Booze, cues, charisma, some very loose cannons... and pots of cash

Former manager's memories of the big stars of snooker's golden age

- NEAL KEELING

THEY were the untamed bad boys of snooker. They would blow away the image of a game with "gentlemen" players like Ray Reardon and John Spencer.

Alex "Hurricane" Higgins and Jimmy "Whirlwind" White were a shot of rock n roll to a world where the stars wore conservative tuxedos and were treated with hushed reverence. The pair were a handful both on and off the green baize.

But they were box office gold.

Manchester-based agent Harvey Lisberg sensed their worth and made a double swoop to manage them both. He had already enjoyed a taste of showbiz by discovering Manchester band Hermans Hermits in 1963, and managing them when they, along with The Beatles, were at the forefront of the "British Invasion" of the US.

He also managed Graham Gouldman and Eric Stewart of The Mindbenders, and Godley and Creme, who in 1973 pooled their talent to form 10cc with smash hits like "I'm Not In Love", "The Things We Do For Love", and "Dreadlock Holiday" But by 1980 the likes of The Clash, Sex Pistols, and Ramones had driven the arrival of punk and new wave. Commercial bands like his were seen as "capitalist pigs Meanwhile, all TV screens had changed from black and white to colour, opening the door to televised snooker, with the players treated like rock stars.

For the Jewish lad from Salford with a BA in Commerce from Manchester University, Harvey's ambition of being a stockbroker had already been extinguished for a life of rock'n roll excess and all the financial clout it can bring.

He decided to dip his toes into the world of snooker in the 1980s.