Allen went to Stoke in the Mark Hughes era when they were being set up to 'play football' so it didn't look a horrible choice at the time. Having said that, there must be some issue with the club as a whole. Allen was comfortably a Europa-level player when he left us and looked good for them the first season, now he's apparently a liability in a relegation candidate Championship team and he isn't even out of his 20's.
Neil Jones is obviously out of his depth but Shawcross, Butland, Martins Indi and Mame Diouf's performances have also fallen off a cliff in recent years. I haven't heard any stories of a drinking culture there but surely there has to be something going on we aren't aware of.