Neil Allen

Neil Allen has been involved in covering Pompey for The News, Portsmouth, for more than 20 years. Since July 2007, he has served as chief sports writer.

During his time at The News, he has covered in excess of 800 Pompey games, watching them at 129 different grounds and working with 18 permanent managers.

His Pompey work earned him the accolade of Regional Sports Writer of the Year at the British Sports Journalism Awards in both 2018 and 2019, while highly commended in 2017. He was also named Sports Journalist of the Year (Daily) at the 2019 Regional Press Awards. In total, he has been shortlisted for 18 awards, winning seven.

To date, he has written four books on Pompey. Played Up Pompey (2015), Played Up Pompey Too (2017), Played Up Pompey Three (2020) and Pompey: The Island City With A Football Club For A Heart (2020).