I have posted before but my granddad came home in tears that night. My nan used to tell the story of granddad being distraught outside the ground and some Albion fans mocked him. As was the custom in those days he took off his jacket before landing a couple of pissbawlers. He stowed away from Cork as a teenager but my nan's brothers made sure he was a Villa man through and through.
I lost most of my memorabilia years ago when mom had to downsize a few times whilst I lived abroad but I thought in the Peter Morris book that he claimed Allen was actually upset himself when he realised that his goal had relegated us. Can anybody confirm this?
He would have had to have been a hermit to be oblivious to what the points meant to Villa - relegation - and what they meant to Albion - nothing.
As I have posted elsewhere, end of season local derbies were charity affairs if one club faced relegation and the other had nothing to play for. Anecdotally (I wasn't there), Allen was the only Albion player trying in that game. Which figures with the description of his goal above. You don't just happen to whack a goal in from 20 yards, unless you mean it. Again anecdotally, Allen celebrated his goal.
I too have hated Albion ever since.