249 appearances, 78 goals.

  “No one was greater than their club, but you came pretty close.” – Tribute sent to Goodison after Ball’s death.

‘I was running back to the centre-circle after I scored the second goal against Liverpool and pure elation welled up inside me. I remember thinking: “I just love this place, I want this place forever.”‘

Alan Ball, August 1966

Ball, who chased his surname perpetually, like a Jack Russel chasing its tail – was a true Everton legend. The zest from this orange haired dynamo was extraordinary, and it was borne out of an utter hatred for losing. Remarkably he may have hit his peak in the summer of ’66; a 21 year old squeaky ginger drill-sergeant with the world at his feet.

“Run you bastard, run!” screamed Ball – the youngest man in the team – upon spotting an exhausted Nobby Stiles flagging in the World Cup final. Two weeks after England lifted the Jules Rimet, Harry Catterick – Everton’s shallow-dwelling mastermind – made Ball an Everton player as Britain’s first six-figure signing. Ball himself was tireless, a blur of orange and blue, moving his white-hot boots in perpetual motion.

Ball led his Everton to their 1970 league win; they finished on 66 points – a heady nine clear of Leeds United – very impressive for a time when two points were given for a win. Catterick’s sale of Ball was controversial, but Everton had him in his pomp. He left Goodison in body but not spirit, he was to remain an Evertonian for the rest of his life.