The Swansea City midfielder will line up at Wembley tomorrow knowing that victory will complete a real rags to riches story and take the Swans into the Premier League.
He told Wales on Sunday “In the past we’ve probably flown under the radar
“People have seen us as a smaller club in the Championship but I think we’ve turned heads this season.
“I think when neutral fans have seen us they’ve taken an interest in the way we play and the players we’ve got here.
“It’s amazing to think how far this club has come in recent times, it’s a pretty impressive story,” said Allen.
“The new stadium has attracted new fans as well as the old fans who followed the club.
“You talk to people and you can sense they are taking a keen interest in the Swans now.
“That obviously is down to the success we’ve had over the past couple of seasons but it’s also about our style and what we believe is playing football the right way.
“I don’t think there can be a favourite in the final,” he said.
“Reading have just come off the back of a 3-0 win at Cardiff and they’re a very strong team.
“They’ve got a very similar story to us at the moment and they’ll probably be as confident as we are.
“But we know that if we give everything we’ve got and play to the best of our ability then we’re confident we’ll come off the pitch with something.
“We’ve been counting down the days to the game and we can’t wait for it to come around.
“It’s been strange because the play-off games were so close together and came so quickly after the season.
“But we’ve had a good chance to unwind and now we’re ready to perform on the biggest stage of our season.
“Playing in front of 40,000 Swansea fans at Wembley is as big as it gets.”
