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Kevin Ball
Personal information
Full name	Kevin Anthony Ball
Date of birth	12 November 1964 (age 60)
Place of birth	Hastings, England
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Position(s)	Defender, midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team
1981–1982	Coventry City
1982–1990	Portsmouth
1990–1999	Sunderland
1999–2000	Fulham
2000–2002	Burnley
Total
Managerial career
2006	Sunderland (caretaker)
2013	Sunderland (caretaker)
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Kevin Ball (born 12 November 1964) is an English former professional footballer who played for Portsmouth, Sunderland, Fulham and Burnley. Since his retirement, he has held a number of positions at Sunderland, including twice being caretaker manager, and was most recently a club ambassador.

Playing career

Born in Hastings, Ball began his career in central defence but eventually moved into central midfield. He played 389 games for Sunderland in all competitions, scoring 27 goals. His career took off with a spell at Portsmouth and, after leaving Sunderland, he had spells at Fulham and Burnley. Whilst at Sunderland, he played in the 1992 FA Cup Final where they lost 2–0 to Liverpool.^[2]

Ball, a former club captain, was named Sunderland Player of the Year for the 1990–91 season, and again in 1996–97, the year they were relegated from the Premier League. He was part of the Sunderland sides that won First Division titles in 1996 and 1999.^[3]

Managerial career

Between 6 March and 8 May 2006 Ball acted as Sunderland caretaker manager for the last ten games of the 2005–06 season following the sacking of Mick McCarthy, taking five points from these games.^[4] Although Ball expressed his interest in the manager's job on a full-time basis, incoming chairman Niall Quinn was keen for the club to appoint a 'world-class manager' following the club's takeover by the Drumaville Consortium, ruling Ball out of the running. Ball remained at Sunderland under the new regime, returning to his former post of assistant academy manager.

Manager Martin O'Neill promoted Ball to become the club's senior professional development coach in July 2012, which included being responsible for the club's reserve team and the club's under-21 players. In 2013, he again became caretaker manager following the sacking of Paolo Di Canio.^[5] Ball's first game in charge resulted in a 2–0 home win over Peterborough in the League Cup. He oversaw a further two games,^[6] before Gus Poyet was appointed to the role.^[7] After a long spell as a Club Ambassador at Sunderland he was made redundant in 2022.^[8]^[9]^[10]

Honours and awards

As a player

Sunderland

Football League First Division winner: 1995–96, 1998–99
FA Cup runner up: 1991–92

Individual

Sunderland Player of the Year: 1996/97
Sunderland Solid Gold XI^[11]

References

^ Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 290. ISBN 978-0-356-14354-5.
^ "Liverpool 2 - 0 Sunderland". www.lfchistory.net. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
^ "Kevin Ball". Sunderland A.F.C. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
^ Newhouse, Sam (26 March 2013). "Does sacking a manager late in the season work?". The Independent. London. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
^ "Kevin Ball steps into breach as Sunderland wait to name new boss". Sky Sports. 23 September 2013. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
^ "The Managers: Kevin Ball". Sunderland A.F.C. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
^ "Gus Poyet: Sunderland name Uruguayan as new head coach". BBC Sport. 8 October 2013. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
^ Johns, Craig (9 November 2017). "Kevin Ball: Sunderland are working hard to get the right man in as soon as possible". ChronicleLive. Trinity Mirror North East. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
^ "Sunderland legend Kevin Ball leaves club after 32 years". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
^ "Sunderland AFC Website".
^ "Solid Gold XI". Sunderland A.F.C. 5 March 2011. Retrieved 2 July 2011.