Alan Ball appreciation thread

[bluelord49]

Some wonderful statements made on this thread and rightly so.
50 Years ago today a 21 year old young man won our nation the World Cup with his outstanding MOTM Performance.
I missed the final because mum and dad had taken us to Tenby and surrounding places on a caravan holiday.
Wasn,t that bothered that i missed the final because after all England played in dirty red, but two weeks later Alan Ball signed for us pulled on the Blue Shirt and the rest is history.
Managed to watch the World Cup Final a few weeks later with the film GOAL on the Futurist Cinema on Lime Street.
Of course by then Alan Ball was a Blue and there was loads of Evertonians in the pictures that night.... pictures being The Futurist.

 

[Joey66]

Some wonderful statements made on this thread and rightly so.
50 Years ago today a 21 year old young man won our nation the World Cup with his outstanding MOTM Performance.
I missed the final because mum and dad had taken us to Tenby and surrounding places on a caravan holiday.
Wasn,t that bothered that i missed the final because after all England played in dirty red, but two weeks later Alan Ball signed for us pulled on the Blue Shirt and the rest is history.
Managed to watch the World Cup Final a few weeks later with the film GOAL on the Futurist Cinema on Lime Street.
Of course by then Alan Ball was a Blue and there was loads of Evertonians in the pictures that night.... pictures being The Futurist.

Yep my late father took me to see the film GOAL in colour for the first time Bally MOTM even with Hurst hat trick - He would have rolicked our static midfield from our older players today, Gordon West did not get on with Bally that well, because he was a perfectionist, and expected every blue player to be like him, but still admired him as a world class player!

 

[IcelandBlue]

Alan Ball. I loved him. Loved him. A great, great Everton players. One of the best to have ever graced our wonderful football club. Did I mention that I loved him? And still do. Alan Ball. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. You are up there with the highest Gods of our great football club.

 

[Joey66]

I think Cahill was just with us at the wrong time. If the rest of the team matched him we would have won stuff.

There would be hard for us to sign another Ball or even to hold on to him look at Rooney?
Let's hope one day our great club can hold or attract nothing but the best.
Leeds pursued Bally with Brown envelopes, his Dad thank goodness told him to join us why the Golden vision played his part by the way he had graced Goodison park so the story goes!

 

[AndyC]

There would be hard for us to sign another Ball or even to hold on to him look at Rooney?
Let's hope one day our great club can hold or attract nothing but the best.
Leeds pursued Bally with Brown envelopes, his Dad thank goodness told him to join us why the Golden vision played his part by the way he had graced Goodison park so the story goes!

Legend has it that Bally was sat with Don Revie when Harry Catterick rang and asked to speak to Bally. Revie, thinking the deal was done, said okay and minutes later, Bally and his Dad left Leeds and headed to Goodison.

Whether this is true or not, it's a great story.

 

[kev]

Some wonderful statements made on this thread and rightly so.
50 Years ago today a 21 year old young man won our nation the World Cup with his outstanding MOTM Performance.
I missed the final because mum and dad had taken us to Tenby and surrounding places on a caravan holiday.
Wasn,t that bothered that i missed the final because after all England played in dirty red, but two weeks later Alan Ball signed for us pulled on the Blue Shirt and the rest is history.
Managed to watch the World Cup Final a few weeks later with the film GOAL on the Futurist Cinema on Lime Street.
Of course by then Alan Ball was a Blue and there was loads of Evertonians in the pictures that night.... pictures being The Futurist.

I was an Everton mad 11 year old when I watched the world cup final. I was looking forward to seeing Ray Wilson, but Alan Ball of course stole the show. A red headed dynamo of a player. I was the proudest 11 year old ever when we signed him from Blackpool shortly after. Loved every minute of his Everton appearances, and cried like a bish when he went to Arsenal.

Who's the greatest of them all ?

 

[Eggsyblueskin]

I still remember crying when he left. My first hero.

 

[macdog]

Immortal.

 

[Jamo Martinez]

Apt choice on the 50th anniversary of the WC. A name as synonymous with Everton as any. Too young to have seen him with us but you get an idea when you sense the awe with which older fans speak of him.

Mention him to older fans of other clubs and you get an idea of what they were up against when their teams played against him/us.

 

[SailorBlue]

My childhood hero. I remember cutting his picture out of a Typhoo Tea box to add to my collection.
The first time I saw him in the flesh was at Goodison against Colchester in the cup . What a player. Was so chuffed when he scored.

 

[Joey66]

Legend has it that Bally was sat with Don Revie when Harry Catterick rang and asked to speak to Bally. Revie, thinking the deal was done, said okay and minutes later, Bally and his Dad left Leeds and headed to Goodison.

Whether this is true or not, it's a great story.

In Ballys autobiography Don Revie upset his whole family by sending brown envelopes to his house to get him to sign -Bally , and his Dad did talk to both clubs so his dad hearing on the ribe attempt helped Ballyto sign fo us with our brand of football !

 

[royalblue66]

Shankley said he that man is a thorn in my side,enough said.

 

[BlueLlama]

Nice little story from Geoff Hurst. reckoned he was only able to smack in his 3rd in the 1966 WCF beacause Bally was bombing down the right screaming for the ball taking the defence away from him.

 

[Jacob]

Some wonderful statements made on this thread and rightly so.
50 Years ago today a 21 year old young man won our nation the World Cup with his outstanding MOTM Performance.
I missed the final because mum and dad had taken us to Tenby and surrounding places on a caravan holiday.
Wasn,t that bothered that i missed the final because after all England played in dirty red, but two weeks later Alan Ball signed for us pulled on the Blue Shirt and the rest is history.
Managed to watch the World Cup Final a few weeks later with the film GOAL on the Futurist Cinema on Lime Street.
Of course by then Alan Ball was a Blue and there was loads of Evertonians in the pictures that night.... pictures being The Futurist.

Even though hed managed to take my older brothers to the Goodison WC games, my Dad been taken ill with cancer in the July and my family were visiting him in hospital so I was in our close neighbours house watching the match as it was strict then and they didn't let kids visit in hossies except on a Sunday. I remember first seeing Bally on the pitch then...he looked like a little lad compared to the Charltons and Nobby. I was made up we signed him and that was that.. he was my favourite. My Dad passed away at home in the October just after my 9th birthday and I got taken to stay with relatives downtown while it was all going on...things were different then....and my Auntie who was a footie mad Red took me to see GOAL there on the Futurist too. Never seen footie before at the pictures on that scale before....and Bally just looked even better in colour, playing his guts out for his country..."Mr Perpetual Motion" indeed as Wolstenholme called him. He distracted my kid's mind off the upset and confusion. Of course his pivotal role then in the triumvirate with Howard and Colin proved to turn us into a limousine of a side...thank God I was able to see that. What a player..cocky, chippy and a match for the likes of Bremner and Giles and the other narks around then on that score. But a sublime skill...pace and precision, knowing when to play the killer ball and when to slow things down and the ability to chip in with many match-winning goals when games were tight. I was blessed to watch him and shed a few tears when he left us...twice over.

 

[Joey66]

Nice little story from Geoff Hurst. reckoned he was only able to smack in his 3rd in the 1966 WCF beacause Bally was bombing down the right screaming for the ball taking the defence away from him.

Yes seen that on the tv documentary Hurst heard a little high pitched sleekly voice pass it here repeatedly as Bally was unmarked, the rest is history as Geoff decide to blast it high over the bar to run the time down, and it flew into the roof of the net who was there to jump on him to congratulate him Bally!