Veteran Scotsman Alan McManus has been chatting to The Herald about the state of snooker at the moment and how he has been helping another Scot, 12-year-old Dylan Craig to hone his game…
To read the interview with Alan please click here.
Having watched him play for the best part of 15 years, it is still strange for someone of my age to see someone as good as Alan was struggling down in number 37 in the rankings, but like he says I guess it is just a measure of how good the standard is these days. When I saw him against Barry Hawkins on Monday he did not play to his best, but Barry was looking very good and this was only a last 48 match. So many players are capable of winning matches these days that it is going to be hard for someone like him to get back up the rankings again.
It is interesting to hear that Alan has been working with younger players, particularly given the comments of Dave Hendon in this month’s copy of Snooker Scene when reviewing Alan and Jimmy White’s new DVD that is out at the moment. In describing him as impressive in the DVD and someone who could do worse than pursue a career as a coach once his playing days are over, Dave was very complimentary about him and it so it would appear that Alan has a lot to offer a young player like Craig, as you might expect from a former Masters winner!
Hopefully Alan is right about the state of snooker at the moment and it can go on to be half as successful as darts during the last few years. It would be nice to see McManus do well again too, stranger things have happened and it will be interesting to see whether his new cue can help him in the long-term…