Joe Allen brought the curtain down on his 18-year professional soccer career last weekend, with the former Liverpool midfielder hanging up his cleats at the age of 35. Allen began his journey with boyhood club Swansea City, playing a key role in their back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League.
After a single season in the top flight with the Swans, he reunited with manager Brendan Rodgers at Anfield in 2012, joining Liverpool in a $20 million deal. During his four-year stint with the Reds, Allen made 132 appearances and scored seven goals, establishing himself as a key player for the Wales national team.
Looking back on his move to Liverpool, Allen confessed that leaving his beloved Swansea was a heart-wrenching experience, but the opportunity to reunite with Rodgers on Merseyside was too good to pass up.
“It really was (tough to leave Swansea). I think it was – when a historic club like Liverpool comes calling, it’s almost impossible to turn it down,” Allen revealed. “Maybe there are some people who would be able to do that, but, no, it was a real conflict of emotions really.
“I was thrilled that a club like them would want to sign me but, in order to do that and make that happen, I was leaving the club I loved and the club I’d had – in such a short space of time really – so many good times, so many successes and, I was part of a group of players that were brilliant.”, reports the Liverpool Echo.
“I was thrilled that a club like them would want to sign me, but in order to make that happen, I had to leave behind the club I loved, and the team I had shared so many successes with in such a short space of time. I was part of a brilliant group of players, and it was tough to walk away from that.”
Reflecting on his reunion with Brendan Rodgers, the midfielder shared: “It was great (to reunite with Rodgers). He was – I knew his methods well and he was signing a player who he knew really well, so that definitely was a big help, a big draw of course.
“He’d done an incredible job in taking us (Swansea City) up, and then in that first season in the Premier League, some of the football we played and how well we did was… huge credit has to go to him.
“The combo of joining, like I said, a huge club like Liverpool and also a manager who knows me and who I had worked with before was an opportunity I found too good to turn down. It was a great summer and to get that opportunity to join one of the world’s biggest clubs was fantastic.”
Allen, who was part of the Liverpool squad that came painfully close to winning the Premier League title in 2013/14, particularly recalls the impact of Steven Gerrard’s slip against Chelsea in a 2-0 defeat at Anfield. This moment, followed by Liverpool squandering a three-goal advantage at Crystal Palace, marked a significant blow in their title pursuit.
The Welsh international, who netted a goal in the 3-3 tie at Selhurst Park, believes that it was the defeat to Chelsea which hurt Liverpool’s chances the most. As time has passed, he admits that missing out on the title has become more agonising.
“It was incredibly tough at the time, and even tougher as time’s gone on,” he lamented. “For me, that feels like the one that slipped away if you know what I mean. The chance of winning the Premier League, it’s heart-breaking really.
“The games, a lot of focus has been on the Palace game but the Chelsea game’s the real hammer blow. It put it back into Man City’s hands going into the last game of the season, so unfortunately we had to settle for second place, but it was a great season.
“We had the likes of Suarez, Gerrard, Coutinho, Sturridge, so many good players, just on fire, playing some unbelievable stuff, scoring so many goals.
“To have been a part of that was great. If only we could have got the couple more points we needed over the season, it could have been a lot different.”
While Liverpool didn’t clinch the title during Allen’s stint, their runner-up finish did secure them a berth in the Champions League for the first time since 2009.
The Welsh international opened up about achieving his childhood dream of competing in Europe’s premier club competition but expressed disappointment at not playing as often as he’d hoped in the Champions League with Liverpool.
“The Champions League, that was incredible. I’d grown up watching it religiously,” he shared during a candid conversation on Swansea City’s YouTube channel last year. “Unfortunately, I didn’t get as many… You know, when you join a club like Liverpool, I would have hoped to have played in a lot more.
“We didn’t get out of the group stages, which was unfortunate, so from that standpoint, it was quite disappointing.
“So, to have played those games, to have played Real Madrid home and away, from where I’d come from, it was hard to believe, but yeah, I loved it.”
(Image: 2025 Athena Pictures)
Allen’s journey with Liverpool concluded when he headed to Stoke City in a move back in the summer of 2016, with his final match for the Reds being the Europa League final loss to Sevilla.
He made his way back to where it all began, rejoining Swansea on a free transfer in July 2022, clocking up 78 appearances and netting four goals in his second spell at the Liberty Stadium.
The Welsh midfielder announced his departure from professional football just last week, making his swansong in a 3-3 tie against Oxford City in the Championship’s concluding weekend.
Reflecting on his career trajectory, Allen acknowledges its poetic end: “I am fortunate to be in a position where I am back at the club I love, and to have had the chance to come home for the last three seasons,” he expressed upon his retirement.
“To be announcing my retirement as a Swansea City player makes it extra special, I have been very fortunate. To finish my career where it started, it feels like everything has come full circle.
“My career has surpassed everything I ever thought it could be, I am proud to have had the career and the experiences I have had, whether that has been at the clubs I played for, or representing Wales. I have been part of some incredible groups with wonderful supporters, I have been very lucky.
“The supporters, who from day one here at Swansea and the other clubs I played for, as well as with Wales, have been incredible. I cannot imagine a more lucky player and person. I am so proud and so glad to have had all the experiences I have had over my career.
“The (highlights) that spring straight to mind are winning the play-off final to get promoted to the Premier League, and then that first season in the Premier League and some of the victories we had at home – they were incredible moments.
“And then the chance to play for Liverpool – such an historic club – and be playing alongside some of the greats and fighting for the title there.
“I had some really good years at Stoke, but the summer in France with Wales and qualifying for the World Cup are more memories and experiences where I find myself pinching myself.
“I would never have thought they were possible.”
