Higgins: Some players will always doubt me

John Higgins admits he fully expects some players to doubt him when he returns from his six-month suspension.

As the world’s top players gather for the 12BET.com World Open in Glasgow, 15 miles from his Lanarkshire home, Higgins continues to sit out his enforced absence from the sport.

The former world champion was cleared of match-fixing allegations at a two-day tribunal earlier this month but admitted breaching rules around betting.

Higgins admitted he intentionally gave the impression to undercover reporters that he would throw frames for financial gain, but he insisted throughout his case that he had done so only under intimidation and had no intention of carrying out their wishes.

The independent panel convened by Sports Resolutions accepted his version of events but Higgins expects others to doubt him when he returns to snooker in early November.

The 35-year-old knows he will never shake off the controversy but he is determined to return to the sport he loves.

“I don’t think it will ever be resolved,” Higgins told BBC Sport.

“There are still some things in the hands of lawyers. I have got to trust them because they have been guiding me through this all the way.

“But in a sense I would love it to be behind me.

“It’s going to be the biggest thing that will shape my life and my family’s life. It’s not just me, it has been my family that’s been through it.

“But I have come out the other end hopefully and once I get back on the table...

“I know it’s going to be tough, I know there will be players who doubt me and fans who doubt me but all I can do is just get on and be myself.

“I have got the right people behind me in my family.”

One of the consequences of the case, which saw the Scot’s former manager, Pat Mooney, permanently suspended from the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, is the formation of an integrity unit for the sport.

World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn will launch the body in Glasgow on Monday along with former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Lord Stevens and David Douglas, a former detective chief superintendent in the same force and head of the WPBSA’s disciplinary committee.

In the meantime, the snooker action gets under way tomorrow with a fascinating contest between Betfred.com World Championship finalists Neil Robertson and Graeme Dott.

Robertson, who beat the Scot 18-13 in the Crucible final, said: “The two world finalists going at it in the first round should be fun.

“The matches are only best of five frames but there are a lot of ranking points at stake which puts the players under pressure, and that suits me fine.

“You have to make sure you are up for it from the first shot. There will be a lot of close matches, which is what people want to see.”