World Championship snooker: 'Rubbish, garbage, strange' – Stephen Maguire 'on fire' as he torches 'alien' qualifiers

'On-fire' Stephen Maguire lived up to his nickname as he verbally torched the «alien» settings at the World Championship qualifiers in Sheffield. Ahead of his final qualifying match against world No. 25 Zhou Yuelong over the best of 19 frames on Tuesday (LIVE on Eurosport), the former UK and Tour champion – also known as 'The Maverick' – launched an astonishing verbal tirade against the organisation of the World Snooker Tour event.

Ad/> The two-time semi-finalist made two centuries in a 6-3 win against Zhang Jiankang in the third qualifying round at the English Institute of Sport, but it was not enough to prevent the fiery Scotsman from bemoaning the set-up by airing several gripes including: World Championship‘I was just trying not to bottle it’ – Dott hits maximum in qualifying win21 HOURS AGO Upside down tables Sacking table-fitters Unjustified shorter format of matches Unnecessary slow play Lack of atmosphere «I just want to know whose idea it was to change the table round – and to put it upside down. How is that possible?» Maguire asked reporters at the venue. «How can the black spot be where the crowd is? That has never happened since I have been a pro, 20 years.

All of a sudden you are shooting into the crowd around the black. /> »So any sort of movement in the crowd…it was alien out there. Whoever’s idea that was to change the tables about needs to be sacked – it’s that simple.

'That was terrible' – Perry joins Walden, Wilson and Gould in suffering shock exit World Championship qualifiers — Latest results, scores, schedule “You are just not used to it in this environment, maybe until you get to a final and a one-table set-up. It was very strange. /> Maguire lost 17-15 to John Higgins in the 2007 last four and