Ray Reardon

Iranu wrote:

Johnny Bravo wrote:Reardon was great in his era, he wouldn't be able to cope with the players of the modern era.

He would if he’d grown and developed in this era.

Muller wrote:

Iranu wrote:

Johnny Bravo wrote:Reardon was great in his era, he wouldn't be able to cope with the players of the modern era.

He would if he’d grown and developed in this era.

Spot on. Being a sporting great is a mindset.

Downplaying someone from an earlier era in that way is like criticising Napoleon's armies for having no tanks.

Muller wrote:

Iranu wrote:

Johnny Bravo wrote:Reardon was great in his era, he wouldn't be able to cope with the players of the modern era.

He would if he’d grown and developed in this era.

Spot on. Being a sporting great is a mindset.

Downplaying someone from an earlier era in that way is like criticising Napoleon's armies for having no tanks.

Wildey wrote:Yea Reardon not going to beat anyone with centuries but you don't need centuries to win frames 5 20 breaks will do the job just as well.

Iranu wrote:

Wildey wrote:Yea Reardon not going to beat anyone with centuries but you don't need centuries to win frames 5 20 breaks will do the job just as well.

Only because that’s the era he was accustomed to, though.

If Reardon was breaking through say 5 years ago he WOULD be beating people through centuries and scoring*.

*Obviously that’s an oversimplification because there would have been no Reardon 50 years ago to shape the game of today, but you know what I mean.

TheRocket wrote:the likes of Reardon and Davis would have adapted to any era. If they came through now they would be topplayers. I said it before. Wouldnt even be surprised if they played the way Trump does.

Holden Chinaski wrote:The effect Reardon had on Ronnie's game in 2004 proves his tactics are still a force to be reckoned with even in the modern game. Ronnie played some brilliant safeties and tactical stuff after he worked with Ray.

Muller wrote:I think another point to be made with regard to earlier players is the talk of "majors" or "triple crown" titles.

The Masters started in 1975 and the UK in 1977. Both Reardon and Spencer's prime was earlier and they would have had more than 7 and 4 of these respectively otherwise.

I suppose the closest equivalent would be the Pontins Pro and Reardon won that 3 times prior to the triple crown being established.

badtemperedcyril wrote:

Muller wrote:I think another point to be made with regard to earlier players is the talk of "majors" or "triple crown" titles.

The Masters started in 1975 and the UK in 1977. Both Reardon and Spencer's prime was earlier and they would have had more than 7 and 4 of these respectively otherwise.

I suppose the closest equivalent would be the Pontins Pro and Reardon won that 3 times prior to the triple crown being established.

Very good point. In fact, there was no such thing as a Triples Crown until the BBC axed the old Grand Prix. Previously they made reference to those four events as a Grand Slam. In reality, the ITV tournaments, the Mercantile Credit Classic and British Open were just as big, as was the invitational World Matchplay for the few years it existed.


Back in the 70's, there was only the World Championships and obviously Masters from 75. After that the only decent sized pro events were the Canadian Open and at the end of the season, Pontins. You can go back a bit further and the Norwich Union, Watneys Open and Park Drive events were pretty high prestige.

badtemperedcyril wrote:

badtemperedcyril wrote:

Muller wrote:I think another point to be made with regard to earlier players is the talk of "majors" or "triple crown" titles.

The Masters started in 1975 and the UK in 1977. Both Reardon and Spencer's prime was earlier and they would have had more than 7 and 4 of these respectively otherwise.

I suppose the closest equivalent would be the Pontins Pro and Reardon won that 3 times prior to the triple crown being established.

Very good point. In fact, there was no such thing as a Triples Crown until the BBC axed the old Grand Prix. Previously they made reference to those four events as a Grand Slam. In reality, the ITV tournaments, the Mercantile Credit Classic and British Open were just as big, as was the invitational World Matchplay for the few years it existed.


Back in the 70's, there was only the World Championships and obviously Masters from 75. After that the only decent sized pro events were the Canadian Open and at the end of the season, Pontins. You can go back a bit further and the Norwich Union, Watneys Open and Park Drive events were pretty high prestige.

Muller wrote:I think another point to be made with regard to earlier players is the talk of "majors" or "triple crown" titles.

The Masters started in 1975 and the UK in 1977. Both Reardon and Spencer's prime was earlier and they would have had more than 7 and 4 of these respectively otherwise.

I suppose the closest equivalent would be the Pontins Pro and Reardon won that 3 times prior to the triple crown being established.

Muller wrote:In terms of profile I suppose you could even include Pot Black?

Muller wrote:In terms of profile I suppose you could even include Pot Black?

Muller wrote:Pot Black was my first snooker experience. I recall watching Graham Miles in it in the mid 70s so he, oddly, was likely the first snooker player I was aware of.

The first one I watched religiously (Friday night, start of the weekend and after Porridge!) was the 1978 one when Doug Mountjoy beat Miles in the final. It would gradually decline in significance as TV coverage stepped up.

When I bought the PB book in 1982 I do recall being surprised that daily TV coverage of the WC did not start until 1978. As far as I can make out, the first ever TV coverage was of the 1973 final and again in 1974. Brief glimpses of these are on YT. (Does anyone have more?) There was no coverage of 1975 and it was back to the earlier model for 1976 before 1977 saw the first coverage of the SFs.

The 1976 championship seems interesting as someone came up with the bright idea of splitting it into two venues, leading to ructions in the final!


But PB was indeed of huge importance and back in the day I loved it.