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In football terms Alan Ball was an one-off but Scouse actor Michael Hawkins is gaining rave reviews with his portrayal of the Everton legend.

The 26-year-old from Belle Vale is appearing as the Blues idol in the stage play Ball of Fire and while replicating the World Cup-winner's footballing skills is impossible, Hawkins is doing his best to recreate Ball the man.

He said: “Alan's family came to see us at the Epstein in July. I spoke to his sister, son and uncle. “His uncle was telling me all sorts about him and how he went to see him on his debut for Blackpool at Anfield.

“I read Alan's autobiography Playing Extra Time which Kenny O'Connell wrote the script around.

“I tried to look for bits of stuff on the internet with clips of Alan but most of it is when he's older during his managerial career and there's not a lot from when he's younger.

“I found one short snippet from the BBC documentary Alfie's Boys in which he's talking.”

Hawkins added: “Alan famously had a very distinctive high-pitched voice but you've got to be careful when trying to imitate it without sounding like Joe Pasquale or like you're taking the mickey because it can easily become a caricature voice if you don't do it properly.

“You want it to sound authentic so I had to keep practising it a lot and given that Alan came from Bolton way, I also had to work on getting the vowel sounds correct.

“Listening to Alan's voice he seemed to speak up and out with a certain nasal quality.”

Born in Farnworth, Ball failed to win a contract with his local club Bolton Wanderers but first made his name with Blackpool before heading down the Lancashire cost in the summer of 1966 to join FA Cup winners Everton in a record £112,000 transfer.

Hawkins said: “When Alan was young he suffered a lot of rejection as a teenager with people telling him that he was too small to make it as a professional footballer but that added to his resilience.

“His father pushed and pushed him and Alan himself wrote to clubs asking them to give him a chance.

“Three years later he'd won the World Cup, getting the man-of-the-match award in the final which demonstrated his never-say-die attitude.”

He added: “Understandably that gives you a certain degree of confidence but he could also be quite humble at times.

“He was interviewed by the ECHO in the game before Everton won the League in 1970 and the reporter mentioned how Alan had achieved so much in the game. Alan cut him off and said 'I haven't achieved anything' but I think he meant in the club sense.”

Ball was part of Everton's most lauded midfielder trio, as one third of the 'Holy Trinity' alongside Colin Harvey and Howard Kendall and his impact isn't lost on Hawkins even though he was born after the player hung up his boots and is a patron of Anfield rather than Goodison.

He said: “I also spoke to a lot of my friends dads about Bally and they told me how when Everton sold him there were grown men in tears.

“They'd had a winning formula and were tipped to go and conquer Europe – and this was at a time before Liverpool did – but Harry Catterick let him go and it seems mad.

“For me there are similarities of Rafael Benitez and Xabi Alonso and you wonder whether it was something personal between him and the manager.”

Hawkins added: “As a Liverpool fan, putting on the Everton shirt for the first time was strange but having Ronny Goodlass [the former Blues player who acts as narrator] alongside me throughout the whole process has been great.

“He used to clean Alan's boots at Goodison, knows what Alan was like and knows all the stories in the play.

“My mates are all sound about me taking the role, there's a good mix of Blues and Reds, you know how it is.”

Ball isn't the first Merseyside icon Hawkins has portrayed though from the Swinging Sixties as he played George Harrison of The Beatles in the ITV drama Cilla while another upcoming project also surrounds his home city.

He said: “It was my first TV role and I got the call to do it on my 24 birthday – what a present.

“There was a mock Cavern Club and Abbey Road studios plus we got screamed at by girls and I thought 'I could get used to this.'”

Hawkins added: “My next role is in a play called Scouse: A Comedy of Terrors at the end of the year which originally played at the Everyman in 1997.

“It's taking place at The Dome at Grand Central Hall on Renshaw Street. It's about 'The Liverpool People's Party' wanting to gain independence from the UN, EU, NATO and UEFA!

“We haven't started rehearsals yet but as well as being funny it's very dark.”

Ball of Fire has three more performances to go. The play travels to North Wales on Friday, October 7, at The Little Theatre, Rhyl, before returning to Merseyside at the Epstein Theatre in Liverpool on Wednesday, October 12 and the Floral Pavilion, New Brighton, on Saturday, October 15.