In our exclusive interview, the former Snooker World Champion previewed the contenders of the UK Championship ahead of the competition in York.
Speaking with Betway, the1985 world champion analysed the form of world No. 1 Judd Trump, praised young talent Stan Moody and assessed Ronnie O’Sullivan’s chances of winning a record-breaking eighth world title at the Crucible.
O’Sullivan is currently the third-favourite in the snooker betting to win the UK Championships, which takes place at the York Barbican Palace from the 29th November.
Who would you say are the leading contenders for the UK Championship?
It looked like Shaun was going to win everything the way he started playing, and then all of a sudden, he lost the match. I think it was 6–1, and I saw that Shaun was very disappointed.
On social media, he was having a real go at Matchroom for putting him on the first match in the Champion of Champions after he’d flown back from China, which I suppose I can understand from Shaun’s point of view.
But then, on the other hand, you get someone like Zhao Xintong, who’s much younger than Shaun — flew straight back in from China and beat Mark Allen 4–0. So yeah, Shaun’s capable of doing well in the UK.
John is also there and got to the final out in China last week, and only lost 10–6 to Yuan Sijun, who’s a wonderful player as well. I mean, the Chinese players — there’s more coming through as well. I said 10 years ago there’d be maybe six of them in the top ten. It’s not quite that yet, but some of them are unbelievable, and there’s more coming through.
It’s great to see Neil Robertson back playing well again. He’s really found the form. He’s been using a sports psychologist, which seems to be working for him. Of course, Stephen Maguire winning again, coming back to form, so it’s not all about the youngsters.
Some of the older players are still doing really well, and it’s unbelievable that Mark Williams, John Higgins, and Ronnie O’Sullivan are still at the top of their game. two of them have passed 50 — Ronnie’s coming up there in December, too.
I know it’s a long way to go before the World Championship, but it’s got to be fascinating to see if Ronnie can beat Stephen Hendry’s seven world titles because I thought it was just a matter of time. But then the way things were going, I thought Ronnie won’t do it, and then of course he bounces back — makes two maximum breaks in one day. I mean, that is incredible.
Ronnie has to go some way to win another world title because that fear factor has gone — people used to be scared of playing Ronnie. I don’t think they’re frightened of him now. And the standard is so high these days.
I still think he can win another world title, but he’s going to have to play at his best for the whole of that World Championship. But there’s a long way to go before we get there.
Ronnie has said he won’t play at the Masters and hasn’t been too active. Could this cost him a record-breaking eighth title at the Crucible?
I don’t think that really applies to Ronnie. He’s obviously very, very busy, and he’s probably trying to pace himself, and I’m sure he chats with Steve Peters. I’m sure he still sees him from time to time — sort of planning his season.
When you get to his years, you can’t play in every single tournament. So, he’s trying to pace himself. But you’d want to be playing in the Masters. I mean, that’s really big — the Masters, the UK and the Worlds.
You definitely want to be playing in those. I know Ronnie will want to play in Saudi Arabia, where the game is growing rapidly, because he’s got academies out there with his name on them, so I suppose he’s trying to pace himself.
I’ve been out in Dubai — I go out there a few times a year — and I know Ronnie is settled out there, so it’ll be interesting to see if that maybe helps him away from the table just to help get himself prepared for the big tournaments.
How about Jack Lisowski now he’s finally won a ranking title?
Well, everybody loves Jack. He’s a very, very popular player — a good all-round guy as well — and he plays the game a little bit like his good friend Judd Trump. He is very exciting to watch.
I was so pleased for him to eventually win his first title because losing in six finals… I know people were saying, “Oh, Judd missed a red with the rest” — it was a shock that anybody could miss with the rest, but Jack just played so well, and I was delighted for him, and hopefully that will open the doors for him and he can win many more titles.
What have you made of Judd Trump this season? He has had indifferent form…
He’s still the world number one. Judd is such a talent that you can’t really say he’s underachieved, but I suppose in one respect, you could say he should have won a lot more. But I mean, he’s just a wonderful talent and one of the great players to watch and to commentate on.
There’s never a dull moment when you’re in the commentary box when Judd’s around because you’re going to see something very special — a little bit like Ronnie. Judd’s in and out of form a little bit, but still, probably because he’s world number one, you have to say he’s one of the most consistent players this season.
If you had to pick one snooker player who represents Pep, who would you say is the Pep Guardiola of snooker?
Ronnie wouldn’t be a bad choice. Pep — perhaps a bit like a lot of snooker players — he doesn’t mind losing, he just can’t stand getting beaten. That’s the way I put it.
Who is a player who goes under the radar to watch this season?
There are a couple of young players, and we wish there were a lot more coming through, but Stan Moody is a wonderful talent. I did an evening with him, not far from where he lives there in North Wales, and he did an exhibition, and the table wasn’t great, and he played nine frames and made four century breaks.
Okay, it’s just an exhibition, but the talent that Stan Moody has at 18 is incredible. He’s a great prospect, as indeed is Aaron Hill from the Republic of Ireland. He’s a great young player.
Those are the two that seem to be breaking into the televised stages of tournaments. And that’s what you’ve got to do — and then get used to playing on television. But those are two players that I would look out for, but hopefully we can get a few more coming through.
Do you think we will see a 167 break in Saudi Arabia this year?
When that came out, when they first played it and I heard about the golden ball, I thought, “What a gimmick this is, that’s not good for snooker.”
Then I watched it, and it became quite exciting, because that golden ball was sitting on the baulk cushion. John Higgins got down to the yellow; he finished close to the yellow; otherwise, he would have had a chance.
I think it adds a lot to the game, and whoever thought of the idea. It was quite a good idea in the end, even though I thought it was a gimmick. But what a gimmick — and I hope it’s done. I hope somebody does it.
It has been 40 years since you defeated Steve Davis. You are currently on tour with him doing shows, what has the reaction been like?
Well, we’ve been doing these shows for a great number of years. This happens to be the 40th anniversary, and it is amazing. John Virgo goes with us, so it’s a really fun evening.
It’s a couple of hours’ show in the theatre, and its great craic, and the people come along, and we have like a VIP photograph session. The stories you get from people there — they remember what they were doing 40 years ago, and if they’ve got the youngsters with them, they seem to know as well because of social media these days.
It’s just a lot of fun, and I love working with Stevie; he’s so much fun. We do have a good laugh.
What was you thinking when you had the chance to win the world championship after Steve missed the black in the final frame?
Well, it was more what happened when I missed. I tried all sorts on that final black. I tried to double it in the middle pocket; I tried to double it from the bottom cushion into the top pocket. I was trying everything, and then eventually I got the first proper chance to pot the black down past the blue spot, the green spot into the corner.
When I missed that, I went back to my seat. I thought, “The black’s going to be right over the pocket.” When I turned round — there were a couple of fellas I was talking to in between frames through the whole of that final — and I said, “I’ve just blown it.”
But when I turned around, the black wasn’t quite over the pocket and of course, Steve overcut the black, so the feeling for me coming back to the table was incredible. But I took ages on that final shot and didn’t even grip the cue. I let the cue just rest very lightly on the four fingers and kept my thumb out of the way so that I wouldn’t make a snatch at it.
When the black went in, it was just incredible. That was 13 years of waiting to become a world champion, and the way I reacted afterwards, I couldn’t believe it. I was stamping the cue and raising the cue above my head, and it’s funny — at the show, you’ll get people who have got a pair of glasses on the top that want to turn them upside down, or they’ll raise an imaginary cue above their head, or they’ll wag their finger at me.
