Shaun Murphy

hes an utter tool, one of my mates saw him in a bar in riga with mark allen after the both lost and he told me allen was really sound, murphy was a total knob and fully up his own arse, couldnt even have a laugh or a joke, my mate jokingly said something to him about ever putting up a fight when he plays ronnie and apparently muprhy didnt find it funny at all and went in a huff!

Funny you should mention Allen, I have 2 abiding memories of Murphy from this years world champs and the first is of him being sharply critical of Allen’s game in one of those segments where he analyzes his fellow pros on the bbc. Remember thinkin why the fck does he need to do that kind of stuff, all very well being honest and giving good tv, but he’s just going to rile other players up and needlessly p!ss them off. Doubt he even realizes it.

The second was also on the bbc where he was defending the dress code, insisting players should get fined for not wearing dickie bows, and saying all this while dressed like Bertie Wooster! I used to cut him a bit of slack before but am all out of concessions now. Playing on for 20 minutes 0-5 down and needing 5 snookers is the act of a total oddball and that’s me being generous to him!

To be fair to the guy, why would he want someone coming up poking fun at his ability, might be funny with other players or friends but someone you never met?

Personally gave up on him years back in the UK when he made Maguire lose a frame for having to go back for his chalk. Says it all about him.

A mate of mine knows him well, reckons he's a sound guy if a bit too serious about himself.

I'm with pandoras though, the maguire incident marks him down as a Grade A w*****.

Crazy thing was he was nothing like the person he is now,when he won the world title was best attacking snooker and potting bar hendry world title i've ever seen,his attitude changed and his game just became a total mish mash and now a thoroughly unlikeable person..

Ken Doherty once tried to have an opponent docked a frame for not wearing his dickie bow. Some guys take this stuff seriously!

My big issue with the chalk thing was murphy, far as I know, tried to claim it was the ref who insisted on the frame penalty and has never admitted the truth even while claiming he had learned from all his mistakes a couple of years back.

I've just looked back on the infamous chalk incident - it was a mere 14 years ago!! S.Murphy has always claimed his innocence regarding the decision made, and it is a matter of fact that the tournament director, Mike Ganley, instructed the referee to dock S.Maguire a frame despite the referee giving Maguire permission to return to his dressing room to retrieve it. According to Ganley, the referee was wrong to grant Maguire this concession by the letter of the law. However, it was reported at the time that Murphy DID query the rule with the referee, once Maguire had left the arena, and explicitly asked whether he was entitled to the frame - as Maguire was not ready to play at the match's designated start time. I don't know if the match was actually televised as it was covered by BBC and it was a L64 match, but for the record - Maguire actually won 5-2.

Other than that despicable act - there was so much to like about Murphy a few years ago. He was mentally tough, with strong beliefs that he was happy to state publicly, and he basically didn't care about what other players thought of him. (I'm more than happy to hear him dissect M.Allen’s or any other player's game - that is the point of the feature after all.) But, he's gone soft, he's married with children, he no longer has strong religious beliefs and actually no longer believes in God, he accepts defeat too easily, and he's happy to win a tournament every now and then because he fully subscribes to the 'they're so hard to win these days' theory.                 

It's a real shame as he had real needle matches when he played Maguire or O'Sullivan - and there just aren't enough of them these days.

Good point that gobelins, all very saccharine these days, the odd bit of Carter-Ronnie jostling aside.

He was certainly a breath of fresh air when he arrived on the scene, he knew no fear. I think that is his problem now, you often see him um and ah over a shot when years ago he would have just got down and rifled it in. Whether that's just an inevitable consequence of the defeats a non-dominant pro sportsman must suffer or he feels his single-ball potting skills have waned, I wouldn't know. I do know that some of the supine performances he has posted against certain players have all but stunk the gaff out.

Some fair points gone but I would ask where exactly has not caring about what others think got him? His comments on other players might make for interesting screen time but what’s in it for murphy? I’m not saying it was all that cutting but still why take the risk of antagonising a potential future opponent? At the start of the world championships? Chronic lack of good judgment if you ask me, but we know that’s his big weakness anyway.

Thing about it is when he was on the Eurosport couch later on I remember selby offering a surprisingly withering assessment of Ding and I thought, well selby has earned the right to do that but murphy has not. That’s the difference between the two for me.

*gobe

Fckin predictive text

Good point about needle matches. There are no real great modern rivalries are there? I thought at one point judd and ronnie might have a couple of years of master and grasshopper stuff but never happened for obvious reasons.

We'd be here all day if we properly analysed what is currently wrong with Murphy's game. But, the thing about him is that he has always been very open and honest when interviewed. You might not agree with him or like what he says, but he does tend to speak his mind. He was one of the few top players who didn't simply fawn all over R.O'Sullivan, and he didn't accept any mitigation for his excesses, even when O'Sullivan had spells of depression. I didn't see his analysis of M.Allen - but he is the one top player who is likely to give a reasonably honest opinion rather than the standard - 'he's a great player, with a great temperament and great all round game' banality. I agree it probably wouldn't be to Murphy's advantage to offer such an opinion, but he's very astute when it comes to the psychology of the game, and given that I'm assuming he wasn't put on the spot for this feature - I wouldn't be certain it was a lack of judgement on his part.

The greatest has his autobiography currently out, S.Davis had his released a few months ago, and there is a new biography out about R.O'Sullivan (by Clive Everton) but if I could read one snooker autobiography it would be Murphy's. He's a really interesting character, although his current happy home life (for once) has undoubtedly taken the edge off his views/opinions and his game.

One last point gj talking about rivalries - I remember listening to an Irish radio station who were covering the A.Higgins v D.Taylor grudge match at Goffs, and they were basically providing commentary - happy, happy days!

I don’t want to overegg the allen thing, i don’t even recall the exact nature  of it, he offered a few standard compliments before the telling but...and went on to list a couple of flaws which from memory included concentration lapses which we all know about anyway. Maybe those things are harmless but I just don’t get his motivation for doing it, other than he’s planting the seed for a bbc career later on.

Goff’s was my old stomping ground, what a venue! I went most years but sadly could not get a ticket for the famous grudge match. Actually a couple of guys from my old club back then somehow got the seats right next to alexs perch. You can even see him talking to them at various stages of the match even though he didn’t know them from adam! Dennis was the biggest betting certainty of all time that night, he said beforehand he was going to punish alex for the stuff he’d said and I never doubted it for a second. Backing against alex just wasn’t on for me though! I let it pass.

Goffs was one of the great venues. I never went there, but I used to look forward to it every year although we couldn't even see it! I'd swap 90% of today's circuit for an Irish Masters. I used to love The Guild Hall in Preston, when The UK was a truly mighty event. For the early rounds you could watch every match on that side by standing at the back, and to watch the matches at the other end of the hall you just walked around the top. For the tables at the end you could sit directly above the table and you basically had a view as good as the players! And, you had the added bonus of paying just 5% tax on your stakes on all bets - as you were 'on course' - if of course you decided to bet with the legal bookies.

Different times gobe. I always heard fantastic things about the guild hall though sadly never made it. Goffs had the uncanny feel of a venue that was made for snooker while in reality being a horse trading center! Not unlike wembley but smaller and in ways I think that made it better.

One time in mid 90s, a little bit past its 80s heyday, I got an access all areas pass through a guy I knew who worked full time for goffs. I watched quite a bit of the snooker in the press room as it had a continuous supply of free beer! The place was heaving with the likes of Clive, Phil Yates, a guy called Trevor Baxter who did the circuit back then. There were others whose name I’ve forgotten as well as guys from all the main Irish papers. Is there even one paper anymore who has a dedicated snooker correspondent? Even when they show the crucible press room during the worlds it never seems to be heaving like it would 20 years ago. All very sad but there you go.

Yes, different times gj - you only see Clive, Phil Yates, and maybe Philip Studd and a few Chinese journalists at The Crucible these days. I think when you got that all areas pass the sponsors were very generous - as it meant more favourable publicity for their brand - lucky you! I remember being at Preston one year, before the TV cameras moved in, standing at the back by Hendry, Ronnie and a few other players and they were doing a mock commentary on W.Thorne's match, and he was struggling badly with his game by then. Every time he missed, everyone burst out laughing. Thorne would glare up trying to work out who it was, which made it even funnier. Great days.

Oct 23, 2018 -- 7:21PM, gjohn101 wrote:

I don’t want to overegg the allen thing, i don’t even recall the exact nature  of it, he offered a few standard compliments before the telling but...and went on to list a couple of flaws which from memory included concentration lapses which we all know about anyway. Maybe those things are harmless but I just don’t get his motivation for doing it, other than he’s planting the seed for a bbc career later on.Goff’s was my old stomping ground, what a venue! I went most years but sadly could not get a ticket for the famous grudge match. Actually a couple of guys from my old club back then somehow got the seats right next to alexs perch. You can even see him talking to them at various stages of the match even though he didn’t know them from adam! Dennis was the biggest betting certainty of all time that night, he said beforehand he was going to punish alex for the stuff he’d said and I never doubted it for a second. Backing against alex just wasn’t on for me though! I let it pass.

he is best pals with Allen so for once maybe he was trying to help his pal out

or felt he could speak his mid really openly as it's his mate as Grant says they knock around together a lot as unlikely pair as you could imagine but there both fat so probably talk about Donuts a lot

Oct 24, 2018 -- 7:10PM, gobelins wrote:

Yes, different times gj - you only see Clive, Phil Yates, and maybe Philip Studd and a few Chinese journalists at The Crucible these days. I think when you got that all areas pass the sponsors were very generous - as it meant more favourable publicity for their brand - lucky you! I remember being at Preston one year, before the TV cameras moved in, standing at the back by Hendry, Ronnie and a few other players and they were doing a mock commentary on W.Thorne's match, and he was struggling badly with his game by then. Every time he missed, everyone burst out laughing. Thorne would glare up trying to work out who it was, which made it even funnier. Great days.

Great story! Can't imagine Ronald Hendry and a few others doing that but I can imagine Willie seething

You could be right there bob, wouldn’t have had them together as pals but anything’s possible I guess. Snookers odd couple for sure