* Quotes from Alan Ball. 'I was running back to the center 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
'Once Everton has touched you, nothing will be the same' Alan Ball. Proud to be Blue. Admhez

* Can't believe the man is gone. Complete shock really. I was talking to my dad about Bally and he tells me the story of being comforted by Alan's wife at the end of the Cup Final with my dad in tears. A few days pass and he meets Alan and his wife in town and Bally's wife says this is the fella who couldn't stop crying at the final whistle. Bally just smiled and patted my dad on the back. I met him in California when his Vancouver Whitecaps played in San Jose. I was 17 or so and it was the one time in my life I've been speechless. Couldn't say a word to him. When they took the pitch I got my Everton scarve out and he gave us a wave and thumbs up. For me the greatest player to ever walk the planet. There are better players, but not many who had the skills and the passion of the little ginger man. RIP Bally, a piece of all evertonians has gone forever. Flan

* ALAN BALL IS THE REASON IAM A BLUE. KEVIN FROM GIBRALTAR

* In memory of Alan Ball - The Farnworth Evertonians thank you for your integral part of our 'Holy Trinity' league winning midfield. The Farnworth Toffees.

* Perpetual motion, School of Science and the holy Trinity when I hear these words the name Alan Ball comes to mind what a fantastic little player. Ball, Harvey and Kendall what a midfield trio, before their time with their passing and flowing moves all on the deck. The media outside Liverpool never give them the respect they deserved, imagine if them three had played for a cockney club or manure. But we all knew they were simply the best. Alan Ball was an Evertonian and he loved the club, always spoke in the highest regard for the club and fans. I went to a question and answer night a few years ago in London and John Motson was in the chair and he was asked a question about football in the sixties and he spent about 20 minutes talking about Everton and the school of Science, but in particular Ball, Harvey and Kendall he used the words “Perpetual motion”. Alan ahead of his time with them white boots and had the skill to match them. James

* Totally devastated when I heard the news, cried my eyes out. So many happy memories as a kid watching my first Everton hero Alan Ball. God bless and thankyou for all the memories. Phil Harris

* Gutted about Our Alan Ball. Writen to him not long back regarding my Grandad's illness. He phoned up to speak to him too. Never got around to Thanking him. Hope he up there now with Skip having a kick around. Alan

* I am stunned by the news. Alan Ball is one of the reasons I support Everton. Rostropovich wasn't the only maestro to pass away this week. Keith Richmond

* ALAN YOU WERE ONE OF THE GREATS YOU WAS MY HERO. WHEN MY KIDS WERE VERY LITTLE I USED TO HAVE THEM SINGING, WHO'S THE GREATEST OF THEM ALL CURLY HEADED ALAN BALL. WHEN YOU LEFT EVERTON FOR ARSENAL IT WAS LIKE I HAD LOST SOMEBODY VERY CLOSE TO ME. AS WELL AS BEING A GREAT FOOTBALLER AND A LEGEND,YOU WERE ALSO A LOVELY PERSON. R.I.P. ALAN. BILLY RIMMER AND FAMILY.

* Never saw the great man play in the flesh because i wasnt born but god did I hear about him off my dad! Wish I did see him.... R.I.P. Bally. Barry Hughes

* Me and the great man last month at the Adelphi. I've got this framed on my wall in the house, a true legend. cheers , Peter Sheehan

* The Greatest Song of All - A Tribute to The Greatest of All Alan Ball

Bill Shankly to Ron Yeats, "Come listen my boy
I've devised this Great Plan, that you're sure to enjoy,
Those Everton Toffees we'll knock out the Cup
And a great celebration we'll have on the Kop.
We'll kick Jimmy Husband and Harvey as well,
We'll kick those Blue Toffees, we'll kick them to hell,
There'll be one man standing that's Brian Labone
But he won't beat eleven red shirts on his own" !

Alas Mr Shankly, your plan it went wrong
And even your kopites could not raise one song,
For the man you forgot was THE GREATEST OF ALL,
A Red Headed Dynamo, named ALAN BALL !
In the forty fourth minute of a goalless report,
Smith, Yeats and Lawrenece on the wrong foot were caught,
When a square ball from Husband with great force was met,
from the boot of Young Alan to the back of the net !

If only I could describe the tune ! Adrian Thomas

* I was in Sofia this week sitting in a taxi when my brother telephoned me from the Liverpool and as my mother is 87 years old I half expected bad news. Bad news my Brother said, Alan Ball had died. I was caught with mixed emotions, my mum was ok but Bally had died.

In my early 50s and like all Blues of my generation I can remember exactly where and how I got the last news that Bally had left us, in my case it was in Liverpool's Sefton Park Hospital recovering from a cartilage operation and I was absolutely devastated, total disbelief as Bally was Everton and could not see how the club could go on without him. In reality it took nearly 15 years before they recovered from Bally leaving them and take the league title again under Howard and Colin's leadership.

Returning to the UK on Friday night and sitting early this morning in my study I looked on at the wall and stared at the Everton Penant and the photograph of Goodison Park on my wall.....Nil Satis Nissi Optimum......memories started flooding back to me of my youth in Liverpool, how Everton was and still is a major part of my life, thoughts and pride.

Bally was at Everton during my formative teen years and like John Lennon for me, they ephitomised what being a Blue from Scouseland was about. Bally had the confidence and skills to do anything on the world's field of play and John was a scouser who in my opinion led the world's cultural revolution in the 60s for young people, both could never be halted by somebody else trying to limit their horizons. All was possible for those that wish to pursue their dreams.

I have been fortunate to travel the world and meet many people from Siberia to Rio in Brazil and many places in between and have always been very proud of my city and football club. There have been times over the last 20 years when neither the city or Everton FC have been in vogue and it would have been easier not to have talked about them, but all the people I meet know that I am very very proud of being an Evertonian from the great city of Liverpool.

I have just ready the story for the first time about Bally's wife in her last days and how she told him to go to an Everton fans event and "Be with his People" and it moved me to tears. Bally made Everton a deep part of the person I am and values I hold.

A good decent man and I thank Bally greatly for his rich contribution to my life without him ever knowing what he did for me or perhaps he did, for me and may other Evertonians.

There is another young player who left Everton and broke the hearts of all Evertonians and he returns to Goodison today, deep down I believe he is a Blue and one day he may return to "His People", because as Bally clearly demonstrated "Once a Blue ....Always a Blue".

Thank you Bally for being an Inspiration to me. ......Alan Ellinson

* He Was Simply The Best. All Evertonians will miss him greatly.There is another blue star in heaven. Bobby and Beryl-true Blues.

* I've found myself welling up a lot this week. So sad i never met you Alan. I bought the amber away shirt a few years ago and got the famous number 8 put on the back. God bless mate. You certainly lived up to the club motto. David Shortall

* R.I.P Bally great man, great player my dad’s hero for many years I always wanted to watch you play the game you loved always wanted to see when you wiped your nose on the corner flag at Anfield too!! R.I.P . Jay

* Absolutely devastated when I heard of Alans death. Above all he was a family man and they must obviously be feeling a great sense of loss and grief at this time. They are not alone as the whole of Bally's extended Everton family share their feelings. The number of tributes recieved and the sincerity of the feelings expressed is testament to the esteem in which he is held. I am pleased to see so many tributes from Evertonians who are too young to have witnessed the great man. Those of us who had the pleasure of watching him play realise how lucky we are. Footballing idols come and go, but few are still held in awe generations later. Alan Ball was, is, and always will be the epitome of Everton football club and everything that is great about it. RIP Alan. Gone but never, ever to be forgotten. Kevin Jones

* Every young lad has a footballing hero.My hero was Alan Ball.He was quite simply the best player to wear an Everton shirt in all the years i have watched the blues. I remember the goal against liverpool under the floodlights on that famous night, the white boots, the sitting on the ball, the thirty yarder against newcastle, but most of all I remember meeting Alan Ball 2 years ago when he signed his book for me and allowed me and my daughter to have a picture with him.He was friendly, courteous and genuinely pleased when I told him that he was evertons greatest ever player.Todays news is the saddest I have heard for a long time and my sympathies go to his family.There will never be another Alan Ball.
R.I.P. Alan Ball.......My hero. Les Olson.

* I am an exiled Evertonian, left there in 1969 at which time Alan Ball was my hero, the greatest Everton player I ever saw. I live in Vancouver now and even here he is remembered with great affection. He played for the local team, the Whitecaps, when his English playing career was over. That was 17 years ago and yet the local radio sports reporter, who never features football - it's all ice hockey here - had it as his lead item in the news. There will be one minute's silence at this weekend's game. So Alan was loved and respected the world over. Fat Gazelle

* I am now exiled in Hampshire and was fortunate enough to meet him at a charity event a couple of years ago. It was a lunch time thing and heavily populated by ladies, I waited for an opportunity to speak with him as he patiently listened to anecdotes from the women about their husbands love of Saints and Pompey. The lady in front of me proceeds to tell him that her entire knowledge of him relates only to the World Cup Final and to go on about his little legs running around the pitch. He was very gentlemany and polite but obviously bored rigid. I then got the chance to speak to him and apologised straight away that unfortunately my favourite recollection was not the World Cup but the flash of his white boots as he kicked Liverpool out of the FA Cup at Goodison. He lit up and for a few moments I was able to talk to my hero about his beloved Everton, I will never forget that reaction. Although my son was born down here he has been brought up the right way and I look foreward to sitting him down and explaining the glory that was the Holy Trinity and the Legend that was Alan James Ball. Nil Satis Nisi Opptimum Bally, the motto never had more meaning then when linked to you. Hampshire Blue

* Just read every single tribute about bally and really can't add any more. I'll be totally honest, I never saw bally play. BUT, on Wednesday morning when I heard on the radio of the sad news, I felt a massive part of my life had gone. All the stories already posted, WOW! Can Rooney sit on the ball mid-game? I very much doubt it. He was right. Once Everton has touched you, nothing will be the same. Bally, you are still a legend and with labby and dixie, god help any other team up there who tries to get near the greatest team on earth. Paul Davies