Top 20 legends of snooker

Weve all compiled and argued over various lists of "Best ever players of all time" which lets face it, will never be able to reach agreement on, but with the sad death of Alex it got me thinking........

Just who are the all time top 20 legends of our game from the early days right through to the modern era.

The criteria for this will vary, some may cite achievment as being key, others may cite personality, career longevity could be another factor, also influence players had on future generations may be a reason.

Whatever your reasons, simply compile your top 20 legends of snooker list and well see where we differ (and who we all forget to include, bound to be some obvious ones )

Im just going to put my thinking cap on and compile my list now.........

this will take a lotttttttttttttttttt of time getting top 20 ranked lol

top 10 would be hard but 20 lol

1 - A.HIGGINS
2 - S.DAVIS
3 - REARDON
4 - WHITE
5 - J.DAVIS
6 - TAYLOR
7 - O'SULLIVAN
8- GRIFFITHS
9 - HENDRY
10 - SPENCER
11 - THORBURN
12 - THORNE
13 - CHARLTON
14 - F.DAVIS
15 - VIRGO
16 - PARROTT
17 - PULMAN
18 - K.STEVENS
19 - MOUNTJOY
20 - M.WILLIAMS

Can't argue with most of that except I would maybe have Doherty over M.Williams and Joe Johnson over Mountjoy.

Alex0paul WC wrote:Can't argue with most of that except I would maybe have Doherty over M.Williams and Joe Johnson over Mountjoy.

Yeh i actually wanted to put Doherty in as hes well known to the general public compared to Williams but opted for Mark for some reason, the extra WC must have swayed it for me.

Must admit, i totally forgot about JJ, i dont think id include him though, Infact i also forgot about Tony Knowles who may have been a valid inclusion.

Hard to have many of the current generation (the last 20 years) in the list really as theyve failed to reach the iconic status of their predecessors.

Williams should be top 5

Sonny wrote:Williams should be top 5

explain further?

Witz78 wrote:

Sonny wrote:Williams should be top 5

explain further?

Rex?

Witz78 wrote:1 - A.HIGGINS
2 - S.DAVIS
3 - REARDON
4 - WHITE
5 - J.DAVIS
6 - TAYLOR
7 - O'SULLIVAN
8- GRIFFITHS
9 - HENDRY
10 - SPENCER
11 - THORBURN
12 - THORNE
13 - CHARLTON
14 - F.DAVIS
15 - VIRGO
16 - PARROTT
17 - PULMAN
18 - K.STEVENS
19 - MOUNTJOY
20 - M.WILLIAMS

Where is Jamie Cope and Zhanger.................................

.......Parrott, Thorne, Taylor

1 Alex Higgins
2 Joe Davis
3 Steve Davis
4 Stephen Hendry
5 Ray Reardon
6 Jimmy White
7 Cliff Thorburn
8 Fred Davis
9 Ronnie O'Sullivan
10 John Spencer
11 John Pullman
12 Eddie Charlton
13 John Higgins
14 Mark Williams
15 Terry Griffiths
16 Dennis Taylor
17 John Parrott
18 Tony Knowles
19 Kirk Stevens
20 Doug Mountjoy

for what its worth i have Cliff Wilson at 21 it was a toss up with mountjoy for 20th.

Witz78 wrote:

Sonny wrote:Williams should be top 5

explain further?

Oh I don't know, I was on the phone when I wrote that. I don't get the concept so can't compile a list.

StalinESQ wrote:

Witz78 wrote:1 - A.HIGGINS
2 - S.DAVIS
3 - REARDON
4 - WHITE
5 - J.DAVIS
6 - TAYLOR
7 - O'SULLIVAN
8- GRIFFITHS
9 - HENDRY
10 - SPENCER
11 - THORBURN
12 - THORNE
13 - CHARLTON
14 - F.DAVIS
15 - VIRGO
16 - PARROTT
17 - PULMAN
18 - K.STEVENS
19 - MOUNTJOY
20 - M.WILLIAMS

Where is Jamie Cope and Zhanger.................................

.......Parrott, Thorne, Taylor

i dont like Parrott, it was an afterthought to stick him in this list actually.

Thornes an iconic character and larger than life personality from snookers heyday and is worthy of his place.

Likewise Taylor was one of the most recognisable players of the 70s, 80s and 90s and is snooker royalty.

If your having Thorne based on "iconic" I'd have gone for Wilson..................... Thorne just makes me sick, to listen to or to look at.

StalinESQ wrote:If your having Thorne based on "iconic" I'd have gone for Wilson..................... Thorne just makes me sick, to listen to or to look at.

Thornes the man

you might as well have Drago on the list as a legend....................... he is sure a one-off and the crowds love him

StalinESQ wrote:you might as well have Drago on the list as a legend....................... he is sure a one-off and the crowds love him

yeah take out Virgo - insert Drago

StalinESQ wrote:

StalinESQ wrote:you might as well have Drago on the list as a legend....................... he is sure a one-off and the crowds love him

yeah take out Virgo - insert Drago

Evening MRStalinESQ

Drago is better value.

On that basis could argue that Wattana is worthy of a place given hes the Godfather of Eastern snooker

Wattana is still a good exponent of the game when he is on song.

The Cueist wrote:

StalinESQ wrote:

StalinESQ wrote:you might as well have Drago on the list as a legend....................... he is sure a one-off and the crowds love him

yeah take out Virgo - insert Drago

Evening MRStalinESQ

Drago is better value.

Virgos a bit of a legend after his time on Big Break though

The Cueist wrote:Wattana is still a good exponent of the game when he is on song.

Or today.......

Wattana is still a good exponent of the game when he is PLAYING Song

look at my list everyone a legend to some extent

Tony Knowles was legendary on page 3

Kirk he was a legend wearing white suites .

Dennis was the face of specsavers

Never thought of that.

Virgo is a bit past it lets be honest and Thorne is a bad loser.

Kirk Top man.

Super thread, never thought of something like this. But let's face it, you can't stop at players

1. Steve Davis
2. Alex Higgins
3. Jimmy White
4. Ronnie O'Sullivan
5. Stephen Hendry
6. Bill Werbenuick
7. Denis Taylor
8. Ray Reardon
9. Clive Everton
10. Cliff Thorburn
11. Tony Knowles
12. Willie Thorne
13. Kirk Stevens
14. John Parrott
15. David Vine
16. Ted Lowe
17. Joe Johnson
18. Terry Griffiths
19. John Street
20. Paul Hunter

Some good lists there, I would personally also have Davis at the top of the list above Higgins. Davis has done a lot for the game and remains one of the sports biggest ever names. If you had asked the general public to name a snooker player a month ago (before Alex’s death) I would bet the name which would come up the most would be Steve Davis. And rightfully so IMO.

Tubber the only one with Hunter on the list?

Surprised at that, given he was the most marketable player of all time (or the potential was there if he had of won the worlds) he also brought new fans the game. Hunter top 10 easily

case_master wrote:Tubber the only one with Hunter on the list?

Surprised at that, given he was the most marketable player of all time (or the potential was there if he had of won the worlds) he also brought new fans the game. Hunter top 10 easily

Yes absolutely. These lists are totally based on people’s opinions and it can never be accurately proved for that reason. However I think Tubbs top 5 is absolutely spot on and in the exact right order IMO.

N_Castle07 wrote:Some good lists there, I would personally also have Davis at the top of the list above Higgins. Davis has done a lot for the game and remains one of the sports biggest ever names. If you had asked the general public to name a snooker player a month ago (before Alex’s death) I would bet the name which would come up the most would be Steve Davis. And rightfully so IMO.

No as a legend Alex Higgins pisses all over Steve Davis.

Steve was a better player no doubt about that but in terms of being Legendery in snooker Alex Higgins and Joe Davis are miles ahead of anyone else

wildJONESEYE wrote:

N_Castle07 wrote:Some good lists there, I would personally also have Davis at the top of the list above Higgins. Davis has done a lot for the game and remains one of the sports biggest ever names. If you had asked the general public to name a snooker player a month ago (before Alex’s death) I would bet the name which would come up the most would be Steve Davis. And rightfully so IMO.

No as a legend Alex Higgins pisses all over Steve Davis.

Steve was a better player no doubt about that but in terms of being Legendery in snooker Alex Higgins and Joe Davis are miles ahead of anyone else

It depends how you measure this wild, as I said in a earlier post this can never be proved accurately as everybody has different views on this. Davis would be top of my list but that just my opinion.

Looking at it from a different angle, Davis is a legend because he has been a great ambassador for the game, has sustained a long career, and in my opinion is the most popular snooker player ever. I’m not saying he is the most loved player ever I am not saying that, but everybody knows who Steve Davis is. Jimmy White is probably the most loved player ever.