Name: Willie Allan
Date of Birth: 11th December 1942
Place of Birth: Aberdeen, Scotland
Nationality: Scottish
Position: Inside Forward
Signed: October 1963 from Aberdeen
Departed: September 1964 to Falkirk
Debut: 25th October 1963 v Third Lanark (1-0)
Final Match: 26th September 1964 v Falkirk (0-2)
Apps: 30
Goals: 4
Honours: None

Willie Allan enjoyed a nomadic career which took the playmaker all-around Scotland with six clubs and 18 months in South Africa with Durban City. The inside forward joined Saints in October 1963 from Aberdeen as part of the Don Kerrigan transfer the other way, and made his debut a few days later in a 1-0 victory over Third Lanark at Love Street in front of 5,305 supporters when Bobby Ross netted the only goal of the match after 13 minutes.

The following week against Dundee in Paisley, Allan grabbed a double to help secure a 2-1 win over the 1962 Scottish Champions, his first goals for the club, and the hope that Saints could replace Tommy Bryceland who had left for Norwich City in September the year before, were briefly ignited as Allan had good pedigree as a Scotland under 23 international and Scottish League full cap.

Replacing Tommy Bryceland however was close to an impossible task, as there probably wasn’t a better playmaker in Scotland at the time, and by his own admission Allan was a heavy smoker and drinker off the park, which in part played a significant role in him never truly settling at a club despite his undoubted talent as managers often singled him out as a troublemaker.

Therefore it was probably no surprise to the the player that after just 11 months in Paisley and only 2 further goals in a total of 30 matches, the forward moved to Falkirk in September 1964, and his Love Street career was over before it really got going.

After only a year at Brockville, his bad habits again caught up with him and he was transfer listed for £4,000 by the Falkirk board, and perhaps disillusioned with football in his home country, Allan then made the move to South Africa, enjoying a rich spell of form where he scored 15 times in 42 matches, however he was soon back in Renfrewshire when Morton took him to Cappielow in 1967.  

19 goals from 67 matches was a good return for Allan who is in the rarest of groups at the ‘Ton; a player who has appeared for the Greenock side in European competition. Allan would finish his professional career with spells at Cowdenbeath and Alloa before returning to his first club Bo’ness Utd in 1972. Thankfully, Willie gave up the cigarettes in 1979, and worked for many years at the BP Grangemouth Refinery, but is now happily retired.