The truth behind Rory Allen's disappearance: The ex-Spurs and Portsmouth striker who quit football to watch the Ashes

‘Have you heard this story on the radio about the crazy English footballer who over here to watch the Ashes?’ he asked.

Rory Allen feigned ignorance, desiring to avoid an unmasking. ‘I’ve not heard it, no’, he responded.

In November 2002, Pompey’s first £1m player bought a one-way ticket Down Under and walked out on football to join cricket’s Barmy Army.

The highly-regarded ex-Spurs striker had endured an injury-plagued three years on the south coast, with persistent ankle and knee problems restricting him to just 16 appearances and three goals.

At the time of his shock disappearance, the 25-year-old hadn’t played competitively for 29 months.

Mentally exhausted by repeated crushing setbacks, cricket fanatic Allen effectively tore up the remaining nine months of his Blues contract to follow England’s Ashes tour under Nasser Hussain.

Nowadays, he’s employed by the Foreign Office and married with two children, having disassociated himself from football, left with barely a fleeting interest.

Yet his close friendship with former Fratton team-mate Gary O’Neil remains, existing far beyond the confines of a changing room.

O’Neil told The News: ‘I’m still friends with Rory, he is in Bromley now, only round the corner from me.

‘The story behind his disappearance to watch the Ashes is something I was very close to.

‘I was around Rory’s on a Wednesday evening, we were having pizza and he came in and threw this plane ticket on the table and said he was off to Australia the following day.

‘I said: “Nah, you’re messing around”. And he replied: “No. Look, it’s a one-way ticket”. And it was.

‘Then he told me: “I’ve also got this. Here’s a note, don’t read it, just hand it to the gaffer. My phone number is there if he wants to ring me”.

‘I didn’t read it – and certainly didn’t want to hand it to Harry Redknapp – so I waited until Harry had left his dressing room. On his seat was his kit rolled up in a towel, so I put the note on top and left.

‘I had returned next door to the players’ changing room when I heard Harry shout “Who put this here?”.

‘Our goalkeeping coach, Alan Knight, had been there when I delivered it and, sure enough, he replied “Gaz dropped it in, gaffer”.

‘Well, I had to go in to face and Harry asked “What’s this?”. I replied: “I don't know gaffer, but Rory asked me to hand it to you. He has already left, I don’t know exactly what’s going on, he just told me he was off to Australia”.

‘Harry said: “He’s vanished has he? He never plays anyway so we aren’t going to miss him. What about his contract, though, he has eight months left?”.

‘So that was it, Rory was off to Australia – and later told me the funny story about the taxi driver who hadn’t recognised him!’

Having risen through the White Hart Lane ranks, Allen was introduced into the Spurs first-team at the age of 18.

He totalled 27 appearances and four goals, including netting against Manchester United and Newcastle in the Premier League, as his reputation soared.

Such promise was strengthened by a prolific loan spell at Luton, with seven goals in nine outings for the Division Three club, before returning to Premier League duty.

Then, in July 1999, Alan Ball broke Pompey’s transfer record to snap up Allen’s services, shortly after Milan Mandaric’s arrival as owner had dragged them out of administration.

The Beckenham-born striker suffered an injury-hampered maiden 1999-20 campaign, scoring in the final match, a 3-1 home defeat to QPR.

He never played for Pompey in competitive action again, condemned to the sidelines for the next two seasons.

O’Neil, who was at Fratton Park at the same time, added: ‘Rory had a tough time with some terrible injuries.

‘He had so many injuries to the same ankle that he never believed it was going to hold up when he needed it to.

‘He lost faith in his body and that made him question whether he wanted to be out there and to put himself on the line when he didn’t feel he was ready.

‘In the end, the injuries and mental toughness broke him. He was quite pleased to jack it in and do a normal job, so to speak.

‘I’ve had a couple of serious injuries myself and, during those bleak times, there are so many questions you cannot answer.

‘You want to get back, but what am I going to be like? They might have signed somebody to replace you. Someone may have stepped up. Will I even get back to where I was?

‘You’re on your own in the gym every day while the lads are going out to train. Then they’re having a laugh about something which happened in training and you feel you’re not a part of it.

‘After rehab, there’s the positive of being back on the training pitch. However, when you keep going out there and breaking down again, the negativity is reinforced.

‘I know Rory well and he still struggles with his ankle now, even though he doesn't play. Even if he goes for little runs to keep fit, it always balloons up.’

The Fratton faithful last glimpsed Allen in action during the final friendly of their 2002 pre-season programme under Redknapp.

The former Spurs man registered in a 1-1 draw with Spanish side Alaves, before substituted on 79 minutes for Steve Lovell – three months later he quit.

Following numerous operations to his troublesome ankles and knees, Allen walked away from football forever.

Instead, the Kent cricket fan headed to Australia for the 2002 Ashes series, where Steve Waugh’s hosts chalked up a 4-1 series win to retain the urn.

O’Neil said: ‘Rory loves his cricket, absolutely loves it. He and another former Pompey team-mate, Tom Curtis, are good friends and love the game.

‘I think it did him good leaving football. He had a few years where he took a break, leasing out his house, which managed to give him a bit of income to go off.

‘He was in Australia for absolutely ages, perhaps a year, then came back and was unemployed, so we’d play golf all the time, especially the summer months when I wasn’t training at Pompey.

‘Then he got a job at the Foreign Office and went off to all sorts of places, living in Portugal for a while and a few months in Columbia. He still works for the Foreign Office, he seems to much prefer that to playing football.

‘Rory’s the voice of reason during this coronavirus crisis. If I have any questions, I just send them to a little group chat we’ve got and he comes back with the statistics of what we should and shouldn’t be doing. He’s the intelligent one.

‘He’s not really interested in football, he doesn't know a lot of what’s going on in the game.

‘When I speak to people who were in his youth team at Spurs, they say Rory absolutely loved it, he was brilliant and a huge Spurs supporter, but you’d never know it now, he’s not a football fan at all.

‘He’s into his cricket, golf, tennis and cycling. Injuries and stresses of trying to perform beat it out of him – he fell out of love with football.’

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