Patsy Fagan is back at the Crucible 36 years after he last played there and has it tough against seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry, but has warned him: ‘I’m going there and I’m not expecting to lose.’
The first ever winner of the UK Championship has not played at the Crucible since losing to Ray Reardon in the second round of the 1985 World Championship, but he is back in 2021 for the World Seniors Championship.
Five months after his 70th birthday, the Irishman is not the player who had a claim to be one of the finest on the planet when he won the UK Championship and Dry Blackthorn Cup in 1977, but he can still perform.
‘I’m a bit dangerous, if I have a good day I’m dangerous and would probably beat a lot of them,’ Fagan told Metro.co.uk.
‘I’m playing okay, I’m a little bit inconsistent, I can miss an easy one here and there which is not very good when you’re playing good players.
‘But I think I’ve got a chance, let’s put it that way. I’m going there and I’m not expecting to lose, I’m going there trying to win and I think I can.
‘You’ve got to believe, if you don’t believe in yourself then you’re in trouble.’
Fagan’s superb tournament-winning triumphs may be over 40 years ago but you clearly don’t lose the mentality of a champion.
This will be Patsy’s sixth appearance at the Crucible having played in five World Championships in his pomp and picking up some memorable wins.
His last defeat to Reardon came after beating Willie Thorne in round one, while the 1978 tournament saw him beat Alex Higgins 13-12 in the first round.
‘It’s a beautiful venue,’ said Fagan. ‘Good memories, not all good, but you know. That match against Alex was a great match be involved in, very exciting, 13-12.
‘It’s a tough ask in there, when it’s going good it’s great, but when it’s going bad it’s very difficult.’
Fagan has been playing some Seniors snooker in recent years, but admits that he never imagined being back at the sport’s spiritual home all these years later.
‘Well no you wouldn’t would you?’ Fagan said. ‘You wouldn’t, not after all that time, going back to playing there and playing the King of the Crucible as well.
‘You wouldn’t really have chose that draw because you want to go further in the tournament, but they’re all good.
‘He’s just so at home in the place, seven-times world champion, but it is what it is, you’ve got to play well to beat any of them.’
The end of Patsy’s playing career coincided with the start of Hendry’s with them both competing in some of the same events in the mid-1980s, but they have never faced each other on the baize before.
Fagan remembers his first round opponent bursting onto the scene as a teenager and has watched him go on to become a legend of the sport.
The Irishman has the Scot as number two on the Greatest Of All Time list behind Ronnie O’Sullivan, but does feel that Hendry will hold off the Rocket and hang onto his World Championship record of seven.
‘Oh yeah I remember him coming on the scene when he was very young,’ said the former UK champ. ‘A lot of people say he’s the greatest of all time, for me I would put him at number two with Ronnie in front of him.
‘Ronnie hasn’t won as many world titles, but Ronnie’s done it in a harder period, his career is going on much longer and he’s breaking all Hendry’s records.
‘Hendry will keep the World Championship one probably, that will be hard for Ronnie to beat it, he could maybe win one more, but to beat it with two more you’re asking a lot.
‘He’s 45 now, will he win it when he’s 50? I would doubt that very much. He’s got three or four years to win it twice and that’s just asking too much for me.’
Fagan takes on the seven-time world champion on Thursday evening in Sheffield and will be hoping to roll back the years and stun the man he considers the second greatest to ever hold a cue.
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