FRIDAY, JANUARY 10

Neil Robertson will tomorrow be a guest on BT Sport’s Sports Panel programme, which airs live from 9.30-11.30am.

The show is a discussion of various sports, presented by Tim Lovejoy assisted by former England rugby union international and Question of Sport captain Matt Dawson.

Robertson will of course be talking about the Dafabet Masters but is a general sports fan and will doubtless have plenty to say about his beloved Chelsea as well, of course, as Australia’s recent capture of the Ashes.

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Speaking of football, ardent Liverpool fan Ricky Walden is a little happier with how things are going this season, with his side currently fourth in the Premier League, six points off top. 

He said: “I don’t think we can win the league but we’re much more competitive now. We can definitely have a crack at the Champions League and hopefully make a few more signings this month and keep kit ticking over. Brendan Rogers is doing a great job and putting us back on the map.”

But does Walden have any sympathy for the previously all-conquering Manchester United, currently languishing in seventh and already out of the FA Cup?

“No, definitely not! It’s been a long time coming, seeing them struggling so I’m getting a kick out of it. But I think they’ll be back. They’ll make a few signings and they’ll be back. It’s a competitive league this year. Man City are the team to beat."

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Inside Snooker couldn’t resist a smirk after reading the story about Scottish football manager Kenny Shiels, in charge of Championship side Greenock Morton. Shiels somehow managed to get a doctor’s note giving him permission to skip post-match press conferences for the good of his health, as according to the Northern Irishman he could never successfully plot a path through the minefield of questions laid down by the Scottish football journalists and always ended up getting in trouble. 

“You get emotionally unbalanced at that time and feel an urge to tell the truth,” said the 57-year-old Shiels. “You drop your guard. I am probably not intelligent enough to deal with that because these journalists can catch me. I am very susceptible to being controversialised.”

Answers on a postcard as to which snooker players should consider heading straight off to their local GP for some paperwork.

PERRY INTO WINNERS' GROUP

JOE PERRY, who won the inaugural Championship League title in 2008, required only 27 minutes to beat Judd Trump 3-0 and qualify for the winners’ group of the 2014 event at Crondon Park golf club in Essex tonight.

Perry, the world no.14, made breaks of 73, 68 and 70 to complete the rout and win group 2. He had beaten Neil Robertson 3-2 in the semi-finals.

“I am really glad to get through and win the group - it was a tough group with strong opposition so it is really good to have topped the group, especially as I came in at late notice as a favour to Matthew Stevens,” Perry told Matchroom Sport.

“I go on to the Masters next in a good frame of mind. Obviously this doesn’t count towards that but to go there in good form and good frame of mind can only put me in good stead for next week.”

Robertson compiled five century breaks in the group, taking his tally for the season to 65. This means he has broken Trump’s record of 61 centuries in a single season, set during the 2012/13 campaign.

The Championship League continues with groups 3 and 4 from January 20-23.

WELCOME TO INSIDE SNOOKER

I wrote Snooker Scene Blog for the best part of eight years and it’s worth pointing out straight from the off that this new site does not mean my association with Snooker Scene has ended in any way.

But I felt it was the right time to move from a blog to a more general website and have teamed up with Hector Nunns, an experienced snooker journalist, to provide news and interviews as well as comment on the green baize world.

This section will be the place where we post the sort of pieces you will have read on SSB over the years.

We wanted to launch Inside Snooker in time for the Masters. Bear with us. Not everything is yet in place but we hope to gradually add content over the coming weeks.

Big thanks must go to Tom Doggett for his expert assistance in setting up the site and Monique Limbos for her excellent photographs.

As you will have seen, Hector and myself have been interviewing some of the players in action at the Masters next week. When the tournament starts we will be providing reports on the matches and reaction from the winners and losers.

You may also want to check out our off-table page for backstage snippets and bits of news.

We hope you enjoy the new site. You can send us feedback at contact@inside-snooker.com or, if you have a story you think we may be interested in, at stories@inside-snooker.com.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 9

Stuart Bingham is truly a man in love with his sport. A couple of days at Crondon Park and then practice ahead of the Dafabet Masters were not enough to keep the recent Champion of Champions finalist away from the Snooker Legends event at the Cliffs Pavilion in Southend, a short 20-minute drive down the A127 from his Basildon home.

The world No7 took a seat in the front row as a spectator to watch Ronnie O’Sullivan and Jimmy White lock horns in front of a packed house of more than 1,000 fans, a contest edged 5-4 by the Whirlwind over the Rocket.

And the 37-year-old Bingham was, almost inevitably, summoned and roped in to compere John Virgo’s pre-match act, being royally stitched up and failing to pull off a trick shot five times before watching the BBC commentator manage it on the first occasion.

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Former England football captain John Terry has never come over as the type to scare easily – but the Chelsea defender admitted to being absolutely terrified walking out into the arena at the recent Snooker Legends event in Guildford to partner golfing buddy and seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry against Jimmy White and a member of the audience at G Live. 

Terry, 33, a huge snooker fan who used to have a full-size table in a £5million Surrey mansion, was persuaded by Hendry and long-time friend White to turn up and play his part and contributed to a an alternate-shot break of 45 together with the Scot.

He said: “It was a fantastic night going out there with Stephen and Jimmy, but that is as nervous as I have been for a very long time. My palms were all sweaty before we started, I was really scared and wanted to do well but it all went okay and I really enjoyed it.”

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Judd Trump took a real chance giving his £170,000 Ferrari a spin on the short trip to Crondon Park for the opening groups of the Championship League. The half-mile drive from the main road is notoriously littered with deep potholes as well as tight hairpin bends, and a test to negotiate at the best of times let alone in severe weather conditions. But the low-slung white F458 Italia made it to the Baronial Hall car park without incident or damage.

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Shaun Murphy made the second 147 of his career against Mark Davis at Crondon Park in the Championship League, 13 years after the first in the Benson & Hedges Championship. 

But the closest the former world champion came to breaking down in a superb total clearance was when world No1 Neil Robertson almost spilled his coffee walking in to the room with Barry Hawkins to begin their match on the adjacent table. With Murphy mid-break there was a loud cry of “Barry, wait!” from the Australian, blissfully unaware of proceedings inside, as Hawkins let a curtain fell on his hot drink. Luckily both the break and the drink were saved, and an apologetic Robertson was duly chastised albeit in good humour by Murphy afterwards.

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John Higgins admits that he can suffer from cabin fever at home in the leafy Glasgow suburb of Bothwell – because all the other Scottish players are constantly beating a path to his door for practice sessions.

The four-time world champion regularly hosts sparring sessions with fellow Scots Stephen Maguire, Alan McManus, Marcus Campbell and Anthony McGill rather than getting out to a club or other players’ houses.

World No12 Higgins has reached a stage in his career when he would be only too happy to help the younger Scottish players reach their potential, and preserve the proud snooker tradition north of the border – so the numbers could yet swell with the likes of Michael Leslie.

But it does all mean that the 38-year-old father-of-three can be a bit housebound.

“I would like to help other players coming through in Scotland if I can,” Higgins told Inside Snooker. “Everybody comes to my house anyway, it seems, so the youngsters may as well come too!

“Their tables are all rubbish so they tell me, so they all want to come in my house to play and it means I am there all the time. Sometimes it would be nice to get out for a wee while and away from the missus!

“Stephen Maguire, Alan McManus, Marcus Campbell, Anthony McGill, they all come round and maybe Michael Leslie will be next.” 

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The programme for the 2014 Dafabet Masters features an in-depth interview with former England and Tottenham goalkeeper Ian Walker, a huge snooker fan who attended many big tournaments during his time at White Hart Lane and at Leicester City, but now based in Shanghai as a coach.

The 42-year-old Walker, who attended the all-Chinese final of this season’s Shanghai Masters, had coached the goalkeepers at Shanghai Shenhua for two years – but in the first week of January this year, and after programme print deadlines, he made the switch to city rivals Shanghai East Asia.

Many top snooker players will be familiar with Shanghai East Asia, as it is the team and stadium that you can watch play from the luxurious surroundings of the VIP and business lounge on the top floor of the hotel complex normally used for the Shanghai Masters. Leeds fan Peter Lines and Middlesbrough supporter Mike Dunn were among those taking advantage this season, reclining with a beer to watch East Asia losing to Shandong Luneng from the lofty perch.

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Many of the tour’s players had already put in some hours on the table since January 1 but the relaxed surroundings of Crondon Park Golf and Country, as ever, provided the first opportunity of 2014 for more serious match practice. The Baronial Hall, with its oak beams and extravagant high-backed leather armchairs, give the playing arena the air of a smoking room in a Mayfair gentlemen’s club. It remains one of the more unusual settings in a busy calendar – but a welcome location for the Essex-based Ali Carter, Stuart Bingham and Judd Trump, all more used to travelling to Asia than half an hour down the road and in action in Group 1 for two days from January 6th. The terrible weather, though, was a deterrent for keen golfer Shaun Murphy from getting out on the course.

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The first groups of the Championship League also offer a perfect chance for the leading players qualified for the Masters tournament to road-test any new equipment before the more serious business at Alexandra Palace. Judd Trump, unhappy with his tip after the UK Championship, replaced it with another one over Christmas. But he decided after his opening match at Crondon Park, a 3-1 win over Shaun Murphy, that it was “a shocker”, far too hard and “coming straight off after this”, as it was not allowing him to get the same amount of power in his shots and deep screw on the cue ball. Emergency surgery to install a softer tip from a frequent cue doctor to the stars, John Parris, was required before the north London knees-up.