RONNIE O’SULLIVAN’S rival Hossein Vafaei has been slammed by two legends after his criticism of the Crucible.
The Iranian has been involved in a long-running feud with the Rocket since 2022.
However, the Prince of Persia appears to have two new enemies after he slammed Sheffield’s iconic venue following his first round World Championship defeat to Judd Trump.
The 29-year-old delivered a fiery rant over the backstage facilities at the world famous Crucible – leading to ex-world champion Shaun Murphy telling him: “Don’t come back!”
Vafaei had said: “You want to go somewhere really nice as a player, you walk around the Crucible and it smells really bad.
“As a player I’m honest, it’s just really bad. Everything’s so bad. You go to other venues in other countries and you see how nice they treat you. Everything is shiny. But here it’s completely different.
“If you ask me do I want to come back here again, I tell you no way. The practice room, do you see anything special? I feel like I’m practicing in a garage.”
Now Jimmy White and Alan McManus have both potted Vafaei.
The Whirlwind believes he may regret his remarks as he told Eurosport: “If he wins the match, does he say that?
“It’s just pathetic. I don’t get it. He’s not performed, he’s got beat.
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“A couple of years ago when he played O’Sullivan and came out with all that nonsense… It’s just stupid. These things he will regret.
“You got beat, shake the geezer’s hand and get ready for next year.”
And former Masters champ McManus told him to just concentrate on doing the business on the snooker table.
He said: “Two things: it doesn’t smell bad and everything is not wrong about this place. That’s absolute nonsense.
“I don’t know what he wants…Does he want a bunch of flowers and a prawn sandwich on the way in the door? I don’t know.
“You come here to play snooker, you don’t come here to smell roses and flowers and all that stuff.
“This is a place to come and conduct your business. If Diana Ross came here to put on a show, or anyone else for that matter, it’s a place of work, it’s not a place to come and be pampered.
“I don’t know quite what it is he wants.
“If you want to be a big star in this game, which he’s not yet incidentally, go out and win some tournaments and then start talking like that – but even then I wouldn’t be talking like that.
“There’s nothing wrong with the Crucible.
“There’s been nothing wrong with it since ’77 and that remains the same.”
Here's the timeline of the pair's feud:
Jan 2021: Vafaei accuses O’Sullivan of “disrespect” after he smashes up the reds with a break-off shot during qualifying for the German Masters
The Rocket hits back by suggesting snooker is not the right job for Vafaei
April 2022: Vafaei is riled up again over comments O’Sullivan made about young players trying to get into the game
The Iranian adds O’Sullivan “ought to retire”
April 2023: O’Sullivan revealed he was “fired up” by the retirement comments and says he gets “turned on” by criticism from rivals
Vafaei smashes up the reds with a break-off shot during their World Snooker Championship clash
O’Sullivan thrashes Vafaei 13-2 but pair embrace and are seen laughing and joking
March 2024: Pair seem to have put their disagreements aside as Vafaei knocks O’Sullivan out of the World Open
