Next First Time World Champion

[Monique]

Next First Time World Champion will be Jimmy White of course... unless it's Chas ’n’ Dave

PS I know they are two of them, but then they let the "two" Ronnies compete, innit?

[Anastasia]

Next First Time World Champion will be Jimmy White of course...

yeah it's possible now when Hendry is not such a threat

[jaguarf1]

looking at this season results my choice was Ryan Day. Maybe it's time for another Joe Johnson - never won a ranking title before and BAM!!! becomes the world champion.

[Templeton Peck]

Well considering two of the last four world champions were first time winners it's not beyond the realms of possibility.

[Case454]

I'm not a fan of Maguire, he bottles it all to often. My vote goes to Mark Allen, a big game player who always raises his game against the big boys.

[noel]

Well considering two of the last four world champions were first time winners it's not beyond the realms of possibility.

Exactly... and to extend it further 6 out of last 10 WC were first-timers.


=o)


Noel

[Mal]

I think of the players Selby has the best game and temperament and in my opinion most likely to win it and certainly will have a great chance in the next few years. Maguire has the game, but doesn't seem to have the consistency, but with more consistency and a favourable draw he certainly has the talent.
I'm surprised that people seem to be writing off players like Allen. He is 22 and provisionally 11th in the world. Only Ding has done that since O'Sullivan and Higgins. Ding's temperament is clearly questionable and Mark Allen's has some facets of his game to work on, but they both have time on their side and potentially their peak years are yet to come. If Ding can get his game on track, he'll be a winner again and with Mark Allen, he has made steady progress that is reminiscent of the way that Mark Williams came through in the late 90s who was 25 by the time he won the WC. I am sure that Allen's game will progress in the next three years and he will certainly be in the top 5 and although there are no guarantees in life, I think he'll win the WC a couple of times in his mid - late 20s.

[spike]

For me Mark Selby has the best chance. His consistency, fighting qualities, temperament, and experience espeically as he already has competed in a World Final is a major plus. It's only a matter of time before he becomes World Champion. If he doesn't win it in the next 3 years i will be quite surprised. Would make Mark Allen a close second to Selby as he has a great attacking game and fears no one! The one thing that concerns me is that his form is a little in and out at times and loses to players you wouldn't normally expect him to lose to.

[The Boss]

I don't think Maguire can last the 17 days since he's more likely to bottle it or get beaten up 8-0 or 7-1 in one session and not recover. I think Selby is the most likely to and would be my third favourite this season after O'Sullivan and Mark King. I think Ronnie will win it this season and Selby or King the year after. I think Robbo (Ned) will win it one day, but none of the others ever will

[JiangYu]

Ronnie not Joe Swail that Beat Liang Wenbo and i can say here and now Liang will never be World Champion there i said it

Whoops - Typo. I did mean, Ronnie O'Sullivan.

Day is 28 and has never won a title. How can you rate him as high as third favourite for the World Championship??

I just have a gut feeling, he's still very young and I he's only just matured as of late. I mean, it's not impossible for an underdog to caputure the title. Murphy, for example, caught it and his only previous title was the Benson & Hedges (which isn't a ranking). If Day does win it, he'd also have at least 1 title to show for it, despite that it's a non-ranking.
In this day and age, the snooker is very high standard that I wouldn't be surprised if a person without any previous titles won it.

I feel as if the likes of Perry etc are old and just have had their time, despite showing glimpses of form. Steven's on the other hand has , in the past, shown what he's capable of and that set's him apart from Perry.

[miscuehamburg]

I advocate Selby. The choice is not easy though. Maguire or Robertson have a good chance too. Allen's time is still to come together with Trump & co, which I by no means consider "weaker" than the Murphy/Maguire/Selby-Generation. But eventually I think Selby will have the best chance to win it in short terms. He has a relly good overall game and the nerve to come through:snooker:

[Templeton Peck]

The thing with Selby's game though is that a large part of it is frustrating his opponents. I'm not sure he'll have a wide enough window to win the WC before the competition figure out how to deal with it.

[miscuehamburg]

We shall see. I wouldn't reduce Selby's game just to the mental side. He is a solid break-builder as well as a good, patient tactician. I do not think there is a mental reciepe against him.

[mister_e]

Ryan Day is more than a contender for being next world champ. it's really coming together for him now. he's definitely going in an each way bet for me for this years champs.

[checkSide]

Lets face it, if Dott can win it, and Cater get to the final, pretty much anyone mentioned in this thread can.

Maguire, Selby, Day and Ding are all capable if the draw goes their way and their game comes together for two weeks. Even Hendry could do it again.

Once you look past O'Sullivan, it's a complete lottery involving 8-10 other players.