The Gills manager travelled up to the midfielder's Halifax home to persuade him to join the League Two promotion-chasers.
And the 26-year-old has admitted Allen's input was "a massive factor" in his decision to join on loan from Huddersfield until the end of the season.
He told BBC Radio Kent: "Martin Allen drove up to Halifax to meet me and my missus and convinced me to come.
"Huddersfield said a few teams were interested but Martin was the only one to make it clear he wanted me.
"I think it took him five or six hours to drive up on transfer deadline day.
"He was a gentleman and explained the situation.
"He knew my wife was pregnant and I had a little kid so there were a lot of factors to contend with.
"He understood that, spoke to my wife and reassured her that if she was unhappy down south we would work around it."
