Career
McManus has long been a considered a consistently good player as his record of sixteen consecutive seasons in the Top 16 testifies, but never managed to achieve the success of his contemporaries such as Stephen Hendry, Ken Doherty, Ronnie O'Sullivan and John Higgins. He was ranked in the Top 16 from 1990 to 2006, dropping out after an unsuccessful 2005/2006 season. His highest ranking was sixth (in 1993/94 and 1996/97). He has reached twenty-one professional semi-finals, but won only four events. He has reached the semi-finals of the World Championship twice, but has never appeared in a final. Until 2005 he had gone eleven years without reaching the quarter-finals of the tournament, despite consistent achievements in other events. He has also compiled 156 competitive centuries during his career.
The highlight of his career to date was claiming the Masters title at Wembley in 1994, defeating Stephen Hendry 9–8 in the final to end Hendry's unbeaten run in the tournament, which dated back to 1989.
A series of poor results in the 2005–2006 season saw him drop out of the top 16 for the first time since 1991. He reached the semi finals of the 2006 Snooker Grand Prix, losing to Neil Robertson. However, he lost a World Championship qualifier 10–9 to journeyman Joe Delaney.
Read more about this topic: Alan McManus
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