Alan Ball.

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kev said:
Alan Ball was one of only a very small handful of truly world class players to have ever played for us.
On his day he was simply unplayable and would dictate games. Even on his rare off days you could always guarantee 100pc effort.
The term 'perpetual motion' could have been invented for Bally.
Why was he sold? I've asked myself that every day for the past 49 years
[/QUOTE loved him, I even went to jack sharps in town and bought a pair of white boots
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rochdaleblue said:
My late dad said the selling of Bally knocked the stuffing out of the club. He said the fans were in disbelief and dare I say it, so were the the players and we never recovered. Catterick’s health was failing and so was his judgement. He hated the RS as much as anyone, but he said Bally was as influential to Everton as Gerrard was to the RS. Bally led by example he said, was the heartbeat of the team. He said George Best was the best ever player he saw live at Goodison in his prime, but Ball was the best Everton player. Two world class players.
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My dad said he cried when he left the club.

It must have been a week or so before his death that i saw Alan doing some shopping. He lived round the corner. I went up and told him that he made my dad cry and I got the impression he got told stuff like this a lot.

I bought me dad a signed photo of the holy trinity years ago and it's still hanging in his house today.
 
Armaghtoffee said:
For those of us never to have seen him play, what modern player is the closest comparison to him?
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I don't believe he has a modern equivalent. He played in the days when physical contact was seen as a integral part of the game, not something to be weeded out. I know all the arguments about the game being faster etc. etc. and the tackles which went in during Ball's era could now wreck a modern day footballer.
Alan Ball epitomises all the things our current lot, with a very few expections, lack. He had the skills to allow him to play but he also had the heart to want to play. He was a leader, at times he led by showing how the game should be played, at times he led by showing how much he cared and at times he led by putting his foot in.
If he was in our current midfield the air would be blue his high pitched voice.
 

Was lucky enough to see The Golden Vision live a few times but only as he came to the end of his Everton career, he was my Dad’s favourite player!
Mine was and always will be Alan Ball, what a player - he never ever stopped moving on the pitch, and he hated losing! Was absolutely devastated when he left, and I think he was as well!
 
Eggs said:
...very good question. I always think he was a ‘tiki taki’ player before Barcelona tiki taki was invented. Graeme Souness was some midfielder and he said he played against Ball when he was nearing the end of his career and couldn’t get near him, it was touch and always on the move.

He’d also get in great goalscoring positions and score. He’d score in the big games, he’d score when his team most needed. Great mentality, with the ability to sit on the ball during a game because he could.
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Peter Reid said exactly the same, you couldn't get two more combative midfielder to say that, both brilliant in their own right. Bally was perpetual motion, skill, pace, could pass, tackle and scored goals. The day he was sold, never forgave Catterick for that, came home from school , went upstairs and whinged.
 
Eggs said:
...very good question. I always think he was a ‘tiki taki’ player before Barcelona tiki taki was invented. Graeme Souness was some midfielder and he said he played against Ball when he was nearing the end of his career and couldn’t get near him, it was touch and always on the move.

He’d also get in great goalscoring positions and score. He’d score in the big games, he’d score when his team most needed. Great mentality, with the ability to sit on the ball during a game because he could.

Scholes/Iniesta hybrid perhaps.
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I remember being told by an older Blue at a game years ago that he could also look after himself on the pitch. Was this more tackling or more snide?
 

Never forget him coming to Goodison as Southampton manager. I'd never really understood how much he was revered by older blues until that day. Grown men (dad included) absolutely star struck and lost for words, some with tears in their eyes. It was like God himself had landed amongst us at the players entrance on Goodison Road.

I knew then. It all made sense.
 
tommye said:
I ask my dad about him.
He shakes his head, sighs and says it's STILL too painful to think about and walks off mumbling under his breath.
Even now, almost 50 years later.

No other player does that to him.
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You Know what, that post makes me both happy and sad, because I reckon I know just how your dad felt.
Think quite a few people know, that Shankly was good friends with Alan Ball and was always trying to sign him...he always said no, thank god.
 

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