Jimmy White, himself a former Masters winner fully 30 years ago, has been loyally supporting friend Ronnie O’Sullivan in person at Alexandra Palace this year and passed up the chance to go and watch his beloved Chelsea at home to Manchester United on Sunday afternoon to be at the final, which clashed with the first eight frames being played in north London from around 1.15pm. White, who has attended with a variety of other celebrities in O’Sullivan’s camp over the week including Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood and artist Damien Hirst, was still holding out hope before the start of play that he might be able to catch the Premier League clash at 4pm on TV after the first session. “You never know, if he really gets on with it,” said a hopeful White. World No1 Neil Robertson, also a huge Chelsea fan and not involved, did manage to get late tickets for the match at Stamford Bridge.