Jimmy Ball (born 1975 or 1976) is an English football coach who is the current manager of

AFC Totton Amalgamated Football Club Totton is a football club based in Totton, Hampshire, England. The club is affiliated to the Hampshire Football Association and is an FA Standard Chartered club. They are currently members of the . History The clu ...

. Previously Ball had been employed with

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club are a professional football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team compete in , the third tier of the English football league system, and have played their home games at The New Lawn since ...

as an under-18 team coach and interim manager of the first team.

Playing career

Ball was a youth player at

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

and

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

during his father's managerial stints at the clubs. Ball later played senior football for BAT Sports.

Coaching career

Following his playing spell, Ball moved into coaching, coaching at

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

and Winchester City. In 2014, following coaching spells at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

and Irish club Shelbourne, Ball moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, to coach Puget Sound Gunners. Ball later returned to England, coaching in the academies at

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

and Stoke City. On 11 April 2021, following the sacking of Mark Cooper and whilst working as the club's under-18 manager, Ball was appointed interim manager of

until the end of the 2020–21 season. After having failed to gain promotion, Rob Edwards was appointed head coach, and Ball went back to coach the under-18s team. He left the club with mutual consent in September 2021. Ball was appointed first-team coach at League Two club Stevenage on 4 January 2022. In March 2022, Ball was appointed as manager of Southern Football League side

Personal life

Ball is the son of former

1966 World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 July to 30 July 1966. The England national football team defeated West Germany 4-2 in the ...

winner

Alan Ball Jr. Alan James Ball (12 May 1945 – 25 April 2007) was an English professional football player and manager. He was the youngest member of England's 1966 World Cup winning team and played as a midfielder for various clubs, scoring more than 180 l ...

and the grandson of

Alan Ball Sr. James Alan Ball (26 September 1924 – 2 January 1982) was an English football player and manager. Playing career Born in Farnworth, Lancashire, Ball played as an inside forward for Bolton Boys Federation, Southport (in two spells), Birmingham ...

All three family members have managed in the Football League.

Managerial statistics

References

1970s births Living people Association football coaches English football managers Totton & Eling F.C. players English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in the United States English expatriate sportspeople in Ireland Forest Green Rovers F.C. managers English Football League managers Portsmouth F.C. non-playing staff Blackburn Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Stoke City F.C. non-playing staff Forest Green Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Stevenage F.C. non-playing staff English men's footballers Men's association football players not categorized by position A.F.C. Totton managers Place of birth missing (living people) {{England-footy-manager-stub