 FORMER Liverpool hard man Ron Yeats has paid tribute to Alan Ball by recalling the future England World Cup winner’s league debut at Anfield as a slight 17-year-old. Yeats admitted he was baffled by Ball as his Blackpool team tore up the form book to secure an unlikely 2-1 win on the opening day of the 1962 season. Yeats went on: “We couldn’t believe such a small and light lad could withstand so many hard tackles. “He would get up and brush himself off and come right back at you. I couldn’t believe it. “When we came up against young lads we used to get in hard, just to tell them there was more to come. But it didn’t unsettle Alan at all. “He didn’t treat the game like he was a 17-year-old and he made an impression on everyone.” Sir Bobby Charlton said without the winger’s man-of-the-match winning display, England may not have won the World Cup. “He was probably the best player that day and if it had not been for his impact the result could have been totally different. “Alan was always bright and bubbly in everything he did as a player. He went about his work with great enthusiasm and gusto and he always had a smile on his face.” Ball’s room-mate, Nobby Stiles, recalled how Ball’s unstinting commitment and seemingly bottomless reserves of energy had helped carry him through the final leg-sapping moments of extra time. Stiles said: “With eight minutes to go I went to knock the ball across to the far post but I wasted the chance and I remember thinking, ‘I’ve nothing left, I can’t move’. “Bally spotted me and just ran up and said, ‘move, you b******, move!’ He got me going again because I was absolutely gone. Alan’s bubbly enthusiasm rubbed off on everybody he met.” Jockeys riding horses belonging to Mick Channon, a former team-mate of Ball’s at Southampton and now a racehorse trainer, wore black armbands yesterday. Channon’s assistant, Lesley White, said at Catterick: “He is a bit down because he has lost his best friend. “That’s why all of his jockeys are wearing black armbands - it’s a sad day.” Clubs around the country are expected to pay tribute to Ball at games this weekend. His first club, Blackpool, have already announced plans for a minute’s silence, while Southampton and Everton have opened books of condolence. | 
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