James Alan Ball (26 September 1924 – 2 January 1982) was an English football player and manager.

Playing career

Born in

Farnworth Farnworth is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, southeast of Bolton, 4.3 miles south-west of Bury (7 km), and northwest of Manchester. Historically in Lancashire, Farnworth lies on the River I ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...

, Ball played as an

inside forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

for Bolton Boys Federation,

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Iris ...

(in two spells),

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

(although he did not play a

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

match for them),

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...

and

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

Managerial career

Ball started his managerial career as player-boss of

Oswestry Town Oswestry Town Football Club was a football club from Shropshire, playing at Victoria Road. They joined the Birmingham League in 1924 and switched to the Cheshire County League in 1959. In 1975 they made the move to the Southern League before ...

, then managed Borough United,

Ashton United Ashton United Football Club is a football club in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, England. They are currently members of and play at Hurst Cross. History The club was founded in 1878 as Hurst Football Club and the earliest known match ...

and

Nantwich Nantwich ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It has among the highest concentrations of listed buildings in England, with notably good examples of Tudor and Georgian architecture. ...

, helping the Cheshire side to a treble of Mid-Cheshire League, League Cup and Cheshire Amateur Cup in 1963/64. In the summer of 1966, he left the Dabbers to take up a coaching role with

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Sto ...

. He managed

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration (law), administration in ...

in two separate spells (1967–1970) and (1976–1977), and in between these he managed

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syst ...

between 1970 and 1973 winning the Division 3 title, and

IF Saab Idrottsföreningen Saab was a Swedish sports club from Linköping, Östergötland County founded in 1941 by people working at Saab and most known for its association football and handball teams.http://www.bolletinen.se/sfs/allsvenskan/grundades. ...

and

IK Sirius IK Sirius is a Swedish bandy club located in Uppsala, currently playing in Elitserien. IK Sirius were formed in 1907 and play their home games at Studenternas Idrottsplats. History IK Sirius' first success was becoming Swedish runners-up in ...

. Ball managed

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Name The club is nam ...

in 1979.

Outside football

Ball also had stints as a publican. While at Oswestry Town he kept the King's Head in Church Street,

Oswestry Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483 and A495 roads. The town was the administrative headquarters of the Boroug ...

Death

He was killed in a car accident in Nicosia, Cyprus, in January 1982 at the age of 57. Ball had been engaged for what would have been his next managerial position, with the Cypriot team

Evagoras Paphos Athlitikos Syllogos Evagoras Paphos () was a Cypriot football club based in the city of Paphos. Founded in 1961, was playing sometimes in First and sometimes in the Second Division. It has adopted its name from Evagoras Pallikarides, who was a ...

and was being transported in a taxi from

Larnaca Airport Larnaca International Airport – Glafcos Clerides (''Diethnís Aeroliménas Lárnakas''). tr, Larnaka Uluslararası Havaalanı). is an international airport located southwest of Larnaca, Cyprus. Larnaca International Airport is Cyprus' mai ...

to start work when it crashed, reportedly killing him instantly.

Family

At death Ball left his widow, his lifetime wife Vera. His son Alan Jr. played in England's

1966 World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 July to 30 July 1966. The England national football team defeated West Germany 4-2 in t ...

-winning team and later followed his father into management. In April 2021, Ball's grandson, Jimmy, became the third generation of the family to manage in the Football League after being appointed interim manager at

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club are a professional football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team compete in , the third tier of the English football league system, and have played their home games at The New Lawn since ...

References

1924 births People from Farnworth 1982 deaths English footballers Association football inside forwards Ashton United F.C. managers Southport F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players English football managers Halifax Town A.F.C. managers Preston North End F.C. managers Southport F.C. managers Djurgårdens IF Fotboll managers Oswestry Town F.C. managers Stoke City F.C. non-playing staff Road incident deaths in Cyprus {{England-footy-forward-1920s-stub