Shocking News: Mark Allen snaps again at “yes man” Shaun Murphy as he sends a clear threat to him due to…
Mark Allen returned to social media on Wednesday to openly call out Shaun Murphy for a second time on his recent comments regarding players.
Allen generated headlines a week ago when he criticised “heavy” conditions at the British Open in Cheltenham, saying the “the table needs to be burned” and that the table fitters were “clearly not up to it”.
When Murphy came to the defense of the table fitters at the weekend, Allen wrote on X that anyone taking the Magician’s views seriously should “question their sanity”.
Then on Wednesday, Allen responded to further comments that Murphy made on his podcast at the start of the week regarding world champion Kyren Wilson.
“Actually getting a bit bored of reading Shaun Murphy’s recent views,” Mark Allen wrote on social media platform X.
“This is someone who’s meant to represent the players at board level but openly criticising the current world champ and others.”
“Baffling behaviour or is it just attention seeking from the yes man?”
What did Shaun Murphy say?
“I must defend the staff,” Shaun Murphy was quoted as saying by the Irish Daily Star at the weekend.
“I think some of the criticism from fellow professionals has been nothing short of rude and amateurish.”
“There’s a real misconception about playing conditions – people either refer to them as good or bad. The truth of the matter is they’re either difficult or more difficult.
“It’s about time players understood that. They’re either difficult or get more difficult with the weather and humidity.
“A lot of players don’t understand that once humidity hits a table, it becomes very difficult.
“It’s nothing to do with the table fitter or their skill. They get a table off the back of a lorry and fit it, they do a great job.
“It’s about time some of our players educated themselves and maybe visit the factory. Maybe they wouldn’t say such silly things.
“Criticising members of staff who are just doing their job – and they do it brilliantly all around the world week in and week out – was a step too far.
“I hope it’s something that we see the back of.”
The world number eight expanded on the topic during the most recent episode of the OneFourSeven Podcast with emcee Phil Seymour while also going on to express his opinions on comments recently made by Kyren Wilson.
The world champion was left bemused last week when he was put on table two for his round-of-16 British Open tie with Elliot Slessor, which he went on to lose 4-2.
“Same sh*t, different day. Demoted to table 2 again and get found out!” Kyren Wilson wrote on Instagram.
“What benefits does a world champion get nowadays? Graveyard shift in Brentwood, table 2 in Saudi every game whilst being the number 1 seed there!”
“Table 2 tonight in Cheltenham and being the highest ranked in the session…unfortunately nothing ever changes with the sport I love.
“If your face doesn’t fit…tough,” Wilson sarcastically concluded with a thumb’s up emoticon.
Murphy responded by saying he could see both sides of the argument, having experienced a similar situation after he conquered the Crucible Theatre in 2005.
But he urged Wilson and others to recognise that the sport is in the entertainment industry and will always cater in some way to the players who attract bigger audiences.
“I see this from all angles,” Murphy said on the podcast. “I remember going back to one of my first matches shortly after I won the World Championship, we got put on table three or four.”
“I remember having a robust chat with Mike Ganley – the tournament director – about the whys and wherefores of a 22 year-old world champion being put on table four.
“I thought I should have been front of house. They put Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White out the front.
“I made the point that Kyren was trying to make, which is that if you keep putting the same faces out, they are the known faces, so how do we make any room for new characters to come through if it’s always the same faces being shown?
“The flip side to that is that WST, and its partners and sponsors, are involved in the sport to make money.
“They and the TV companies have to decide which matches will pull in the most viewers, that’s it.
“There is no such rule that says if you’re the world champion you’ll be on table one, or if you are the defending champion you’ll be on table one.
“No such rule exists. There’s a couple of players that move the needle so much that when they play they’ll always be on table one.
“It’s about time the players understood that it’s about which match is the most attractive, the most exciting, which is going to pull more viewers in and that’s the one that will go first, it’s no more complicated than that.
“Kyren asks what are the rewards for being world champion. You’ve got half a million pounds, that was your reward for winning the World Championship.
“You’ll forever be known as a world champion, that’s your reward. It doesn’t entitle you to be on table one every match.”
Shaun Murphy and Kyren Wilson will be hoping to do their talking on the table next week when they participate in the calendar’s upcoming tournament, the Wuhan Open.
Mark Allen has withdrawn from the ranking event in China.
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