Footballer; Born May 12, 1945; Died April 25, 2007. There is a belief that the mischievous sporting gods created James Alan Ball merely to irritate Scottish football fans. The accomplished former England midfielder, who has died aged 61, was the epitome of the English combativeness, aggression and skill that conquered the world in 1966 and could have done so again in 1970.

The raucous roars of derision that Ball attracted from Scottish fans were, of course, the most noisy if strangely sincere strain of back-handed compliments. He should have been one of us. Red-haired, crabbit, never beaten and able to pass off either foot, Ball seemed to have been separated from his footballing twin, Billy Bremner, at birth. Both were marvellously gifted footballers who died prematurely of heart disease.

Ball could not match Bremner's club career. The Englishman won only one domestic honour, the 1969-70 league title with Everton. However, aged only 21, he was an influential contributor to England's World Cup side of 1966.

Sir Alf Ramsey's side was famously called "Wingless Wonders" but Ball, always happier in a central midfield position, made a series of surging runs down the right touchline during two hours of the dramatic 4-2 victory over West Germany. Indeed, he had a run-on part in the most famous World Cup goal of all time. It was his sprint and cross that led to Geoff Hurst hitting the ball off the cross bar and on to/over the line. Delete where applicable.

The move was typical of Ball. He was an indefatigable presence but his workrate should never be allowed to detract from his substantial talent. He was a shrewd passer and an astute reader of the game.

He was a football man from birth in Farnworth, Lancashire, on May 12, 1945. His father, Alan, was a football coach who held the view that talent was never enough. He schooled his son tirelessly in both technique and fitness.

Ball was precociously gifted and his maturity as a boy belied the slight frame he could never outgrow. Indeed, Ball was censured by a headteacher for not playing for the school team and playing youth games with Wolverhampton Wanderers instead.

He started his professional career with Blackpool, though, before progressing through Everton and Arsenal to a delightful swansong at Southampton. Wolves declined to sign the small youngster and Ball signed for Blackpool in 1961, turning professional the next year. He immediately impressed and served the club with distinction for five years before signing for Everton for £110,000 in the immediate aftermath of the World Cup victory.

He played in a marvellously gifted midfield three of Ball, Howard Kendall and Colin Harvey that is routinely eulogised by Toffee supporters recalling the championship season of 1969-70.

In December 1971, Arsenal paid a record fee of £220,000 for the midfielder. Ball played with his customary verve and efficiency at Highbury but he was not to be rewarded with tangible success. The nearest he came to a winner's medal was in the centenary cup final of 1972 which Arsenal lost 1-0 to Leeds as he crossed swords with his alter-ego Bremner yet again.

In 1976, Ball headed for Southampton, helping them back into the first division and to a league cup final which they lost 3-2 to Nottingham Forest in 1979. He ended his playing career in the North America Soccer League with the Vancouver Whitecaps.

He followed his father into football management. He had spells with Portsmouth, Colchester, Stoke Exeter, Southampton and Manchester City. His most successful spell was probably his first with Portsmouth. His most high profile was at Manchester City, a club then regularly involved in bouts of self-destruction. His talents as a manager seemed, almost predictably, to be as a motivator. His high-pitched voice penetrated everyone within hearing distance.

He could, when particularly voluble, reach the pitch of a dog whistle.

He was always wedded to the concept of passing football and was properly indulgent to the talents of the gifted Matt Le Tissier at Southampton.

Latterly, he became a football pundit and made withering criticisms of the England World Cup team of 2006. These were made from a position of strength. Ball had been introduced to the England team on May 1965, just three days before his 20th birthday in a 1-1 draw with Yugoslavia in Belgrade. The following year he became the youngest member of England's World Cup-winning squad. He was also an important member of the 1970 side that had the misfortune to play in the same era as a Brazilian side that holds justifiable claims to being the best national team ever. England lost 1-0 in a group match to Pele and his cohorts but a rematch in the final was denied through a mixture of West German strength and Ramsey miscalculation.

Ball was one of the best players of his generation, and needed to be to justify the white boots he wore. He was one of the first players to do so.

He won 72 caps for England before falling foul of Don Revie, whose taste in flame-haired midfielders began and ended in Bremner.

Privately, Ball was a gregarious man who was fond of horseracing. He suffered tragedy in his personal life. His father, who was his professional mentor, died in a car crash in 1982. Even more grievously, his wife died on May 16, 2004, aged only 57. She had been suffering from cancer.

In May 2005, Ball, who had three grandchildren, put his World Cup medal and commemorative tournament cap up for auction to raise money for his family. They were sold for £140,000. He was awarded the MBE in recognition of his World Cup-winning exploits.

Some fans north of the border will prefer to remember his exploits on the Wembley turf a year after 1966, when Jim Baxter led Scotland to a 3-2 win over the world champions. Baxter mercilessly taunted the increasingly agitated Ball during a masterclass by the gallus Fifer.

It was an experience Ball never forgot and he was always at his most animated against Scotland. He was inspired rather than destroyed by adversity. He was a great footballer. And we Scots appreciated that, though we had a funny way of showing it.