Shaun Murphy pins blame on Ronnie O'Sullivan, Mark Williams and John Higgins for failures

claimed that the reputations of 'Class of 92' hindered both him and his fellow professionals during their careers. , and all entered the World Snooker Tour at the same time 23 years ago and have stayed at the very top of the game ever since.

O'Sullivan is the oldest player to win each of the , and , claiming all three in the past three years. While , beating four-time champion Higgins in the semi-final to get there. Remarkably, all three players are still at the top of the sport after 69 years of experience, 100 ranking titles and 14 world titles combined.

When asked by host if there was another sport that has ever had three players competing at such a high level at or near to the age of 50, Murphy replied: "No. and I are big golf fans, the trio of (Arnold) Palmer, (Gary) Player and (Jack) Nicklaus spring to mind as three trailblazers in the world of golf.

"But they weren't at the same age or stage of their lives or necessarily prowess either of these three. It is probably something that in the world of sport doesn't get the recognition that it ought to."

He then claimed that holding them in such high regard contributed to some disappointments in his and his peers' careers.

"All of us in the snooker bubble totally idolised the Class of 92, probably to the detriment of our own play every now and again," Murphy added. "But in the world of sport and the wider context, they perhaps don't get the recognition that they so easily deserve."

Quality alone got all three titans of snooker to the latter stages of the World Championship in 2025, a tournament where Williams is the last of the elder statesmen standing, but he does not think he deserves to be mentioned in the same sentence as O'Sullivan and Higgins.

"Yeah, I've never really liked it," Williams told of the 'Class of 92' tag. "I've always said that them two they're the two best players in the world ever. Ronnie, by far the best, and John the second-best player ever for me, and I've always said that.

"I don't really like being classed with them because I think they're much higher than me.

"I think Ronnie's probably the one who should be upset with the class of 92 because he's so far in front of me and John. He probably gets sick of being in the class of 92, because he's in his own class.

"But, you know, people like mentioning the class of 92, and I can't get away from it."

Murphy does not seem to agree, however, and few would - especially if he can mount a comeback against in the World Championship final.