Paul Allen (author)

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Paul Allen (born 24 March 1968 in Sheffield, England) is an author currently living in Hamilton, Ontario. Allen is best known for his debut work, Flying With The Owls Crime Squad, which he wrote with Douglas Naylor.

The middle of three brothers, Paul was always the rebel of the three - each developed an interest in football, but whereas his siblings, Mark and Craig, became Sheffield United fans, Paul decided to support Leeds United. This did not last long however, and by the age of 10 he was regularly attending matches at Hillsborough, the home of Sheffield Wednesday, with school friends. It also helped that he often received free tickets from a local newsagent, for whom he worked.

By the mid-1980s Paul had developed a taste for football hooliganism, and he became a member of the Sheffield Wednesday hooligan gang, the Owls Crime Squad. He would remain an active member until 1995 when he left the British Isles to take a job in Canada. Flying With The Owls Crime Squad is Paul's memoir of this period in his life, and also of growing up in Sheffield at a time when the city was being de-industrialized.

In 2007 Paul contributed to a book about the history of the steel city football rivalry. The book, entitled Divide of the Steel City, is written partly from a Sheffield Wednesday perspective, and partly from the viewpoint of Sheffield United. Tony Cronshaw is the principal Owls author, but Allen contributes extensively, and also edited much of the work. The book, published by Pennant Publishing, was released on April 23, 2007.

The initial hardcover printing of Flying with the Owls Crime Squad was an undoubted success, and a paperback version, including around 50 pages of never before released material, is scheduled for release in late summer of 2008.