He first joined Villa in August 1884 (before the foundation of the Football League), played in the first Villa League team to debut at Dudley Road, Wolverhampton, then home of Wolverhampton Wanderer's. The match ended 1-1. He scored Villa's first Football League hat-trick in a 9–1 home win over Notts County on 29 September 1888, his debut League goal was on 15 September 1888 at Wellington Road, in a 5–1 win over Stoke. When he made his League debut he was 21 years 146 days old; that made him, on that first day of League football, Aston Villa's youngest league player. Allen only missed one League match, out of 22, and top-scored in 1888–1889 with 18 League goals and 1 in the FA Cup. Played as a forward in a forward line that scored three-League-goals-or-more-in-a-match on six separate occasions. Developed an understanding with Dennis Hodgetts.
