Joe Gallen, a young player from Watford, had six games on loan for Exeter City before appearing for a number of clubs including Shrewsbury Town, Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk. Moving into coaching Joe briefly returned to Exeter as assistant manager ahead of an extensive career - often working alongside Kenny Jackett - that briefly saw him installed as caretaker manager of Portsmouth.   

Joe, the brother of Kevin (chiefly known for his time at QPR) and Steve (who coached at QPR and became director of football at Charlton), became a trainee at Watford in 1989 and signed professional in May 1991. Although he represented the Republic of Ireland on several occasions at under-21 level he never made the Vicarage Road first-team and was sent on loan to Exeter City on loan in December 1992.

Making his debut in the 2-2 home draw with Burnley on 19 December 1992, Joe featured - without scoring - in six league games during his brief stay at St James’ Park.

Returning to Watford, Joe was soon loaned to Shamrock Rovers before signing for Shrewsbury Town in July 1993 where he made six league appearances scoring once. He then played in Ireland with Dundalk and Drogheda either side of featuring for Aylesbury United and Stevenage Borough.  

Starting a coaching career, Joe was to take charge of Queens Park Rangers youth team before returning to Exeter in the summer of 2007 as assistant-manager to Paul Tisdale. Offered a role by Kenny Jackett, Joe left City in November 2007 to become assistant-manager of Millwall and was to follow Jackett to Wolverhampton Wanderers,  Rotherham United, Portsmouth (where he was to act as caretaker-manager following Jackett’s departure) and - by 2021/22 - Leyton Orient. With Jackett leaving Brisbane Road in February 2022, Joe moved to Australia later that year to become a coach with Perth Glory.