Invitational tour card for Stephen Hendry

[tomwalker147]

To be fair Tom, they could have caught him on a bad day, we all have them. I believe in a meritocracy, he is taking a place on the tour from someone who could have earned it. I had the same opinion when Jimmy and Ken got their gift cards. I could just about get away with him having a play off against the 128 ranked player or the last qualifier from QSchool , if he could beat them , then just about fair enough, you could kid yourself on he's earned it. If he embarrasses himself, it will be a shame and will detract from his legacy for me, he's had his day, just stay retired, the game had just about left him behind before he retired, he won't compete now.
p.s it wasn't Jason T you were playing was it ?

Yeah I get that mate, I almost feel like wild cards to events may be a better way of going about it. I have the same opinion on the best African player being given a tour place for instance, Amine Amiri from Morocco is very average. If I change nationality and claim to be from Nigeria and beat him in the African championship will I get a place? Probably easier than going through Q School!

It was James Cahill who was probably only 15 or so at the time, he was absolute mustard and knew it too. I was at uni in Preston and used to practice at 'Hendry's Club' and Stephen used to pop in from time to time. Always found him pleasant but I think he's naturally quite shy. We had our league presentation night and he played myself and a few others in an exhibition format but when not at the table he sat quietly by himself with his Mrs.

[itsnoteasy]

Yeah I get that mate, I almost feel like wild cards to events may be a better way of going about it. I have the same opinion on the best African player being given a tour place for instance, Amine Amiri from Morocco is very average. If I change nationality and claim to be from Nigeria and beat him in the African championship will I get a place? Probably easier than going through Q School!

It was James Cahill who was probably only 15 or so at the time, he was absolute mustard and knew it too. I was at uni in Preston and used to practice at 'Hendry's Club' and Stephen used to pop in from time to time. Always found him pleasant but I think he's naturally quite shy. We had our league presentation night and he played myself and a few others in an exhibition format but when not at the table he sat quietly by himself with his Mrs.

I think the wild card is a great idea.

[John Flaf]

I've met and played him and had him give me advice when he was watching his nephew play against me up in preston and to be honest he was very friendly, had plenty of time for a chat and was likeable.
If you read his book he makes no bones about being a quiet, shy character and I think that's just his way of doing things.

As for the handout, he's our game's greatest ever winner, he deserves it more than anybody else, good luck to him.

Bloody well put Tom. I personaly am a huge fan of Stephen, Wish him well.

[vmax]

Maybe that sightright coaching has shown him something that he knows he can address. When you're getting older it's easy to subconsciously slip into a more comfortable stance that actually takes you offline a tiny bit. I'm one who believes that the very top pros are the ones who get the whole of the cue bang on the line of aim 90% of the time and from there it's simply a matter of cueing straight over twelve inches. When you're offline even a tad the subconscious knows it and it's that that leads to head/body movement, steering the cue and maybe even the yips which we all know he suffered from.
He showed some great put patchy form in the seniors, so if he believes he has or can get it sorted then he'll be a contender fro sure.

[Cue crafty]

im not one to usually sit on the fence, but while i completely agree with comments about earning a place on tour etc, we are talking about Stephen Hendry in this case! Surely this can only be a good thing for snooker in general in terms of promotion and interest in our sport. A spotlight will be cast! He loved the spotlight and has found some form. which i for one loved to see at the seniors. I just hope there is a respectful place for him to return and add some value and further respect for his talent no matter how "patchy".

I'm feeling Sugar Ray vs Marvin Hagler type fun here peoples!:snooker:

[neuronic]

I just hope it's not gonna be akward, embarrasing even. I did not watch any senior event he participated in over the last years, so I cannot judge his general form. Other than that I can't wait to see how he performs...

[PatBlock]

I can't see it working for him, I'd like to be wrong but I think he'll regret it.

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[Cue crafty]

I can't see it working for him, I'd like to be wrong but I think he'll regret it.

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Mmm, id like to see it go well, but there is huge scope for it to be a cringe fest too. No one wants to see a Bjorn Borg type return....

Fingers crossed for him.

[trains]

Mmm, id like to see it go well, but there is huge scope for it to be a cringe fest too. No one wants to see a Bjorn Borg type return....

Fingers crossed for him.

well jimmy white is approaching the second year on his second straight invitational card and no one seems to take much notice of his record , his losses get largely forgotten or maybe described as ' unlucky ' , i don't think anyone calls his losses cringe fests , i can't see hendry continuing to get invitational cards if he gets relegated but maybe we would have said the same about white so we'll see .

[Cue crafty]

well jimmy white is approaching the second year on his second straight invitational card and no one seems to take much notice of his record , his losses get largely forgotten or maybe described as ' unlucky ' , i don't think anyone calls his losses cringe fests , i can't see hendry continuing to get invitational cards if he gets relegated but maybe we would have said the same about white so we'll see .

People got used to seeing Jimmy lose through his career, bit different for Hendry.

[trains]

People got used to seeing Jimmy lose through his career, bit different for Hendry.

Well i don’t think bjorn borg played 13 forgettable or losing seasons after his last wimbledon win , was just trying to get some correlation so erm , thanks

[Cue crafty]

Well i don’t think bjorn borg played 13 forgettable or losing seasons after his last wimbledon win , was just trying to get some correlation so erm , thanks

I probably should have mentioned, my reference to Borg's comeback was the 1991 fiasco in Monte Carlo.

[trains]

I probably should have mentioned, my reference to Borg's comeback was the 1991 fiasco in Monte Carlo.

ahh fair do's you're a tennis fan or somewhere there , my interest in tennis is opposite to my interest in snooker , i only like the exciting graceful tennis players like federer or hingis but i don't mind the ' less graceful ' snooker players , if there is any outside o sullivan , i don't think there's much difference in snooker imo its a physically negligible game

[MrRottweiler]

I don't know much about tennis but I compare Hendry to Sampras in temperament. Both were untouchable.

[John Flaf]

I doubt Stephen would have accepted the Invitation if he felt he couldn't produce the goods, Thats the whole make up of the man.