Football: Ball may be on way out at Everton

THE EVERTON full-back Michael Ball's future at the club has been placed in doubt following disagreements with the manager, Walter Smith.

Ball was initially left out of the starting line-up to face Liverpool in the Merseyside derby on Saturday but later re-instated in place of Danny Cadamateri after a confrontation with the manager. However, Ball had an ordinary game against Liverpool and was not picked for Monday's home defeat against Sheffield Wednesday.

Ball, tipped by many as a future club captain, is valued at around pounds 6m. The Manchester United manager, Alex Ferguson, sees the young left-back as an eventual replacement for Denis Irwin. Arsenal and Liverpool are also reported to be interested in the player.

Meanwhile, Bill Kenwright, who is heading a takeover bid for Everton, refuses to accept that boardroom upheavals are having a serious effect on the club's attempts to remain in the Premiership. Smith has already stated that he feels the uncertainty is having an affect on the team - a claim that Kenwright rejects.

"I don't believe anything that is happening in the boardroom is affecting the players or what is happening out on the pitch," Kenwright said. "How can it? I don't think anything will happen now on the takeover until the end of the season."

Kenwright's backers, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, want to know what division Everton will be in next season before giving him the money to buy 68 per-cent of the shares owned by the club's majority shareholder, Peter Johnson.

Johnson, who resigned as chairman last November in the wake of the sale of Duncan Ferguson to Newcastle behind Smith's back, is living in tax exile in Jersey and has been in no rush to sell his holding.

Kenwright, who always admitted he did not have the cash to fund the takeover, has struggled to put together a package capable of meeting Johnson's demands. If Everton go down, his backers may lose interest.