Kevin Ball's Sunderland exit ends his 30-year association, and the timing could not have been worse

Whether encountered via a crunching tackle on the pitch, or whether you were the recipient of a bone-crushing handshake off it, Kevin Ball left his mark.

The word 'legend' has long since become overused and devalued in football terms, but 'Bally' is one man who merits the label in its old-fashioned sense.

And that is why the ending of his three-decade-long association with Sunderland today is big news.

It has come at a bad time for Sunderland, just at the very moment when the Black Cats' fortunes have nosedived on the pitch and matters regarding the ownership of the club have further inflamed supporters.

Bally had been quietly sidelined for some time, furloughed from his role as a club ambassador when the Covid pandemic struck in 2019 never to return, and although he is believed to have been offered an alternative role it was clearly not something that appealed.

He is a great loss because in Bally Sunderland had a straight-talking communicator whose commitment to the club and its supporters could not be questioned.

He was, and is, trusted by supporters, and that kind of connection is something the club can ill-afford to lose right now.

The bond between Bally and Sunderland fans has been more than 30 years in the making, dating from his arrival in the summer of 1990 when Denis Smith brought him from Portsmouth to Roker Park for a bargain £350,000.

Born on the South Coast, Bally moved to the North East earned first the appreciation and then the adulation of Sunderland fans - and he it says much about his character that he is also one of that elite group of players and managers who are afforded bi-partisan respect on Tyneside as well as Wearside.

During his nine-and-a-half year stay as a player Bally made almost 400