SIX months after being released by Burnley, Kevin Ball has admitted that his distinguished playing career is finally over.

"It means that my career ended with two seventh places in the first division with Burnley and I am happy with that," he said.

"I have been getting offers to play, even after the one from Accrington Stanley, but I am still struggling after hurting my back.

"I still hanker after playing but it would take me a month or five weeks to get fit now so I will have to call it a day."

Ball will return to Turf Moor for the first time since leaving tomorrow when he will do the draw at half time of the crunch clash with another his former club that is close to his heart, Portsmouth.

"It is great to have the opportunity to come back and say thank you to the fans because I never had the chance last season," he admitted.

"I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the club and their result is the one I look out for along with Pompey and Sunderland."

"It is extra special because I made my debut for Pompey and I had a couple of milestone games against them for Sunderland, my 300th and 400th league games."

Monitoring the progress of Porstmouth and Burnley has been an interesting process and the 37-year-old is delighted they both appear on the up.

"Burnley made a very sticky start and that was a shame because of what we had achieved the last two years," he said.

"But Stan had been forced to let staff go, getting rid of players and it was difficult. It must have been frustrating but it has been turned around and they are now going really well.

"From a Pompey point of view, the chairman has spent a lot of money and he looked like he was coming to the end of his tether.

"But he has bank-rolled Harry Redknapp and they have made a great start. The problem is keeping the momentum going as we found last season at Burnley.

"When you are top of the table everybody raises their game against you.

"They all raise their game to another level"

What Ball does know is that the Clarets will have to watch out for former England star Paul Merson tomorrow.

"He is a brilliant player and he can do things that other people just can't," he said. "He can always create a bit of magic and he has said that achieving promotion with Porstmouth would be the greatest thing of his career."

Ball certainly had some great moments in his career, leading Sunderland to the 1992 FA Cup Final and two first division championships.

He is hoping there will be a good crowd tomorrow for the visit of the table toppers and he said: "Portsmouth will bring a decent number and I hope there will be plenty of Burnley fans too.

"They are both similar clubs with very passionate supporters and I will always want them to do well."

Having served both clubs with distinction one thing is certain, Ball will get a great reception at Turf Moor tomorrow.

He may have called time on his playing career but he could still have a future in the game and his name was one of the first mentioned in relation to the vacancy at Darlington created by the sacking of Tommy Taylor this week.

That is unlikely to be an avenue he will explore but he could have a role to play somewhere, sometime soon.