Only a few yards from the stage door of the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, gateway to a timeless sporting tardis where a potting potpourri of bow-tied giants have roamed since 1977, something stirs.
And something whirrs. The tills at a sporting memorabilia shop bearing Ronnie O’Sullivan’s name – aptly titled the Ronnie O’Sullivan snooker shop – move faster at this time of the year than the great man himself.
Which is saying something. Ad It will be interesting to see what makes more over the next few weeks on the sport’s grandest stage: Ronnie or his shop?
World ChampionshipExclusive: ‘I said I'll never worry about snooker ever again’ — Carter on impact of illness2 HOURS AGO O’Sullivan snagged £500,000 in these parts after claiming his seventh world title a year ago from an overall haul of over £3m since snooker’s man of steel first washed up in the Steel City as a much-hyped wunderkind in 1993, the same year he would become the youngest UK champion at 17.