Editing Cliff Wilson (section)

== Professional career ==
Wilson turned professional in 1979 at the age of 45, and won his first match, 9–7 against [[John Pulman]] in the [[1979 UK Championship]], before losing 4–9 to [[Terry Griffiths]] in the following round.<ref name="87HALE" />{{rp|195–197}}<ref name="Indy Obit" /> In his debut World Snooker Championship in [[1980 World Snooker Championship|1980]], he beat [[Frank Jonik]] 9–7 in qualifying and lost 6–10 to [[Doug Mountjoy]] in the first round. In the [[1980–81 snooker season|1980–81 season]], he reached the final of the [[1981 Welsh Professional Championship]], losing 6–9 to Reardon. He beat [[Roy Andrewartha]] and [[Eddie Sinclair]], both 9–4, in qualifying for the [[1981 World Snooker Championship]] and then was beaten 6–10 by [[David Taylor (snooker player)|David Taylor]] in the first round. In [[1981–82 snooker season|1981–82]] he again lost in the first round of the world championship, 5–10 to [[Eddie Charlton]].<ref name="CUESPORT">{{cite book |last1=Hayton |first1=Eric |last2=Dee |first2=John |date=2004 |title=The CueSport Book of Professional Snooker: The Complete Record & History |publisher=Rose Villa Publications|isbn=978-0954854904 |pages=1028–1030}}</ref> Wilson was the runner-up at the [[Pontins Open#Pontins Spring Open|Pontins Spring Open]] in consecutive years, losing 3–7 to [[Willie Thorne]] in 1980 and 2–7 to [[John Hargreaves (snooker player)|John Hargreaves]] in 1981.<ref name="web.archive.org" /><ref name="FACTS">{{cite book |last=Morrison|first=Ian |date=1989 |title=Snooker: records, facts and champions |publisher=Guinness Superlatives Ltd |isbn=0851123643 |page=90}}</ref>

With wins over Johnson, Mountjoy and White, Wilson reached his first [[snooker world rankings|ranking]] tournament quarter-final at the [[1982 International Open]], losing 4–5 to the eventual champion [[Tony Knowles (snooker player)|Tony Knowles]]. He next reached a ranking quarter final at the [[1985 Grand Prix (snooker)|1985 Grand Prix]], with further losing quarter-final appearances at the [[1986 International Open]], [[1987 Classic (snooker)|1987 classic]], and [[1989 International Open]].<ref name="87HALE" />{{rp|205–206}}<ref name="CUESPORT" />

He broke into the top sixteen of the world rankings for one season, [[Snooker world rankings 1988/1989|1988/89]], ranked 16th.<ref name="FARCE" />{{rp|372}}<ref name="KOBY">{{cite book |last=Kobylecky |first=John |date=2019 |title=The Complete International Directory of Snooker Players – 1927 to 2018 |publisher=Kobyhadrian Books |pages=264–265 |isbn=978-0993143311 }}</ref> This ranking entitled him to a place at the [[1989 Masters (snooker)|1989 Masters]], where he came back from 0-2 down to level at 2–2 against reigning World Champion and defending Masters Champion [[Steve Davis]] before Davis went on to win 5–2.<ref name="TIMESHW">{{cite news |last=Acteson |first=Steve |title=Hendry is a winner once more – Snooker |work=The Times |location=London |date=23 January 1989}}</ref>

He later went on to win the first [[World Seniors Championship]] in [[1991 World Seniors Championship|1991]], beating Charlton 5–4 in the final after earlier victories over Mountjoy and Griffiths. Charlton had led 4–2 and needed only to pot the {{cuegloss|blue ball|blue}} and {{cuegloss|pink ball|pink}} for the match, but Wilson took three frames in a row to win his first professional title at the age of 57 and collect £16,000, his highest prize winnings.<ref name="SEN">{{cite magazine |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=How Cliff Wilson became king of the golden oldies  |magazine=Snooker Scene |pages=17–19 |publisher=Everton's News Agency |issue=November 1991}}</ref><ref name="TOBIT" /><ref name="TIMESFW">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=First for Wilson |work=The Times |location=London |page=37 |date=23 September 1991 |via=The Times Digital Archive. Retrieved 20 May 2020.}}</ref>

He recorded wins over a number of prominent players as a professional. In January 1992 he beat [[Ken Doherty]] 5–2 in the [[1992 Welsh Open (snooker)|1992 Welsh Open]] before losing 1–5 to [[Darren Morgan]]. Later that year he played a young [[Ronnie O'Sullivan]] in the [[1992 UK Championship]], winning 9–8. Both Doherty and O'Sullivan won the respective tournaments the following year.<ref name="FARCE" /><ref name="Indy Obit" /><ref name="TOBIT">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Obituary: Cliff Wilson |work=The Times |location=London |page=10 |date=24 May 1994 |via=The Times Digital Archive. Retrieved 24 November 2019.}}</ref> The highest break of his career was 136 at the [[1989 Grand Prix (snooker)|1989 Grand Prix]].<ref name="TURNERCW" /><ref name="CUESPORT" />

His popular exhibition matches were advertised with the phrase "You've never seen anything like it!"<ref name="FARCE" />{{rp|372}} He was known as a fast, attacking, player<ref name="KARNEHM" /><ref name="TOBIT" /> and has been described as an "outstanding potter" both by Everton and by snooker writer Ian Morrison.<ref name="WHOWHO" />{{rp|123}}<ref name="GUINNESS" />{{rp|40}}  In 1953, a ''Sports Argus'' match report described Wilson as having "lived up to his reputation as the finest potter in the country, one ball being hardly in the pocket before the next one was following it in."<ref name="SA53">{{cite news |author=Fancy Butt |title=Adams out to turn tables on Jack Fitzmaurice |work=Sports Argus |date=31 January 1953 |page=2 }}</ref> Wilson's obituary in ''[[The Times]]'' noted that in the 1950s he was seen as a "phenomenal talent" and played an attacking game that was unlike the defensive approach generally prevalent at the time,<ref name="TOBIT" /> and ''[[Eurosport]]'s'' Desmond Kane included him in a 2020 list of the ten "greatest long potters".<ref name="EUROSP">{{cite web |url=https://www.eurosport.co.uk/snooker/world-championship/2019-2020/snooker-news-all-time-top-10-who-are-snooker-s-greatest-long-potters-featuring-trump-o-sullivan_sto7717624/story.shtml |title=All-time top 10: Who are snooker's greatest long potters? |last=Kane |first=Desmond |date=2 April 2020 |website=eurosport.co.uk |publisher=Eurosport |access-date=20 May 2020}}</ref> [[Jack Karnehm]] in 1981 wrote that Wilson was "probably the hardest hitter of a ball on earth. His high-speed accurate potting has to be seen to be believed" and added "it is said that the last time he played a safety shot was in 1959 and that was by mistake."<ref name="KARNEHM" />