Clifford offers to save snooker

Publicist Max Clifford might have cliff-hangers like last night’s battle between defending Masters champion Mark Selby and Ricky Walden in mind as he claims he could rescue snooker from what Ronnie O’Sullivan claims is a “downward spiral”.

Clifford says he is willing to listen to offers from the sport’s governing body to launch a programme to overhaul the game’s image in the wake of stunning attack from its most recognisable face, O’Sullivan.

The drama and tension on show at Wembley last night would be just the sort of thing Clifford could work with after Selby inched to a nail-biting opening victory over a stubborn Walden.

It remains to be seen if he will get the chance, but Clifford offered his services after hearing O’Sullivan claim the sport is in the doldrums.

Clifford believes O’Sullivan is “absolutely right” but insists the world champion is not entirely blameless.

“Snooker these days gets a lot less coverage than even darts,” Clifford said.

“Darts has been revitalised in terms of television and how it is presented, the whole bit. But I think what they need to do is build stars.

“There needs to be a PR campaign using the media to build awareness, build young stars, good looking young guys with attractive girlfriends who should be seen at big events and movie premieres to move the whole thing on and move it forward.

“Ronnie has never played the media game.”

Clifford said there has been no contact with governing body World Snooker as yet but believes he could turn its fortunes around.

He said: “Of course. We’ve done it for the (Lawn Tennis Association), we’ve done it for cycling in the last couple of years. Of course we could do it for snooker. In many ways it is an awful lot easier.”

Selby, 25, is one of the younger faces Clifford might work with.

He had to dig deep to prevail 6-5 against the man from North Wales as drawn-out safety exchanges and missed opportunities dominated for much of the match.

The champion went 4-2 up with a break of exactly 100 in the sixth.

But Walden hit back with a 90 break of his own, his highest of the match, to reduce the deficit to one frame again.

Walden levelled the match at 5-5 – and it was not until after midnight, in the final frame possible, that the champion at last wrapped up the match to book a last-eight meeting with either Ryan Day or Mark Allen.

“I knew it would be tough and perhaps I put too much pressure on myself to win, rather than just trying to enjoy it,” said Selby.

“I’ve lost a few deciding frames this season so it was good to prove to myself that when the pressure is on I can still make important breaks.”

Ding Junhui earlier ended the title hopes of new UK champion Shaun Murphy, winning 6-4 to secure his place in the quarter-finals, where he will play either John Higgins or Marco Fu – the latter the man Murphy beat in last month’s Maplin UK Championship final.

The North's Allen secured his place in the main draw with a 6-4 victory over England’s Judd Trump in their wild-card round match.