Jimmy Ball - son of the recently-appointed Exeter City manager Alan Ball - was in his final year of school when he made his debut for Exeter City in the Devon and Exeter Youth League in October 1991. Remaining as part of City's youth squad during the following season he also made appearances for the reserves in the Football Combination and for the club's side in the Devon and Exeter League. Some thirty-five years later he returned to Devon to manage Torquay United.  

Later playing for Southampton's reserve team following his father's appointment as Saints' manager in January 1994, he subsequently moved into non-league football with BAT Sports (Totton) ahead of coaching Christchurch and Winchester City.

Eventually making a career in coaching, Jimmy worked at Portsmouth and Shelbourne before a spell in the USA prior to stints in the academies at Blackburn Rovers and Stoke City. After a period as Forest Green Rovers' under-18 manager, he switched to first-team work in April 2021 when he filled in as the club's caretaker manager following the departure of Mark Cooper (himself son of Terry Cooper who had been Alan Ball's predecessor at Exeter City). This meant that, although his time at the helm was only for a matter of weeks, Jimmy had followed both his father and grandfather - Alan Ball Snr - in taking charge of teams in the Football League.

Joining Stevenage as first-team coach in January 2022, he briefly worked alongside former Exeter manager Paul Tisdale until they both left the Hertfordshire club a few months later at which point Jimmy returned to the Southampton area when he became manager of AFC Totton. Soon given an extended contract to take charge of all of the club's football activities, Jimmy led the Hampshire club to promotion to National League South in 2024/25.  

Later, in March 2026, he took over as manager of Torquay United in place of Paul Wotton who had also turned out for Exeter City's youth team during 1992/93.