RONNIE THE RED DEVIL

‘I see it how Sir Alex dealt with Cantona.. he cut him some slack but only up to a point’ ‘I’d rather put an arm around Ronnie rather than hit him with a brick..but rules must be obeyed’

RONNIE O’SULLIVAN escalated his war of words with Barry Hearn after surging into the UK Championship semi-finals.

The Rocket breezed past world No.59 Martin O’donnell 6-1 in York to keep his bid for a record seventh UK title on track.

But five-time world champion O’sullivan upped the stakes over his threat to stage breakaway tournaments in response to comments yesterday by the World Snooker chairman.

Hearn insists such threats damage snooker and admits he has been soft on his box-office star, saying only O’sullivan’s genius has seen him escape a fine for three years.

He compared his relationship with

O’sullivan to that between maverick talisman Eric

Cantona and manager Sir Alex

Ferguson at

Manchester United. But the promoter warned O’sullivan to expect disciplinary action if there are further threats that “damage the sport”.

Hearn said: “Ronnie is a genius and you factor that in. They can’t ignore the rules, but you take it into account. But we will do this my way, I have a very good record.

“There are avenues for Ronnie – WPBSA, Players’ Commission – to discuss any problems. What he has said is damaging to the game, talking about a breakaway. It must stop. Enough is enough.

“My door is always open and he can come and have a cup of tea and a chat at any time.

“I am trying to do that with Ronnie, but he is making my life harder and harder. In a way I think he wants to be disciplined or banned to be a martyr.

“He hasn’t been fined for threeand-a-half years, it’s not like he has been persecuted. I don’t want to ban him, but there are rules to be obeyed. I see it how Sir Alex Ferguson dealt with Eric Cantona (below).

“The other United players knew Eric was special and he got cut a lot of slack – but only up to a point.

“Ronnie doesn’t like authority, in our game of snooker Alex Higgins ignored it a lot of the time. But obey the rules or get them changed via the proper channels.

“I would rather put an arm round Ronnie rather than hit him on the head with a brick. We will give him consideration, but that doesn’t mean we agree with him.”

Defending UK champion O’sullivan, 43, will play Leicester’s Tom Ford, 35, today for a place in the final.

He said: “I don’t really plan to have a cup of tea with Barry, there is no point. I have said what I wanted, got a transcript typed up of my points that need changing.

“I have spoken to a lot of top players, they agree. I understand they might not want to add their name to a list, that is fine – but I am brave enough to speak out.”