Played for Both: Former Sunderland legend and Burnley player Kevin Ball

We take a look at former player, captain, coach, manager, ambassador and legend of the club - Kevin Ball really did do it all.

There's one player that comes to mind when you hear the phrase - 'Mr Sunderland'. Kevin Ball held many roles during his 32-year association with Sunderland AFC and it's fair to say he put one hundred and ten percent into all of them.

"Who do you think you are? John Oster!?" is what Kevin Ball said to me, referring to my Oster like headband. This was as we were lining up to kick off the second half of a fan's charity match at the Stadium of Light in 2004. 

This is one of my best memories of Bally and probably as a Sunderland fan and shows how connected Ball was with the fans. His willingness to interact in this manner with the fans was why we all fell in love with a man who put his heart and soul into our club.

Born in the south coast town of Hastings, Bally started his career at Portsmouth as a central defender in 1982. Fast-forward 8 years and Denis Smith brings Bally to Roker Park for £350,000 - this was to be the start of a beautiful relationship between club and player.

During his first season at the club Ball only missed five league games, and four of these were due to suspension for several red cards during the season. Known as a bit of a hard tackler Ball amassed 71 yellow cards and five reds across his nine and a half years as a player for Sunderland. In fact only Lee Cattermole has more reds than Bally, with six.

A leader and a role model during his time at the club, Ball took his role as club captain very seriously. He had the full respect of the dressing room and the management team. This led to him more often than not being the bridge between the squad and management in times of dispute.

Ball made 388 appearances for the club, scoring 25 times. It's fair to say during this time he made an impact both on and off the pitch. 

He led the club to Wembley twice: the FA Cup Final in 1992 versus Liverpool and the play-off final against Charlton in 1998, however both trips were unsuccessful.

There was success also, leading the club to two promotions to the Premier League in 1996 and 1999. At the time the 1999 promotion was a then-record high points total of 105.

He was named Sunderland player of the year twice, the first time in 1991 and then again in 1997. No mean feat.

Ball left the club in 1999 to join Fulham in December before then moving to this weekend's opponents Burnley in 2000. It was at Burnley where Ball ended his playing career in 2002, calling curtains on a playing career that had spanned 20 years.

As the saying goes when one door closes another opens, and in 2003 Sunderland boss Mick McCarthy brought Ball back to the club as part of his coaching staff.

Ball initially spent time in charge of both the U18 and U21 squads within the Acadamy of Light, eventually becoming Assistant Academy Manager. During this time he played a pivotal role in the development of a number of players, including England internationals Jordan Pickford and Jordan Henderson.

At the end of the 2005-06 season when Mick McCarthy was sacked, Ball stepped in as caretaker manager for the last ten games of the season. Ball had hoped to continue as permanent manager; however, Sunderland Chairman Niall Quinn was keen to appoint a high-profile name. 

He returned to his role in the academy when Roy Keane was named as the new Sunderland boss.

His second stint as caretaker came in 2013 when he took charge of first team affairs after the sacking of Paulo Di Canio.

Between his two stints as caretaker boss, Ball was promoted to development coach where he took over the running of the under-21’s team.

In July 2014 due to major knee surgery which put an end to his coaching career, Ball took on an ambassadorial role within the club.

The club announced in February this year that Ball had left the club, thus ending a three-decade-long association with Sunderland AFC.

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