Some parting thoughts on Alan BallUpdated: May 26th, 2007
I just caught the end of Alan Ball’s funeral on Sky News yesterday and couldn’t help but be moved by the applause and singing that rang out as the coffin was carried out of the church.
Although the general consensus on the City talkboards was “great player, crap manager”, I’m not convinced this was actually the case. True, he proved a poor City manager, and his record of taking three clubs down certainly ain’t great, but his managerial career strikes me as a very mixed bag.
I lived in Portsmouth in the mid-1980s when Ball was first in charge there and remember the buzz his side created. Pompey had been in Division 4 five years earlier and had finished sixteenth in the old Division 2 the season before he took over in 1984. Ball took them to 4th in the next two seasons before winning promotion the following year. I went to a few games in their promotion season and thought they played neat, attacking football. Although he took them down the following year, he’s still remembered as the man who gave Pompey their first top-flight football since 1959.
After brief spells at Stoke and Exeter ended in failure, in January 1994 Ball took over a Southampton side that had been in the relegation zone all season and saved them from the drop. The following year he took Southampton to a 10th-place finish, and inspired Matt Le Tissier into playing the best football of his career.
Maybe his time at City shows how fine the line between success and failure can be.
According to Tony Book’s autobiography Maine Man, Ball made a poor impression in his first team meeting, with a lengthy talk about his upbringing and achievements failing on deaf ears.
“I believe he put them on the back foot from that first meeting, and he never quite had the dressing room from there on in,” Book writes.
I remember a former City player (I forget who now) talking about Ball’s time at City on TalkSport a few years ago. He revealed that Ball’s tactics for the first half of the season caused confusion, with instructions to wide players to continually move inside resulting in an overcrowded central midfield and far too little width. By the time the players were happy with the system, the hole had already been dug.
Even so, had we found that third goal against Liverpool on the final day, I wonder if we would have remembered Ball very differently.
Quite who was to blame for the fiasco in the dying minutes is still disputed. Niall Quinn is in no doubt after giving this account in his autobiography:
“I had a radio and knew that Southampton were winning elsewhere, so we need to score. Alan Ball had a conflicting message and he was telling the lads to hold the ball up. I had to run down the sideline and scream at Steve Lomas that we need another goal.”
But Tony Book, who was in the dugout for that game, rejects Quinn’s version.
“I can honestly say there was no message that came through to us telling us about any other scores that affected our chances,” Book writes.
Writing about Ball’s time at City leaves me with one final thought. Is there any other sport in the world where heroes can be so vilified after they stop playing? Maybe that’s what makes football so unique and characters like Alan Ball more worthy of respect than stars of other sports.
As the likes of Henry Cooper relived their 1960s sporting glories, Ball battled on, taking the stick and fighting the odds, in the game he loved so much.
An invitation to all United fans
In a bid to show what gracious winners they can be, Liverpool fans would like to extend this kind invitation to the supporters of our city rivals.
CoMS gets a twin
Panathinaikos are about to start building a 42,000-capacity stadium that will look identical to CoMS.
Reaper at Mancityfans has posted these pictures of the designs, while more details can be found here.
According to Wikipedia the stadium will cost no more than €80m (£55m) - exactly half the cost of CoMS.
And while we’re on the subject of stadiums, here’s a very fine picture of Old Trafford I first posted in December.
Barton newsfile
Thursday 3rd May
PFA deny they are ignoring Dabo (Daily Mail)
PFA chief Gordon Taylor adamant that staff “have done their utmost” to contact Dabo.
Dabo earlier claimed that “nobody from the union has contacted me or offered me support”.
Taylor claims Dabo’s younger brother Moussa, who plays for Oldham, has been helped considerably by the PFA”.
Dabo stunned by Barton bust-up (MEN)
The pair exchanged fierce challenges which led to them squaring up before, Dabo claims, Barton launched his attack.
He continued: “I just pushed him away and turned my back to walk off. That’s when he hit me.
“I really don’t remember exactly what happened but I’ve been told by all my team-mates he hit me from behind, a right hook which hit me on the temple and knocked me out for a few seconds.
“As I started to fall he jumped on top of me, held my head and punched me twice more in the face.
“Apparently when I was on the floor he again punched me before being pulled off.”
Barton branded a ‘coward’ by Dabo (Telegraph)
Dabo threatening legal action after describing “savage, unprovoked and, worst of all, cowardly assault”.
“What I find most shocking is that he [Barton] struck me first from behind and then repeatedly when I was down on the ground. He is a coward and his actions are despicable. This is why I’m in serious discussions with my lawyers to see what actions I can take. This should not be allowed to happen. Apparently I’m very lucky not to have lost my sight,” Dabo said.
Barton is a coward, says Dabo (Times)
“I am disfigured. My left eye has been affected. I believe he put his fingers in my eyes. I am suffering. But I don’t remember much because his first punch made me lose consciousness,” Dabo told French sports paper, L’Equipe.
“I was spitting blood and my eye was clouded over and when I realised what had happened - I wanted to go after him. When I woke up this morning I looked at myself in the mirror with my face all swollen up and I looked like the Elephant Man. I’m a big guy and if it had been a face-to-face fight he would have known about it.”
Dabo snubs apology (Daily Mirror)
Barton “smashed a barrage of punches into Dabo’s face”.
Dabo considering calling in the police.
“Barton has gone to Portugal while the row about the fight cools down but he has been trying to phone his teammate. Friends claim he has had private problems in the past few days and erupted because of them.”
Everton still interested but Moyes faces battle with Newcastle, Sunderland and Celtic.
Wednesday 2nd May
City to get rid of Joey (Daily Mirror)
Barton’s City career is over after a “brutal fist-fight” put Dabo in hospital with suspected broken jaw.
Everton believed to be the destination, but there are “a host of other takers”.
A City source said last night: “It was incredible. Joey was over Dabo and still hitting him while he was on the floor.”
Barton blows City future (Daily Telegraph)
“It is understood that Dabo received several punches to the face from Barton and was taken to hospital as a precaution.”
City wash their hands of Barton after fight at training ground (The Guardian)
Barton to be sold in the summer after “brutal and prolonged attack at the training ground”.
“Dabo needed treatment for facial cuts after being repeatedly punched in an incident which was witnessed by a group of children who were watching the practice session.
He apparently incited the fight by sliding into a late tackle on Dabo during a game to work on tactics for Saturday’s derby against Manchester United. A few minutes later Dabo retaliated with a late tackle of his own. When Barton fouled him for a second time the two squared up and Barton repeatedly lashed out before being dragged away.”
Barton banned for new bust-up (The Sun)
Barton “called his rival a ‘f*****g p***k’ and laid into him before other players wrestled the brawling pair to the ground.
“Dabo went to hospital with a bloody nose, cut lip and swollen face, though tests revealed no fractures.”
Tuesday 1st May
Barton set for City exit after fight with Dabo at training (The Independent)
Is Barton’s career over? (The Times)
Barton’s roll of shame (The Daily Mail)
City suspend Barton (MEN)
Manchester City: Barton suspended (Orlando Sentinel)
Takeover latest
With sightings of City’s directors now becoming rarer than Lord Lucan, you have to wonder whether they expect a takeover to be completed soon.
I’m told that no-one from the board attended the player of the year award on Monday night, while the only senior club representative at the fans’ forum last Thursday was Stuart Pearce. In both cases this was a highly unusual occurrence.
City’s share price on PLUS Markets is again unchanged today. On Monday they jumped 5p to a mid-price of 45p before falling back to 42p, valuing the club at £22.7m.
Curiously, yesterday’s MEN story headlined “Thai bid for Blues will see Stu stay” now has the headline “Shinawatra confirms City proposal” and contains a picture of Pearce captioned: “Under pressure”.
Below are the latest developments in the papers. I’m only listing the stories that contain original information and will be keeping the newsfile on this page all week. There’s also some threads about the takeover talk at Wookie’s Lair which are well worth a read.