In the absence of actual snooker to talk about in recent weeks & following an interview with Barry Hearn, the corner of twitter that the sport inhabits has been alught with people discussing their all time top 10's. So I decided , I may as well dust off the old blog & throw my own opinon in to the mix.
Two quick things before I start, Firstly in these old pub arguments, with so many variables, there can be no definitive right or wrong answer,We can all just offer our own opinions & everyones is as valid as everybody elses, (the one exception here is Michael Mcmullen, who in the recent SnookerScene Podcast was just way off the mark!!) Secondly, my top 10 is taken purely from players I've seen in my lifetime.I am too young to remember Ray Reardon & John Spencer in their prime,so I have left both out of this list.
So anyway lets begin.
10. Mark Selby
A controversial one to start with, putting the three times world champion & long time no.1 so low on the list, but if I'm honest, as a player , there are probably 10 or more I'd rank as at least his equal. the thing that seperates Selby from them is his unbelievable big match temprament. Time and time again he has dug a victory out of nowhere & if you could bottle his bottle, you would be a very rich man. He is an exapmle of what hard work can achieve & an example to any budding snooker player.
9. Judd Trump
As always with these things, the placings are a movable feast, so in a few years time, there is every probability that Trump will be higher than ninth,but for now that is where I rank him. Trumps career has been a curious one of false dawns. As a young teenager ,such was his reputation, that many expected him to do "a Ronnie" and blitz his way on to the circuit,but it didn't quite happen that way. It wasnt until he won the China Open in 2011 & followed it with world final appearence the following month, that he really arrived as top pro. He followed that up with the UK title that december & it looked like he could go on to dominate the sport for a decade, but again it just didn't happen.
It wasnt until about 18 months ago. when he made a few changes to his backroom team, including bringing in his brother that he finally started to become the player he's always threatened to be. Far from the world crown weighing heavy on his head, he has instead kicked on, with 6 ranking titles this season & with the combination of his main rivals, not getting any younger, plus no real threat coming through behind, we may well be facing into that decade of dominance I talked about earlier. Time will disclose all.
8.Ding Junhui
if this were a list of the games most influential players, Ding would proably rank a lot higher , such has been his role in the rise of the sports popularity in his home country. This is probably best summed up in the tweet last yr from legendary athlete Michael Johnson, who expressed surprise on a trip to China, that the answer he lept getting to his " who is yur biggest sports star" was a snooker player. His breakthrough victory over Hendry, to win the China Open, while still an amateur propellled him to stardom. The huge weight of expectation placed on him from his adoring fans has not always rested easyily on him, but there is no doubt that he has been a trailblazer for his country & when he has produced his best,there have been few more beautiful breakbuilders in the game. The one big omission from his cv is the world title, but even if his career finishs without that wrong been righted, he is by far the best player we have seen emerge from that part of the world & even with so many now coming behind him, they will have to be very special indeed to overtake his achievments in the game.
7. Alex Higgins
Ok , I know! , If i'm not including Reardon because he was past his prime when I started watching snooker how can I include Higgins? Well I suppose the answer is that, although Higgins best days were indeed behind him when the sport came on my radar, I still saw enough glimpses of his genius to appreciate how good he was. The phrase " his own worst enemy" could have invented to describe Alex ,but that should never take away from the snooker player he was. When Alex decided to put it all in to the game, he was simply superb. That 69 break againt Jimmy in '82 will forever be part of snooker folklore. I was lucky enough to be at Goffs in 1989 , where still limping after a broken ankle, he produced a wonderful display to beat Hendry in the final for what turned out to be his last hurrah. Such was his genius, I just don't think I could have this list without him on it
6.Jimmy White
For a generation of snooker fans ,watching Jimmys attempts to claim his elusive world title have scarred them for life,but perhaps , as big a sadness is that his career has been defined by that failure. Reaching 6 world finals in the first place is a phenomenal achievement & when you look at a career haul of around 30 titles , you start to get a picture of how good he was. He is probably the only player to really span the Davis to Hendry era's & was just unlucky, that for about a 10 yr period, he was the second best in the world behind both.
5. Mark Williams
Into the top 5 then & the first mention of the graduates of the class of '92. Williams, by any measure , has had a superb career. His victory in the 2018 world championship was a sporting fairytale after his career had seemed in terminal decline when hed failed to qualify just 12 months previously. His laid back demeanor belies a ruthless competitor & there have been few better than the Welshman at winning the scrappy frames. For a couple of seasons around the turn of the century he was practically unplayabe. I remeber in 2000, following a second successive Crucible semi final defeat to Williams, John Higgns exclaimed he didnt know what else he could do, that hed played as well as he ever could and had fallen short again.
As can be said about the other members of the '92 club that I've yet to come to, How much would they have won without the other two around?
4. John Higgins
Into the top 4 or as it might be known, the Mt. Rushmore of the sport. When it comes to matchpay snooker John Higgins there may be equal,but there have been none better the the "Wizard of Wishaw". He has always been granite around the table and if you needed someonw to clear the table to save your life ,your first call would be to this man. The one mystery in his career was the 9 years between his first & second world titles, but once he got his second wind ,he wasnt long rectifying that, with two more following in quick succession. One of the joys of my snooker watching life was a match between him & Ronnie at Goffs in the late '90's. I had a standing ticket & positioned myself on the upper level looking directly down at the table. the exhibition of break building & cueball control I saw that nght will always stay with me. Higgins is one of those players that its a pleasure to watch constructing a break, & equally watchable in a safety battle , because he just comes up with the most exquisite shots. The evidence of the last three finals suggest another world title might be just out of his reach now, but I would love to see him lift another one.
3. Stephen Hendry
I suppose its a sign I'm getting older, that while I'm still banging the drum for the Davis era, there is a whole generation now who don't remember the Hendry one.Make no mistake though, (& as a Davis fan how I hated him) Stephen Hendry was for a period as close to unbeatable as you could get. In the early'90's in particular he cast a shadow over the rest like we will proably never see again. he didn't just walk around the table ,he prowled! A superb long potter & break builder, it was almost the worst thing you could ,to leave him with no choice but to try pot something ,His record of titles speaks for itself. The main reason I place him third behind the two I will list ahead of him is ,i think his one failing was his lack of a real "B game" , he rarely won ugly. Now in the '90's it can be reasonalby argued he played so well so often he didn't need one & in truth he prob was just too stubborn in his approach to develop one, but it is still a black mark against him & possibly a contributing factor in what looked a premature retirement.
2. Steve Davis
It has become fashionable in recent years to put down the standard of play in the '80's, but to do so belittles some excellent players & none more so than "The Nugget". If Hendry cast a shadow over the rest in the '90's ,then we are talking about Davis as a sort of solar eclipse in the 80's. A well honed technique, a religious dedication to practice & a ruthless streak when it came to winning ,saw him become one of the most famous sportsmen in th world. What set him apart from others though was his almost childlike fascination with the game. He seemed to see every frame as a puzzle that needed to be solved and so every challenge was exciting. In his latter career he still had moments that served to remind people how good he was, be it his comeback victory over an on fire O'Sullivan to win 1997 Masters, reaching the 2005 UK championship final or beating reigning champion John Higgins, to reach the Crucible quarters in 2010. i have to say nothing in this sport annoys me more than people failing to respect just how good Steve was.
1.Ronnie O'Sullivan
There really isn't anyone who disputes this anymore is there? Not only is Ronnie the greatest snooker player we have seen , or are ever likely to see, he is also possibly the most natural sporting genius we will ever see in any sport. From winning that first UK at 17, to still producing the standard he is now 27 years later says it all. yes there have been stumbles along the & times when his life off the table has threatened to overtake his career on it, but time & time again he has managed to successfully steer things around. The one stick that people have left to beat him with has been his failure to beat Hendrys haul of 7 world titles,but at this stage, I don't think the fact that Hendry enjoyed a couple more good fortnights in Sheffield is enough measured against everything else Ronnie has done.
So there you have it. I'm sure many will disagree with my choices, but they are my opinions.Feel free to disagree in the comment section here or on Twitter.
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