Former World Snooker Champion Ken Doherty criticised Ronnie O’Sullivan’s comments on young players not being good, saying, ‘you have to have respect for your fellow pros.’
The 1997 Champion said that while O’Sullivan has been great for bringing the game of snooker to the heights it is today, he said his lack of respect did not sit well with him.
This comes after O’Sullivan launched a savage attack on snooker's next generation insisting the standard is so bad, he would have to “lose an arm and a leg” to slip down the rankings.
“I love watching Ronnie play and there is no better sight in the game than when Ronnie is in full flow.
“He is great for the game. Brings a lot of fans to the game and has done since 1992. He’s been brilliant. I love him from that perspective, but I don’t love the way he goes on with his comments afterwards, I thought it was very disrespectful.
“A lot of the younger guys on the tour look up to him, he just slagged them off like they were dirt on a shoe. That doesn’t wash with me.
“I don’t care how good you are, or how big of a name you are, you have to have respect for your fellow pros and you have to have respect full stop. I don’t like it when people do that and I’m going to stand up and make a voice.”
Doherty said this is not the first time that O’Sullivan has been controversial and does it merely for attention.
However, the Dubliner said on this occasion the comments have backfired on O’Sullivan, judging on his recent poor performance against fellow veteran Mark Williams in the Crucible quarter-final.
“You can’t have people slagging off the rest of the tour, but that’s Ronnie.
“He loves the attention and he loves to make the headlines. It’s backfired on him this time because yesterday he didn’t look on it at all. He was probably distracted from the comments the previous day.
“Ronnie now is in big trouble and he needs to start this afternoon because if he doesn’t, he will be out.”
Doherty defended snooker's younger players saying that O’Sullivan’s comments were incorrect and that statistically snooker is stronger than ever.
“If you look at the stats, the game is stronger than its ever been. The lads at the top are still there after 25 years, I get that, but the standard at the middle and the bottom is stronger than ever. So, I don’t really know what Ronnie is talking about.”
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
