Jimmy White Ranks The Greatest Snooker Players Of All Time 👀 | Eurosport Snooker 

LOL!

My first reaction was "wow, didn't even know Jimmy was blind! and he almost won a world championship!", then he continued the sentence 😂

Jimmy shouldn't be on the list. No World Champions & 2 Triple Crowns don't get you on here. Neil Robertson & Judd Trump are ahead of him.

@@Antibot2025 To be fair, Jimmy's WC defeats were to Davis and Hendry in their primes

Ich glaub Joe Davis muss höher

Maybe Mark winning in 2018 is the difference? I thought 3 of John's wins were in the era when there were few tournaments and the standard was lower, it flatters him a bit. The last 10 years has been a higher standard, as players are sharper, with so many tournaments.

4 worlds should be silver spot but jimmy was best mates with Alex so he's being bias

Arguably, somebody who sold out, damaging the sport and his reputation forever by accepting bribes shouldn’t be on the list at all..

@@danielmould3543 Except he didn't accept bribes. He was guilty of not letting the snooker authorities know that someone had asked him to fix non-tour matches. He served his ban, that I thought was too short at the time.

John H still owes Jimmy a drink from way back, tight git still hasn't forgotten.

Higgins was the peoples favourite.

@@johnmc3862 I'd say both were very similar & I can't disagree everyone loved Alex Higgins too.

Steve Davis was my favourite. Ronnie's favourite too.

So sad not to see him win a World Championship

John Higgins, Selby and Williams have all won a lot more thsn Alex Higgins and White, including at least 3 world titles each (11 world titles between the 3 of them), yet ridiculously people still believe that Alex Higgins and White are both better. How people believe White along with Alex Higgins has risen up the all time list since 2000 it beggers belief. Reardon and Spencer get a raw deal. Rhet both won a world title at the Crucible like Alex Higgins did. Shouldn't Reardon be placed 4th greatest of all time with his 6 world titles, and Spencer with 3 world titles also higher than both Alex Higgins and White (he never even won one) instead of Alex Higgins 4th and White 5th greatest of all time according to some. Nobody can potentially be the 2nd greatest of all time by not winning a world championship title sfter making the final for a few years with pñayers either side of that period won a few world titles apiece deemed nowhere nesr as good. Ridiculous. Winning a few world tirtles is better than winning none.

Entertaining certainly... successful? Hardly really .

​​@@serenityinside1 6x world championship finalist and won everything else. Successful in my book and a darn sight more talented than the robotic Steve D and personality vacuum that was Hendry

Williams and Higgins is actually close

@@alanchamberlain9902 Williams isn't on John Higgins level, he'd even tell you that himself. John Higgins has been the 3rd best player of all time with only Hendry and Ronnie in front of him. Steve Davis took the game to a new level, then Hendry and then Ronnie and John and then Trump and Selby came along.

The guy who met with match-fixers? His name shouldn't even be spoken about alongside these other names.

Who is John Higgins 🤔😶

John Higgins is the best cheat in snooker.

These are the players I liked to watch.Alex Higgins,Stephen Henry,Jimmy white,Tony Drago,Ronnie O'Sullivan.

LOL you really don't watch snooker if you think Jimmy is better than Mark Selby, You are rating him higher than Selby, Williams and even Neil Robertson. Those three players alone are light years ahead of Jimmy

@@wad6216 I’m talking about the entertainment factor these players provide and their role in raising the profile/popularity of the game, not just their achievements. Most people would rather watch paint dry than sit through a Selby match 😴. Williams is a fantastic watch and Robertson is terrific break builder, I wholeheartedly agree with you on those two.

@@markjackson887 Well Said Mark 👍👍

The disrespect to Mark Selby is ridiculous. He is for sure one of the greatest players of all time, and this nonsense about his matches being boring.. his battles with Ronnie O'Sullivan over the years are some of the most entertaining games of snooker the sport has ever seen. He's an absolutely brilliant ambassador for the sport

Only player not to win one but be as good as all the others if that makes sense. Was just so unlucky iver the years

He must have nightmares about hendry

His world champion defeats were to Davis and Hendry in their primes

He won it eventually on the senior tournament

He should have won so many, his luck couldn’t keep up with his talent was all.

Couldn't agree more. I had the same order

Absolutely agree with you! When Ronnie O' Sullivan says what he says about Higgins, you know he is on top of the game! But who am I to disagree with Jimmy White! :p

I think Jimmy is basically a nice bloke!

I’d go with that.

@@stitcha123 Higgins is easily top 4 not just 5 a class all round snooker player but there can only be 1 goat and that's the rocket 🚀 the absolute genius himself 🇮🇪 🍀

Alex not John right?

@@anthony5868 it should be

Yep definitely the Hurricane

1 O'Sullivan 2 Hendry 3 Davis should be which is Jimmy s pick I think he's correct

Hendry and O’Sullivan are out in front of all

I got so scared for a moment...

Disagree, it's an insult to John Higgins who's clearly the 3rd best player in the game has ever seen. Selby and Williams are not worthy to be in the same boat as him. Ronnie and Hendry even said Higgins is one of the greatest of all time and Ronnie even puts John aboe himself which shows how humble Ronnie is. I always thought Higgins always had the all round game where as Ronnie took more time to mature. But, Ronnie has proved that he's the greatest of all time. Hendry was the best of all time for the period that he dominated, although some would argue thaty his competition was much lesser than Ronniie and Higgins. I'd put Selby 4th becaues he's standard of play is better than Davis but then again Davis was able to win a lot of games in one visit. It's very tight but I think Selby and Davis in their prime would be amazing to watch. Williams has to be next, he's career was so up and down, he was known to be a very flipent careless player but can turn it on when he wants too. He's a limited player like me like Mark Allen but uses his short game to his advantage. People say he's a great long potter. I don't know where they get that from bercaue that was always his weakness. If he potted more long balls he'd have won more tournaments. Trump for me is better than Selby and Williams hands down, and is closer to Higgins in my book, but his main weakness is long matches like the Masters, the World Championship and the UK Championship. If Trump can build stronger stamina and endurance he can go on to be one of the all time greats if not the greatest. He makes the game look like it's been played on a three by four childs snooker table. If Ray Reardon had met Jimmy White need perfected his saftey game to make him impregnable, then Jimmy could have won four or five world titles in my book he was that good. Robertson is another amazing player with the potential to be huge but his focus is weak in the long tournaments a very similar player to Trump in that regard.

@@iwannadrinkfromyourwideeye2635 Reardon in the 1982 world champuonship final only lost 18-15 to an Alex Higgins you wouldn't think was at an age of him being past it afterwards (Taylor and Johnson both won the world title older than Alex Higgins did in 1982), so had it not been for that clearance by Higgins, there's no way anybody back then could say White would have been guaranteed to beat Reardon definitely for sure the way some were claiming. Reardon even at 49 would still have been in with a good chance of winning the final vs White in 1982. White was raw tactically and was only 15-14 up against Higgins in the semi final in any case. It's only the naive who claim it waa one or the other to be the champion in that White vs Higgins semi final. Trump 1-3 vs Williams and Trump 1-4 vs Selby in terms of world championship titles won at the Crucible is proof that Williams and Selby are both better than Trump. At least 2 world titles difterence is one of the major determining factors in terms of assessing how great one player is compared with another.

Ronnies the most popular player ever. No one comes close

@@75619630how many people stay up in China to watch ding play?

I was only about 10-12 or so when I first got into Snooker and Jimmy was by miles my favourite player. It used to annoy me my friend at school was a big Hendry fan and he used to win all the time

I hate that 'peoples champion ' nonsense! Depends where you're playing surely.

@@stratmanuk not really, players like Jimmy and Ronnie were/are always the favourites of the crowd wherever they play.

Higgins has to be ahead of Williams anyways. Both greats but Higgins better over past 20 years

I'd have him behind Selby, but above Williams. I'd have Neil Robertson and Judd Trump in there, both above Jimmy White. It's all nonsense, as Joe Davis could be the best, as he played on a thick cold cloth, with heavier balls, in a smoke filled room, conditions that most modern players couldn't cope with. I'd also like to see how modern players coped with the amount of vodka Alex Higgins drank😂

You could say it was fixed 😉

During their peak days I felt Williams dominated/had the wood on Higgins. So although I've got Higgins ahead can completely accept Williams ahead. Williams in 2003 was incredible

@@fractal_mind562 yes John Higgins is down a notch because he considered cheating for cash

Why would you choose the second best, if you're really talking about saving your life. That's just stupid.

@@kopteri because Higgins is widely accepted as the best all round player there has been. Ronnie could effortlessly win you that frame for your life with a 147, but when it becomes a safety battle or a pressure clearance is needed I’d want John in my corner over everyone else.

@@tam310 But it's still about one frame. No other parameters.

@@kopteri that’s exactly my point. In a one of frame I think John’s superior safety and match play will force a mistake out of Ronnie first, and John is still one of the best at making a clearance, before Ronnie could force a mistake from John. If you were asking who I would want to make a clearance for my life it would be Ronnie.

Higgins is competing but not winning.

И ничего не выиграл после 30)) Потому что не смог конкурировать с новым поколением игроков, играющих в снукер более высокого уровня

​@@user-cd7vw1zf6cor he put that much into his game to win what he did at that age he burnt himself out

@@user-cd7vw1zf6c Да, досадно, что Хендри не выиграл еще один титул чемпиона мира после этого, он действительно должен был выиграть его в 2002 году, также должен был выиграть чемпионат Великобритании в 2003 году, возможно, если бы он отказался брать на себя какие-то слишком амбициозные длинные поты, он мог бы выиграть выиграл еще несколько титулов.

Are you Maria?

@@chrisjohnson4165 I am not part of the catalano family.

@@snookermafia6368 OK, thanks.

Exactly!! You ask Ronnie who his toughest opponent of all time is, he always picks John Higgins. Jimmy himself shouldn't even be in this.

@@Patthis67 Yes he omits Neil Robertson to indulge himself in the list lol. On no planet in a universe is Jimmy White better than Robertson. He also had an ego Jimmy though. He is a great player but just outside this list. I'd argue he scrapes in at number 10 if it was top 10 of all time. Also trying to justify he lost two titles to Hendry in the WC that were his is BS. Stephen could argue the same to when he lost to Ebdon in the final decider in the WC 2003 but he would never do that.

Yeah maybe swap with Selby for now. If Selby wins a 5th or 6th then up he goes.

John Higgins should never be aloud to touch a table ever again. Got caught bang to rights ready take money to throw a game. Who knows how many he did before that??? Stephen Lee gets a 10 year ban over what was just videos off shots. Where is the justice??? I don't care how good Higgins is in my opinion he should never have played the game again professionally

@@leeoliver6404 the reason why Lee got banned is because he was proven to have thrown matches on multiple occasions … the reason Higgins only got a few month is because he said he would do it but was never proven to have done it that’s the difference but I agree his ban should of been longer

@lee Oliver calm down, John was offered money to lose certain frames, not necessarily to lose matches, he was illegally entrapped by journalists, that is the reason the punishment could not be more severe.

@@NNC93 Actually John Higgins has been caught on video cheating but that was on a video that is hard to find. John Higgins got away with it.

Good point. I expect he probably had a better than 50% win ratio over Alex Higgins, who is really the only other great of his period. I think he even got the better of Steve Davis a couple of times.... which is saying something.

Exactly, 4 time world champion and 3rd most winner of ranking titles. Also think Judd Trump should be up there as he is already so high up in the lists of records and done so in such a short time.

@@timb9249 Judd and also Neil Robertson should both be in the top 10. Phenomenal scorers the pair of them, and both won the World title, something that, no disrespect to Jimmy, he never achieved.

@@uzaironf1704 Agreed ! And let's not forget Shaun Murphy. He is a fantastic player with major wins. He should definitely be in the top 10.

@@ron200088 It should be titled Jimmy's 'favourite' snooker players not 'greatest' players!! Let's be honest, you have to question the ranking method when it includes bringing a baby onto the table.... 🤣

​@Tim B 😂😂😂.....my thoughts exactly! Jimmy was an unbelievably sharp player, but not such a sharp cookie😮

Have you ever watched snooker from their era? If they got a 40 break they were happy.

@salsabil44 I've watched Ray Reardon many times and he's had loads of century breaks, his safety play was first class, he coached Ronnie and helped him win a world title, he made Ronnie impregnable, his words. Reardon was a winner and won 6 titles. He's a legend, Jimmy whites style has changed since the early 80s. Watch some footage, I was lucky enough to see it at that time. Jimmy had his natural game coached out of him. He's slowed himself down and changed his timing. He's never had a solid mentality of Reardon, Hendry or Davis.

@@LordFlashheart.11 I also watched Reardon a lot and I admit he was dominant at the time, but the standard of play was way way below what it is today.

@salsabil44 to do what he did with the cloth and balls of that time was astonishing especially Alex Higgins with the amount of spin he generated, but the main thing is knowledge, Jimmy could have used this to his advantage as Ronnie did.

@@salsabil44 Do you know what the conditions were like back in the '70s regarding cloths etc? Take the players of today back to that era and they wouldn't be banging in the centuries anything like they do nowadays.

Selby over Williams for sure

O'Sullivan took 30 years to win 7 WC. One year he never played so he had 29 attempts to win 7. Hendry had 10 attempts and converted 7 of them. Hendry was in a different league. Of course O'Sullivan is a wonderful player. But the facts don't lie.

​@@bobsmithy9024 Hendry had a pretty weak era. #Facts

​@@Kornhulio18 tbf O'Sulivan turned pro in 92 and never managed to get to a world final in the 90's if I'm not mistaken, Hendry was dominating all through the 90's.

@@brians9954 Doesn't matter in my opinion when you win your first title. Ronnie has won 7 in the most competitive era of all time and has the most majors (21). The debate who is the greatest is over...

@@Kornhulio18 I was merely pointing out that Ronnie couldn't do it in Henry's hey day oh and also if it was at a lower level then why did it take him so long? Anyway I actually think Ronnie is the best snooker player of all time due to longevity! However both in there pomp I'm taking Hendry.

Too early for Judd, he really hasn't achieved enough in the triple crowns to get on the list. He's a proven winner of ranking events so it's not a lack of talent, maybe bottle or match IQ? But no, Judd isn't on that list yet. Look again in ten years.

Trump has only 1 world title and he hasn't won enough of the so called triple crown titles to be considered.

Selby is nowhere near Trumps level for me, and Trump's weakness is in the longer tournaments which is Selbys' strength. If Trump ups his safety game he could become the greatest of all time he's that good. Having said that, Selby has the temperment to get another four world titles to get to 8th. Higgins for me is clearly the 3rd greatest player of all time, he's been to so many world titles and has over 30 ranking titles. He and Hendry had the best alround game for me but Ronnie took longer to mature in that regard. Now Ronnie is a much better player because of Ray Reardon tighting up his safety game.

Selbys boring with the most annoying stroke

Selby's safety hasn't worked out too well for Selby as Ronnie has beaten him 19 times with Selby only beating Ronnie 11 times. Ronnie plays the riskier type of game which is why he wins so much. Ronnie is the true master, he's won all those triple crowns in an era that saw Hendry, Higgins, Davis, Williams, Trump, Selby, Robertson, Ding, and Murphy. Bingham, McGuire, and Mark Allen. Hat's off to Selby though, because he's one of those players that I don't want Ronnie to draw in a tournament. Mark is one of the all-time greats and out of Trump, Robertson, and Selby, I think Selby is the one that can get seven world titles. He won't beat Ronnies tripple crown record, but he could match the 7 world titles.

@@invisiblemaninvisibleman2097 Selby IS boring IF you're a boring person.

@@iwannadrinkfromyourwideeye2635 I agree with you that Trump is more skillful than Selby. But I was talking of the safety play. And there I think Selby is one up on Trump

Nothing wrong with that. Higgins was the biggest inspiration to snooker and a good mate of Jimmy's.

@@johnmc3862His list is automatically biased then

100% Not enough credit to Hendry either.

@@johnmc3862 Hendry is the reason the game is played the way it is and has been since his prime. I remember him saying, “I’d rather lose a frame by missing a pot than playing a poor safety”. Summed him up and the likes of Ronnie and most who have arrived since have emulated or tried to emulate his aggressive style of play.

@@johnmc3862 Hendry is the reason the game is played the way it is and has been since his prime. I remember him saying, “I’d rather lose a frame by missing a pot than playing a poor safety”. Summed him up and the likes of Ronnie and most who have arrived since have emulated or tried to emulate his aggressive style of play.

Higgins doesn't deserve any place. You know why.

Cause those of us who actually follow snooker know that he never fixed any matches nor did he get done for match fixing. He got done for failing to report that he was approached to throw matches. He said he only agreed to get out of an awkward situation, even if that's a lie and he was considering it,the facts are that he never went through with it. After all it was only talk and all of us have said " I'll kill you " at some point but we haven't actually killed anyone. Big difference in not reporting that you've been asked to fix games and actually excepting money to throw matches

@@davidmellish3295 not in my eyes But it's your opinion

@@karlpreston3416 No,it's NOT my opinion, IT'S FACTS,it's what happened. It's A FACT that he was done for not reporting he was approached, IT'S A FACT that he was investigated and no evidence of throwing any matches,IT'S A FACT that there was no money traced ( that's how Stephen Lee was caught ) IT'S A FACT that no witnesses came forward to say he'd cheated. So it's GOT NOTHING to do with mine or your personal opinions, IT'S FACTS and you can't argue with facts

Plus I never said he was caught for match fixing that's a FACT but I believe the intention was there

@@karlpreston3416 I never said that you said he was caught for match fixing, I was just pointing out the facts because you did say that it was my opinion. So I responded by saying that it wasn't my opinion but the actual facts of what happened and in this case even if he had been considering taking the money ,at the end of the day he never went through with it

💯🇯🇲🇬🇧👍

Mark also beat Ronnie in WSC final, but no one says that Mark better than Ronnie. By the way, till last year John was the only one who beat Mark in WSC final. Mark is only 40 now and he's already lose in final to the guy who never won anything big before and still can't reach at least quarterfinals of ranking event after, and John was 42 when he lose to 34 yo Mark who was already multiple times World, UK and Masters champion then. So don't you think that compare these two in one match, when Mark was at his prime and John was in two decades from his prime isn't fair? With all due respect to Mark, prime Higgins was far better than him, and if they met in their primes, John would have won this easily.

Its not that impossible. Hendry was on a different level 🤷🏻‍♂️

He actually said Davis was his most difficult opponent 🤷🏻‍♂️

Also it was a different era,when Jimmy was at the top of his game in the 80s Ronnie wasn't about,yes Ronnie turned pro in 92 when Jimmy was still at the top but Ronnie wasn't anywhere near his best till he got older and more mature. The facts are that a prime Jimmy never played a prime Ronnie..

But I saw and heard this with my own eyes and ears approx. 3-4 years ago on Eurosport, I think it was in an interview with Andy Goldstein - of course I was absolutely gutted to hear Jimmy say this - and of course it's hard to find this online as there are thousands of videos of them on youtube and other media.

@@andymerrett Very mature answer from you, thank you.

Reardon was also the only player who Steve Davis felt psyched out by.

Very different era though. Easier to win it back then for the defending champion.

@@davidgraham8058 Different balls then, crystallite I believe, so a different game, it might have favored Fred, we'll never know.

What are you talking about? You do Realise that John Higgins never got done for match fixing cause he never actually fixed any games. He got done for failing to report that he was approached to throw matches. He said he only agreed to get out of an awkward situation and even if that's not true and he was seriously considering taking the money THE FACTS are that he never actually went through with it. After all,it's only words and if you got done for words most of us would be in jail ,cause we've all said stuff like " I'll kill you " but most of us never went through with it and killed anyone. So why should he have been punished more? All he did was not report the incident, he was punished for that,paid his fine and served his ban,so that's that.

O'Sullivan & Jimmy don't seem to mind at all what happened w/ Higgins in Ukraine. I think it's because these working class lads consider snooker, along with whatever happens inside and around it, to be their just deserts -- their opportunity to get their own against an establishment and a world stitched up against them. I understand that, but as an outsider not even from the UK I have different expectations. If Higgins is playing, I'm not watching.

Cheat

​@@cjns5253How?

Both of them beat Higgins in a world final

Absolutely

But Ronnie is still wiping the floor, many years after his prime. He's head and shoulders above his peers still

Wrong, Ronnie wiped the floor with him and so did Williams/Selby etc

Coulda woulda shoulda

He invented the modern game. Number one in my book.

@@andymerrett Ha ha, I don't even reckon Alexandra the great could keep up with Bill, Bill would have 20 pints for breakfast ha ha

Which Higgins?

@@davidcopson5800 John

It's a poor list IMHO.

nice comment. worth us thinking about more.

Good stuff. Only thing number 5 is now O'Sullivan who beat Drago record relatively recently last Nov 2022 Scottish open. Century in 204 seconds beating Drago by 7 seconds at 211.

I never knew Thorburn got a 147 in the toilet.

Thing is Bill Werbeniuk didn't used to get drunk - he used to drink so heavily so that it numbed a shaky nerve in his arm, but his tolerance was so high it didn't even get him tipsy!

1 world title, not a chance.

@@johnmc3862 1 more than J White, and N R has 5 other majors while J W has only 2 majors in a lot easier era.

Selby is much better than little tubs and tubs is a cheater

Yes, Selby won in a harder era. I'd have him above Higgins too, as Higgins won most when there were few tournaments and the standard was much lower. After Barry Hearn took over, the number of tournaments increased, the standard improved a lot and Selby has won the hard way.

Hes done more winning over a shorter period of time

And he’s not finished yet

Nobody enjoys watching Selby that alone should remove him from the list

That is a very good list bro

Higgins shouldn't get a place, match fixers not allowed!!

Massive Hendry fan and being Scottish and local lad to me. He probably changed the game the most single handedly with attacking and opening the reds up. I have to agree though that Ronnie is the goat and I never thought that I'd be saying that 10 years ago. Anyone that plays snooker will understand how difficult using opposite hand is and ronnie is nearly as good, amazing.

If Ronnie is the goat how come he turned professional in 1992 and never stopped Hendry winning the world title in in 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999. Hendry also the runner up in 1997. So Hendry got to the final 7 times (!) after Ronnie turned professional. Ronnie got to none. Zero WC finals in the 1990s. How the heck is he the goat? He never stopped Hendry dominating the 1990s. It's impossible for him to be better than Hendry. Hendry was at his best in the 1990s and won way more titles than O'Sullivan. That's a fact.

@@bobsmithy9024 was ronnie not allowed to build up the same as Hendry? Davis used to smash Hendry up for years

I've posted a new message about cognitive bias. It explains why people incorrectly think O'Sullivan is the greatest. You can check it out. 😊

@@bobsmithy9024 I've posted a new message about bullshit bias.... Explains why ronnie is the goat... have a look :). It pains me to say it, I'm massive Hendry fan but ronnie been at top for longer now. Ideally I don't want him to beat Hendry records but probably going to happen and get an 8th. Hendry will always be my fav player and he is responsible for modern scoring imo.

Only he lost all the finals to Hendry 😅

Only he lost all the finals to Hendry 😅

Please share the snooker records Trump has? According to you, he tops most of them?

Yeah Judd is much too good to not even get mentioned

Bloody hell! You sure know your stuff!!

Wow, genius.

Nothing gets past you!

Don't forget that he controlled the sport, and the Championship was by invitation, sometimes with only 2 players. Each generation learns from the previous one.

@@chrisjohnson4165 The played for a week, a much harder test than the final is now.

Joe only had to play one opponent in some of his World titles. That's how bad the standard was back then. The 15 World titles don't mean anything in the modern era of the game (1969-present)

Thick cloth, dead cushions, no table heating inferior cues, almost no money and rooms full of smoke. I doubt many modern players would cope with that.

@@sharpvidtube I'd like to see at least one tournament per year in those conditions. I'm sure some of the modern players would struggle, but I think the top players of the last few decades would have no problems adapting.

Well to be fair 99.9% of people will pick Ronnie as the GOAT and the other .01% are clueless. Like him or loathe him,he's the best ever,most ranking titles,most uk's,most masters, joint top in world's, most centuries, fastest 147,most 147s etc etc the stats don't lie. What is puzzling is his positioning of both Higgins's,John should have been higher and Alex lower. Yes he made snooker really popular and in that way,snooker wouldn't be where it is today without him BUT he wasn't as good as the others on that list.