later worked as a coach under

Steve Cotterill Stephen John Cotterill (born 20 July 1964) is an English former footballer who played as a striker. He is currently the manager of side Shrewsbury Town. Cotterill had a nine-year career as a footballer playing for Burton Albion, Wimbledon, ...

and helped them win promotion to Division Two in 2002. When Cotterill moved to

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Sto ...

a few weeks after the promotion triumph, Allner was promoted to the manager's seat but was sacked on 13 January 2003 with Cheltenham heading for relegation. His successor was

Bobby Gould Robert Hewitt Gould (born 12 June 1946) is an English former association football, footballer and manager. Early life Gould was born in Wyken, Coventry, Warwickshire on 12 June 1946. He is the son of Henry Gould and Helen McKellar Gould (né ...

. He is currently working for the Scouting Network.

Honours

As a player

Paget Rangers *

Midland Combination The Midland Football Combination was an English football league covering parts of the West Midlands. It comprised five divisions, a Premier Division, Divisions One and Two and two Reserves Divisions. The league was one of three official feeder ...

: 1969–70, 1970–71 Alvechurch *

: 1971–72; runner-up 1972–73 *

West Midlands (Regional) League The West Midlands (Regional) League is an English association football competition for semi-professional and amateur teams based in the West Midlands county, Shropshire, Worcestershire, southern Staffordshire and northern Herefordshire. It has ...

Premier Division: 1973–74 *

Worcestershire Senior Cup The Worcestershire Senior Cup (officially ''The Worcestershire Football Association Senior Invitation Cup'') is a football competition organised by the Worcestershire County Football Association. It began in the 1893-94 season, with Redditch Town ...

: 1973–74 * Birmingham Senior Amateur Cup: 1973–74 Worcester City * Southern Football League Premier Division: 1978–79

As a manager

AP Leamington *

: 1982–83 Kidderminster Harriers *

: 1987 *

: 1994–95

References

External links

The Scouting Network
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allner, Graham Living people Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English football managers Stafford Rangers F.C. players Worcester City F.C. players Cheltenham Town F.C. players Kidderminster Harriers F.C. managers Cheltenham Town F.C. managers Worcester City F.C. managers Cheltenham Town F.C. non-playing staff 1949 births Alvechurch F.C. players Association football wingers English footballers