RS Sport

 

For a spell between 2005 and 2006, the city of Preston could claim to have a top 16 snooker player living in the area.

Ian McCulloch, nicknamed the ‘Preston Potter’, retired in 2012 after battling a shoulder injury since 2007, and later a neck problem.

But for a while he was one of snooker’s biggest names, reaching the last four at the World Championships in 2005 and the final of the British Open a year earlier.

He eventually lost what was his second ranking final (his first being a 9-4 loss to Paul Hunter two years earlier) 9-5 to Ronnie O’Sullivan at the Guild Hall.

“I loved playing at the Guild Hall,” McCulloch said. “It was my tournament.”

“We used to get good crowds and I wanted to produce for those that came to watch.

“We’d both played well all week (in 2004) and I was maybe subconsciously under a little bit of pressure to win on my home patch.

“I was a little bit disappointed with the final – Ronnie didn’t play well to be honest and I played a little bit worse – we cancelled each other out.

“If I’d have won they would probably have made me Mayor of Preston.”

His best run at the Crucible ended at the semi final stage in 2005 when he lost 17-14 to Matthew Stevens.

The trophy was eventually won by qualifier Shaun Murphy, who has since established himself as one of the best players in the game.

McCulloch believes he could have beaten the man nicknamed ‘the Magician’ had he overcome Stevens.

“If I’d have got past Matthew I’d have fancied beating Murphy over four sessions.

“The way he was playing, the percentages say I played a better percentage game than him.

“Shaun is a great player but I felt I was a better match player at the time.

“To get to one table at the Crucible, not a lot of players get there but when you get there your eyes are on winning it.”

McCulloch was forced to retire in 2012 after battling a shoulder injury for five years, but despite it being ‘tinged with sadness’ he said it was not a difficult decision.

“In 2007 my shoulder started playing up and it never got better.

“I had an operation which was unsuccessful and decided to call it a day in 2012.

“It was a decision tinged with sadness but no one can go on forever.

“Snooker gave me more than I ever thought it would do and I know how lucky I am to have had that privilege.”

Since retirement, McCulloch has undertaken various roles, including punditry, which he says he is enjoying.

“I do a lot of punditry for William Hill bookmakers and am tied in with Sport Snooker so I am very lucky.

“I love punditry because you see it from a completely different perspective.

“I never play a bad shot when I’m watching – I played 20 years of bad shots when I was playing!

“I also look after a couple of lads on the tour – Martin O’Donnell has had a good run with a couple of quarter finals so he is going in the right direction, as well as young Ashley Hugill who is 21 so has bags of time in front of him.

“They understand how hard they have to work to be successful and it’s my job to keep pushing them.”

During his career, McCulloch played (and beat) some of the biggest names that have ever graced the table.

He is still close friends with Steve Davis – the two regularly go fishing together – and has also faced off against the likes of Stephen Hendry, John Higgins and O’Sullivan.

“(Steve) was like the God of snooker.

“It was a privilege to play him and even more of a privilege to beat him.

“When I beat other players it didn’t bother me as much but it did against Steve because he was such a legend.

In terms of the greatest player he has ever faced, however, Davis doesn’t rank as highly as one man.

“You’re only as good as what you win and nobody has won as much as Stephen Hendry.

“If we had 25 tournaments a season like we do now Hendry would have made 1000 centuries five or six seasons ago.

“He had an aura about him – he never seemed to miss.

“The more pressure you put on him, the better he seemed to be.”