Alan McManus sends message to Barry Hearn over World Snooker Championship's Crucible future - 'You either have a duty to your pocket or to our sport'
Published 01/05/2025 at 18:26 GMT+1
Alan McManus has said "you either have a duty to your pocket or to our sport" when discussing the decision over whether to keep the Snooker World Championship at the Crucible Theatre. Snooker's current contract with the venue runs out in 2027, and speculation continues to grow over the tournament's future location. McManus believes "there will be a price to pay" if it moves away from Sheffield.
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Video credit: TNT Sports
Alan McManus believes "there will be a price to pay" if the World Snooker Championship is moved from the "sacred" Crucible Theatre.
The contract to stage snooker’s flagship tournament at the iconic Sheffield venue expires after the 2027 edition, and there has been ongoing uncertainty over where it will be held in three years’ time.
Further doubts were cast over the tournament’s future at the Crucible last week when Matchroom Sport president Barry Hearn said it would leave the venue unless it’s revamped or replaced.
McManus believes Hearn would be doing "a duty to [his] pocket" rather than "to our sport" if he were to take the World Championship away from the Sheffield theatre.
Speaking on TNT Sports, the former world No. 6 said: "Look, there’s a fence and you choose which side of it.
"You either have a duty to your pocket and other people’s pockets, or you have a duty to our game, our sport. And to me, that’s the most important one.
"Barry [Hearn] doesn’t seem to share my opinion, and that’s fine. But there’s more to life than going and taking it somewhere where the people and the players and everyone else will not get the experience.
"And if they move it - it’s only an opinion, my opinion - we won’t get that experience, no one will."
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McManus added: "If he moves it, then there will be a price to pay in terms of reputation.
"I just think go and do whatever you want with boxing or all these other things, I think this is sacred, this place."
The Crucible has hosted the World Championship since 1977, but Hearn believes the 980-seat venue is no longer "fit for purpose" and has said a change is needed to offer the players bigger prize money.
Asked last week whether the tournament could stay in Sheffield without a new venue or an extension to the current one, Hearn told the BBC: "No. It's black and white: we love the Crucible, we love Sheffield, but the Crucible and Sheffield have got to love us.
"We want to stay, but the financials have to be taken into consideration.
"The facilities where the Crucible is are no longer fit for purpose, that's the key issue."
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Hearn reportedly held a meeting with Sheffield City Council on Thursday to further discuss the issue and said afterwards that he "thinks we will get somewhere" but that "it’s still a long way to go".
Speaking to TNT Sports outside the venue, Hearn said: "It is very nice in there, the tradition and the history - I love the place. I owe it big time.
"But there’s a price to pay for everything in this modern world. There’s no point just sitting there and saying, ‘We like it the way it was’, because you could be dead the week after.
"We’re going to get together in another three months, and we must have a decision in principle of what we’re going to do by the end of this year."
He added: "We are creating a major sport here, sometimes you get taken for granted.
"I think we love Sheffield and I think Sheffield City Council love us, and I am very hopeful we’ll be able to get a deal done at the end of this year."
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Matchroom President Barry Hearn
Image credit: Getty Images
Hearn compared snooker to darts, which is also run by Matchroom, where the prize money for next year’s PDC world darts champion will be £1 million - double what is on offer for the winner at the Crucible this year.
The 76-year-old stepped down as chairman of Matchroom four years ago, handing over to his son Eddie Hearn, who recently said he would have taken the tournament away from the venue "five years ago".
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