Jimmy White and Ronnie O’Sullivan throw their backing behind Sheffield and the Crucible for World Snooker Championships

The Masters is taking place at Alexandra Palace this year, and there have been suggestions that it may be the ideal place for the World Championships in the future – however Sheffield’s Crucible still has the backing of two of the games greats despite Judd Trump saying after his win over Kyren Wilson that he’d like all tournaments played at the ‘Ally Pally’.

Speaking on Eurosport, White said, “Do they have the facilities here? There’s not many hotels, but the actual playing conditions when it gets to a one-table situation… The Crucible has two tables and you could probably do it here, it is big enough also to have the qualifiers and all the matches.

“I’d like to see it stay at Sheffield as it made snooker, but when that contract comes up it might move to somewhere like the Ally Pally.”

Meanwhile, O’Sullivan agreed, even though a move to Alexandra Palace would be useful for him on a personal level.

“It is a great venue,” he said. “But I am like Jimmy, Sheffield and the Crucible is a special tournament… You’d have to look at the facilities, the hotels, getting in and out, would it be suitable for the players? Probably not.

“I only live 20 minutes up the road so it is probably ideal for me, but as a tournament as a whole I think Sheffield is a great place to host the World Championship.”

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