Alan McManus

:"This article is about the snooker player. For Allan McManus, the professional footballer, see here."

Infobox Snooker player
Name = Alan McManus


Caption =
Born = birth date and age|1971|1|21
Birthplace =
Nationality = flagicon|Scotland Scottish
Nickname = Angles
Professional = 1990–
High ranking = #6 (4 years)
Current rank = #37
Prize money = GB£2,124,220 [http://www.worldsnooker.com/players_head_to_head-8603.htm]
High break = 143 (1994)
Ranking wins = 2
Other wins = 2
World champ =

Alan McManus (born January 21, 1971) is a Scottish professional snooker player, known for his clever tactical play and safety shots, giving rise to his nickname "Angles" McManus.

Career

McManus has long been a considered a consistently good player as his record of sixteen consecutive seasons in the Top 16 testifies, but never managed to achieve the success of his contemporaries such as Stephen Hendry, Ken Doherty, Ronnie O'Sullivan and John Higgins. He was ranked in the Top 16 from 1990 to 2006, dropping out after an unsuccessful 2005/2006 season. His highest ranking was sixth (in 1993/94 and 1996/97). He has reached twenty-one professional semi-finals, but won only four events. He has reached the semi-finals of the World Championship twice, but has never appeared in a final. Until 2005 he had gone eleven years without reaching the quarter-finals of the tournament, despite consistent achievements in other events. He has also compiled 141 competitive Cuegloss|Century|centuries during his career.

The highlight of his career to date was claiming the Masters title at Wembley in 1994, ending Stephen Hendry's remarkable unbeaten run in the tournament, which dated back to 1989. Some snooker pundits attribute the fact that McManus hasn't done as well as he could otherwise have to the fact that he "digs" too much when striking the ball. McManus' cue, when lining up for a shot, is off-line with respect to the ball that he intends to hit (the object ball). Therefore, he always has to correct this misalignment when he actually strikes the cue ball. That is why he is not always as precise, especially with long shots, and this may have denied him some victories along the way.

A series of poor results in the 2005-2006 season saw him drop out of the top 16 for the first time since 1989. He reached the semi finals of the 2006 Snooker Grand Prix, losing to Neil Robertson. However, he lost a World Championship qualifier 10-9 to journeyman Joe Delaney.

2003 fluke

Against Nigel Bond in the 2003 World Championships in Sheffield, McManus played what is consideredFact|date=May 2007 one of snooker's most notable flukes. Faced with a brown just a few inches from the bottom-left-corner pocket, McManus struck the ball and watched as it jumped over the pocket, landed on the side rail, rolled half way along the length of the table, and dropped into the middle pocket from above.

In 2007, the BBC featured the fluke as part of a competition to win signed snooker balls and £500. After being shown the starting position of the balls and McManus lining up for the shot, the footage was paused and viewers were invited to guess which pocket the ball ultimately landed in.

Television work

He worked as a commentator for Eurosport on the 2007 World Championship.

Tournament wins

;Ranking tournaments
* Dubai Duty Free Classic (1994)
* Thailand Open (1996)

;Non-ranking tournaments
* Benson & Hedges Championship – 1991
* Masters (1994)