Ken Doherty received invites from Manchester United and Celtic after beating Stephen Hendry in the 1997 World Championship final – despite swearing at Sir Alex Ferguson
Ken Doherty accidentally swore at Sir Alex Ferguson after being invited to Old Trafford – before winding up Celtic supporter John Higgins.
The Manchester United fan secured his only world title in 1997 by defeating the era’s dominant player, Stephen Hendry, at the Crucible. Doherty returned to Ireland as a national hero and was honoured with an open-top bus parade around Dublin.
His victory earned him recognition beyond his homeland, with snooker follower Ferguson reaching out to congratulate him and invite him to Old Trafford to display the trophy.
However, the phone call didn’t go as expected, with Doherty, thinking he was being pranked by friends, responding rather rudely. He recalled: “I got a phone call a week later.
“I didn’t recognise the number, the voice went [does an impression of Ferguson], ‘Kenny, do you fancy coming and parading that trophy around Old Trafford?’
“I told him to f*** off! I thought it was one of my mates winding me up. He said again, ‘Kenny, it’s Alex Ferguson here, I’m not going to ask you a second time’. So I had to apologise. Not many people have said that to him and got away with it! But he saw the funny side. He loves snooker.”
His VIP visit to the Theatre of Dreams was a memorable day for Doherty, who added: “He [Ferguson] showed me around the place. It was the last match of the season and they were picking up the Premiership trophy.
“Walking out on the pitch with the trophy, my legs were like jelly. I met all the players. Cantona came up to me, shook my hand and said, ‘Congratulations Mr Doherty, welcome to Old Trafford’. Beckham, Scholes, Giggs, Keane, they couldn’t wait to have a look at the trophy and look at the names on it. It was amazing.”
Doherty had the honour of showcasing his trophy at various prestigious sporting events, including an appearance at Celtic Park. That sparked a humorous reaction from fellow snooker player and avid Hoops supporter Higgins.
“So I did the half-time draw at Celtic,” said Doherty. “And I got a text from John Higgins, who’s a big Celtic fan and was at the game. He goes, ‘what the f*** are you doing in the middle of the pitch? You’re not even a Celtic fan, I should be out there!”.
Doherty, now 55, still plays, although he didn’t qualify for this year’s World Championship. He is at the Crucible as part of the BBC’s commentary team. Higgins resumes his second-round match against Xiao Guodong on Friday afternoon, with the best-of-25 match locked at 4-4.
