The new website I mentioned yesterday is www.inside-snooker.com . This is a joint venture between myself and fellow snooker journalist Hector Hunns. This blog will remain here as an archive. ...
After almost eight years, this blog is coming to an end. The reason is not that I am sick of writing it: quite the opposite. Tomorrow, all being well, I will be launching a much expanded websi...
There is no more snooker this year so it’s time to take stock, preferably with as much food and alcohol as possible. It’s traditional to review the season rather than the calendar year but...
http://snookerscene.blogspot.com/2013/12/2013-in-snooker-hits-and-misses.html
It was no great surprise to me that Ronnie O’Sullivan was not named on the shortlist for BBC Sports Personality of the Year. This is no fault of O’Sullivan but a reflection of the way snoo...
http://snookerscene.blogspot.com/2013/12/osullivan-fails-bbc-personality-test.html
Neil Robertson’s recovery from 5-1 down to beat Mark Selby 10-7 and win the UK Championship in York last night was final confirmation, as if it were needed, of his status as a modern great. ...
http://snookerscene.blogspot.com/2013/12/robertson-rules-uk.html
A tournament which began with a chorus of complaints will end in a grandstand finish when world no.1 Neil Robertson meets world no.2 Mark Selby for the UK Championship title in York today. The...
http://snookerscene.blogspot.com/2013/12/fight-to-finish.html
From Oldham Civic Centre to the Barbican in York with many stops in between it has taken just under 32 years since Steve Davis made the first official 147 break for Mark Selby to compile the 100...
http://snookerscene.blogspot.com/2013/12/a-century-of-maximums.html
Ronnie O’Sullivan turns 38 today and, judging by his performance at the UK Championship in York last night, he will remain a major force for several years yet. O’Sullivan blew Robert Milki...
http://snookerscene.blogspot.com/2013/12/no-quarter-given.html
A week into the UK Championship and talk remains centred around the format and, more particularly, the venue. It seems to me the Barbican Centre is being set up as a kind of patsy to be blamed...
http://snookerscene.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-end-for-york.html
One of the undoubted positives of the new UK Championship format is that there are more faces to see and, for the media, more to write about. Already this week there’s been a big feature in ...
http://snookerscene.blogspot.com/2013/12/opportunity-knocks-for-new-faces.html
David may have beaten Goliath according to biblical myth but victory for any of the four amateurs playing the top four seeds in York today would make that particular result look like a lot of fu...
“It’s like a circus,” said Judd Trump last night of the UK Championship. I’m not sure when circuses started to get such a bad rap but that’s a side issue. Trump’s point was that th...
In 866, the Vikings invaded York. This week, a horde of snooker players have descended on the city in pursuit of one of the sport’s oldest and most prestigious titles. There won’t be any l...
http://snookerscene.blogspot.com/2013/11/one-day-in-york.html
The williamhill.com United Kingdom Championship has a fine history forged from 36 years of competition. The event began as a non-ranking tournament for British and Irish players only but gaine...
http://snookerscene.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-dukes-of-york.html
The UK Championship was first held in 1977. Its champion in 1978 was Doug Mountjoy, who two years earlier had won the world amateur title and thus found a way into the professional game, at t...
http://snookerscene.blogspot.com/2013/11/mountjoys-triumph-against-odds.html
The first staging of the 888casino Champion of Champions event must be judged a great success and it proved a number of things: RONNIE O’SULLIVAN IS STILL THE MAN TO BEAT O’Sullivan sail...
http://snookerscene.blogspot.com/2013/11/osullivan-is-champion-of-champions.html
I was literally putting my coat on to leave the 888casino Champion of Champions event in Coventry when the latest Mark Allen controversy broke. After his match against Ali Carter the two playe...
http://snookerscene.blogspot.com/2013/11/shooting-messenger.html
I spent the afternoon in Coventry for the first day of the 888casino Champion of Champions and was impressed by what I saw. The venue is big and lively and a huge effort has been put into maki...
http://snookerscene.blogspot.com/2013/11/champions-league.html
The 888casino Champion of Champions is a new event which starts tomorrow at the Ricoh Arena and, refreshingly, it rewards success. In this era of flat draws and ‘fairness’ it should be rem...
http://snookerscene.blogspot.com/2013/11/sent-to-coventry.html
Ronnie O’Sullivan has never enjoyed playing Mark Selby. In his recent autobiography, Running, he described the Leicester man as ‘The Torturor,’ which was a compliment so back-handed it cou...
http://snookerscene.blogspot.com/2013/11/selby-lands-antwerp-title.html
Hercule Poirot, that meddling Belgian who sent many a murderer down despite having no actual jurisdiction in law, takes his final bow on British television tonight. It’s apt in a way because...
http://snookerscene.blogspot.com/2013/11/next-stop-antwerp.html
Mark Allen’s defeat of Judd Trump in last night’s European Tour final at Gloucester means back-to-back PTC wins for the Northern Irishman, who heads to Antwerp this week looking for a hat-tr...
http://snookerscene.blogspot.com/2013/11/allens-euro-double.html
Steve Davis has not entered the UK Championship, apparently so that he can instead take part in ITV’s I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here. This will mean Davis going not to York to pot ba...
http://snookerscene.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-jungle-vip.html
Ding Junhui’s capture of the International Championship was final proof of how he has matured into a formidable all round player, now strong in every department. In a gripping final, he comp...
http://snookerscene.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-ding-dynasty.html
You wait 30 years for an all Asian ranking event final and three come along at once. After Ding Junhui v Xiao Guodong in Shanghai and Ding v Aditya Mehta in Delhi we now have Ding v Marco Fu i...
http://snookerscene.blogspot.com/2013/11/ding-v-fu-in-chengdu.html