Was Alan Ball as bad as people remember?

peoffrey said:
He replaced a popular Hart with a clown like Bravo and ended the season trophyless. Ederson was then brought in. Whilst it’s worked, Pep got away with that one because he was Pep. It was his worst season as a manager.
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Pep got away with nothing he had a plan and stuck to it.While Joe was popular Joedropped some clangers .Now he cant get in Burnley side ( if he still there)
 
My older brother and I are both London-based Mancunians in exile.

When we received news of Ball's appointment, it was almost as if we could hear the collective groan issuing from Manchester.

If I remember rightly (and I may not), we then went to the QPR match early in the season. City were terrible, lost 1-0 and I think Michael Brown got sent off.

We already knew then.

The Buster Phillips thing was another embarrassment. Didn't Ball claim that his value might rise to 10 million at one point?

My aforementioned brother recalls actually seeing Ball play for Everton. He once told me that the away fans started squeaking whenever he got close to them.

I was still sorry to hear of his passing, though. He was a gifted, committed player but a hopeless manager.
 
Getting back to the original subject, when Alan Ball was appointed I received a phone call from a friend of mine who was a loyal Stoke City supporter. "Ball will take you down" were his actual words.
I pooh-poohed this prophet of doom and awaited a successful season.
We all make misjudgments from time to time, and that was one of my worst.
 
ZenHalfTimeCrock said:
My older brother and I are both London-based Mancunians in exile.

When we received news of Ball's appointment, it was almost as if we could hear the collective groan issuing from Manchester.

If I remember rightly (and I may not), we then went to the QPR match early in the season. City were terrible, lost 1-0 and I think Michael Brown got sent off.

We already knew then.

The Buster Phillips thing was another embarrassment. Didn't Ball claim that his value might rise to 10 million at one point?

My aforementioned brother recalls actually seeing Ball play for Everton. He once told me that the away fans started squeaking whenever he got close to them.

I was still sorry to hear of his passing, though. He was a gifted, committed player but a hopeless manager.
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Your memory is bang on. 3rd game of the season, we were indeed awful, and Brown got sent off. I went on the train with 3 mates and we went on the piss in London later. We ended up missing the last train home and kipping on the tiles at Euston. The next morning when travelling home we ended up on a train full of London-based Stoke fans travelling up for their derby against Port Vale. One of them gave us a detailed run down as to why Ball was a shit manager, saying he put a load of their players on ridiculous contracts which almost bankrupted Stoke as a club!
 
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