Maybe Michael Atherton initially right to alter ball's final character (9)
I believe the answer is:
archangel
'maybe michael' is the definition.
(I know that Michael is a type of archangel)
'atherton initially right to alter ball's final character' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'right' could be 'ar' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'ar' is located in the answer.
'alter' could be 'change' (synonyms) and 'change' is found within the answer.
'character' could be 'l' and 'l' is present in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for archangel that I've seen before include "Gabriel, for example" , "Raphael, perhaps" , "Russian city" , "Senior spirit; Russian port" , "Raphael, say" .)