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In fact he was not really interviewed at all. After a tumultuous reception he was simply given the microphone and he was off.
Pausing at the start to tell us that he had just threatened to rekindle his love of the tackle from behind on a young boy whose Dad had joked ‘Watch him he’ll kick you’ as he walked past he began by telling us about his departure from Fulham.
His old mate Paul Bracewell had just been sacked by Mohammed Al-Fayed and sensing a bit of dissention in the ranks Al-Fayed had come down to the training ground to speak with the players. Bally had the bottle to tell him that he thought he was out of order in the sacking of Bracewell and began to worry if he had spoken out of turn but an aide of Al-Fayed talked to him and said that he would respect him for speaking his mind. Respect or not as Bally dryly pointed out ‘I never played for Fulham again.’
In fact he said that when, a couple of days later he received a suspicious looking package from the Harrods boss he got his apartment’s receptionist to open it whilst he stood some distance away!
He received his first contact from Stan Ternent whilst stood under the Eiffel Tower during an afternoon off from a Fulham training camp in France and agreed to sign straight away. Pausing to meet Stan at The Oaks hotel on his trip back up to his home in Sunderland. Signing for the Clarets was ideal for Bally as it allowed him to keep his family base in the North East and commute to Burnley. He was also pleased to be signing for a club where he knew the supporters passion for the game matched his own as had been the case at his previous clubs Portsmouth and Sunderland.
Speaking about Stan Ternent he confirmed that he was ‘A complete nutter 24/7’. He also said that he’d never had more arguments with a manager in his entire career than he did with Stan but that he respected him totally because of his honesty. If Stan has something to say he says it to your face not behind your back.
One of his main topics was THAT sending off at Turf Moor in December 2000, which I think he said that people describe to him as ‘the worst funniest tackle they have ever seen’. His ever-loyal son said to him afterwards: ‘Dad, I thought you got the ball.’ whilst his more realistic wife said that she wasn’t so much worried about the sending off but thought he was ‘lucky not to get arrested’.
Bally was abused and spat at as he went down the tunnel and revealed that he came quite close to jumping into the stand and sorting a few of them out. Perhaps just as well that he didn’t and had to settle for being told by Stan to give an interview saying he didn’t mean to do the foul.
He was of course an important part of the team that managed to finish 7th in Division One in consecutive seasons and it was clear that he really enjoyed his time at Turf Moor so it was a shame that it had to end in sadness.
His bitterness was reserved for ITV Digital and it seems that Bally would have been offered another year on his contract were it not for the collapse of the TV deal and the subsequent hole in the finances of Burnley FC. He confirmed that this season would have been his last before retirement and it is a great pity that he’s sat at home twiddling his thumbs and not playing for the Clarets or even any other club for that matter.
Bally does still keep in touch with Stan and even went as far as phoning him from his holiday in Florida to tell him to stick with it after our poor start to the season. Stan apparently said that he might be joining him in Florida if we didn’t win our next match at which Bally joked (or at least I think he was joking) ‘The thought of that prospect made me desperate for Burnley to get a result’.
Even if his playing days are over Bally’s performance highlighted him as a natural on the after dinner speaking circuit or possibly work in the media. In the days when TV punditry is at an all time low with those involved showing as much passion for the game as a wet fish how refreshing it would be to see someone like Bally involved especially as he has already mastered the art of putting words together to form a sentence.
At the end he received another huge round of applause with the only sadness being that he was still not able to offer something to our midfield but the lasting impression will be of a brilliant bloke with a real passion for the Clarets and the game.