Player Feature — Michael Ball

Summer 2000

At the end of 1997, Michael Ball had the world at his feet. Tipped to become an England regular and a genuine Premiership star, the 17 year-old Ball was Everton's hottest prospect. Links with a big-money move to the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal followed, as did an England U-21 call-up, with full international honours not far away.

However, after breaking into the Everton side in the spring of '97 and cementing his place in the first team the following season, Ball's star began to fade for reasons probably better known to himself. The star performances became fewer and farther between and under Walter Smith he lost his place in the starting line-up.

Now Ball's Everton career appears to be approaching its nadir, having lost his no.3 shirt to new arrival Allessandro Pistone and seeing a £2.5m move to Leicester fall through this summer. The player who as a teenager used to train with the Liverpool youth team in an Everton kit can't contemplate playing for anyone else. However, he is facing up the possibility that he may have to, as explained by John Edwards:

You've no right to call me lazy

By John Edwards

Michael Ball fears his days at Everton may be numbered after admitting that Walter Smith has criticised his attitude and labelled him 'lazy'.

The 20-year- old England prospect opened up on his spectacular fall from favour over the past 12 months and reluctantly conceded he may have to abandon a lifelong dream of fulfilling his international ambitions with his home club.

As he reflected on an apparently doomed battle to win over his demanding Everton manager, Ball said: 'Any other club and I would probably have moved on by now. I just cannot imagine playing for anyone else but I may have to.

'If there is no sign of a first-team place by Christmas, I am going to have to think of my career and consider a fresh start.'

With his 21st birthday little more than two months away, Ball should be catching his breath from England's ill-fated exertions in Holland and Belgium and savouring the prospect of taking Everton's marked improvement under Smith to even greater heights.

Instead, he has been forced to surrender his No.3 jersey to £3million signing Alessandro Pistone while, at international level, he can still hear FA technical director Howard Wilkinson trying to dress up the stark reality that being stuck in the reserves had put paid to his chances of making Kevin Keegan's Euro 2000 squad.

Possibly even more telling, though, was that Wilkinson did not select Ball for the European Under 21 Championships in Slovakia, even after Gareth Barry's promotion to the senior squad.

Ball is beginning to despair of adding to Everton's international roll of honour after a series of runins with Smith which culminated in Pistone's arrival from Newcastle and a change of number for the coming season from three to 12.

The significance was not lost on the Liverpool-born England Under 21 defender, who said: 'It puts me under even more pressure but I am determined to respond positively because I still desperately want to stay at this club and make the left back position my own.

'I know I've got a real fight on my hands, though, after last season. I struggled to prove my worth to the boss and I was not too happy with the way things went.

'There were times when I was not sure what I had done wrong, particularly when I returned from international duty after doing well and still couldn't get in the side.

'All I wanted was a fair chance but I don't think I always got it. If I played badly, I would hold my hands up and take a back seat. But while one or two others had the occasional bad game and were given another opportunity, there were no second chances for me.

'He (Smith) had a chat with me about why I wasn't being picked and tried to explain what he expected of me. It soon came across that he thought my attitude was not right, that I had taken a step back and been taking things easy, and even that I was a bit on the lazy side.

'I took some of the points on board but disagreed with others. I don't accept that I am lazy, for one thing. I am laid back and I think about my game, rather than tearing around everywhere like Terry Phelan used to, so maybe that created the wrong impression.

'It was a bitter blow missing out on Euro 2000 after all the talk about the shortage of left-sided players. I had no chance because I wasn't in the Everton team, yet I couldn't help thinking I might have been in with a shout if last season had worked out differently.

'Players with less experience than me, like Jon Harley and Seth Johnson, were getting a mention while I wasn't. The answer was simple enough, though. They were playing first-team football and I wasn't.

'I haven't gone knocking on the manager's door but we have talked things over a few times. There is some common ground between us and the conversations finished on amicable terms, so I hope it isn't any personality clash that has caused the problem.

'Certainly, I have done my utmost to work on my fitness and make sure I am in peak shape physically for the new season.

'I cannot do more than that, yet the fact remains that I have only had 45 minutes in the first-team during the pre-season build-up. I am honestly not sure how things are going to work out but it is difficult to be too optimistic.'

Ball, along with fellow defender Richard Dunne, had already incurred the manager's wrath for missing a New Year's Day training session when they seemed to exacerbate the problem by threatening to take Smith to a tribunal in protest at what they deemed to be an overly harsh punishment.

A last-minute change of heart by the pair failed to take away the feeling around Goodison that they had challenged Smith's authority and, indeed, barring a late hitch, Dunne will start the season in the First Division with a £2.5m switch to Wimbledon.

Ball could also have been on his way, after Soccernet revealed towards the end of last season that Everton were actively seeking prospective buyers for him.

'I remember reading that and being shocked by it,' he said. 'I went to see the boss and though he could not give me any assurances, he has subsequently said he has no intention of selling me. He has said that, so I've got to believe it and I will certainly be trying 100 per cent to force my way in.

'I have been thinking during the summer about what has happened to me and it is amazing how far my career has gone downhill.

'People warn you about the ups and downs of football but when you are picked for England Under 21s and tipped to go all the way into the senior side, you genuinelyb believe there are only good times ahead.

I have learned otherwise and with any other club, I'd have given serious thought to moving on about a year ago. But this is Everton. It has always been my club and I cannot imagine playing for anyone else. But now I may have to.'