Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall Exclusive: Mark Selby Snooker Inspiration, ‘Gifted’ Jack Grealish, Everton European Ambitions

In what is expected to be a typical ferocious vibe, Dewsbury Hall’s love for snookers may help him through his first experience in the Derby.

“I think there are a lot of similarities,” he says, comparing the two sports in an exclusive interview with TNT Sports. “It’s about that tunnel vision, focusing on every shot.

“Snooker, if you miss a shot, it won’t get another chance, so all the details are just as important as the previous ones, as you know.

“It’s very important to block that focus and everything around you.”

“I’ve always played,” he says. “I was lucky enough to have a snooker table in my house a few years ago, and I’ve always been playing around.

“I think I’m an average player. I was like a 45 break, so it’s probably the best you get, but I absolutely love it.

“I’m a good friend of Mark Selby. He’s lovely. We’re a big Leicester young man, so we’re always chatting.

“It inspires me and I want to improve it because it makes it look so easy, but it’s very difficult.”

Leicester City Academy alumni feel that much of what happens when playing snooker can be translated into the football pitch.

“I took a little hint from people like Mark and tried to help him win four world championships and add it to my game.

Apart from Selby, he also paid tribute to Ronnie O’Sullivan and Judd Trump.

“To me, Ronnie is clearly a goat,” he said. “I don’t think anyone as good as he is, and we’re doing what we saw him on a queue.

“Obviously I love watching Mark (Selby). I think Judd Trump is a great player. He’s exciting to watch.”

Like everyone in the blue, Dewsbury Hall wants to stop the Reds’ perfect start to their season, and beyond that, explains how much the game at Anfield means to the people of town.

“Everyone around here feels like football is crazy,” he says.

“They just live and breathe sports.

“Even if you just walk down the street and get a taxi. I have a taxi where they’re Everton fans.

“It was lovely to start the season positively as we see how the city and people unite. It’s about trying to keep it going and seeing where it takes us.”

He adds: “Obviously, I think it will be a really good game.

“Everyone knows the level of Liverpool, but we’re on a journey to continue making progress right now, so it’s a very competitive game.”

After what he describes as “a tough few years” for the club, Dewsbury Hall finds himself looking over the shoulder of the table, believing that Everton can now begin looking upwards.

“We have a great balance with our team,” he says. “We have a lot of experienced Premier League footballers, we have exciting players, we have all the great mixes.

“In my opinion, I have one of the best managers in the Premier League, and he’s been there for 25 years.

“I’ve worked with really good managers and he’s there.

“We feel like we’re in a healthy, healthy place, a club right now, and that’s about continuing the right thing and the process and seeing where it takes us.

“It was a tough few years, but now it’s about building for the next chapter and hopefully we can start now.”

“He’s a good player,” says Dewsbury Hall. “I think everyone knows that. But yeah, you can see him every day. You see what kind of player he is. He is very talented and he will be a huge help to us on this team.

“But it’s not just Jack. There are a lot of players on this team that honestly have impressed me a lot, so I feel that’s what it’s about.

“Everyone was doing the right thing on the pitch and I was on the team. When you do that, you really succeed. That’s why we’re aiming for.”

Dewsbury-Hall believes that both he and the club share the same ambitions to succeed, and that Europe is not out of the question.

“They’re just like a game and the kind of opportunity you want to play as a football player,” he says. “I didn’t take the amount of experience I had in Europe for Chelsea, Leicester and, hopefully, Everton, for granted.

“I feel that’s what this football club is for in the near future. It has to be more than that for a new stadium, a new ownership. It’s built for the clubs that need to play in Europe now.

“I’m trying to bring some experience to it, hopefully.

“It’s not like the Premier League. The Premier League is the best league in the world, but playing in Europe is a bit of a feeling.”

Dewsbury Hall, who began his career at Leicester City Academy, signed his first professional contract with the club and quickly became part of his first team before moving to Chelsea and now Everton.

Despite his impressive career so far, Dewsberry Hall makes it clear that it’s not always smooth sailing, despite his fears that his set-off will help refine his game.

“That’s what I struggled with as a young young man, and I’m always the smallest and finest person,” he admits.

“In terms of how I had to adapt, I basically had to make the ball better because if I were away from the ball, if I was in a duel with people, I would just overrun.

“I chatted with my family over the years about my slow development. They helped me. They said, “Look, this is natural. You’ll eventually catch up. Just do the right thing and hopefully it’ll come in a few years.”

“And then, it happened, nature happened, and I encouraged that growth, I grew, I became stronger, I got to the gym.

“There were a lot of dark times and struggles, but I thought I was mentally tough and determined in the end.”

Like his family, Dewsbury Hall acknowledges that former Derby and Southampton midfielder Inigo Idiaques helped develop him during the Spanish spell as Leicester youth coach.

“He taught me to see football differently,” he says.

“I might not have even had a scholarship without him all the time, and you don’t know where I am, so he was a big, influential part of my journey and was still the person I was still talking to.”

At the time of his breakthrough, Fox had just won the FA Cup. That is, Dewsbury-Hall played in Europe in his first season at the senior level.

“I played in so many different situations,” he says. “Europe, the Premier League, the Championship, I feel like I have learned so many different things mentally, as a player and as a person.

“When you’re struggling, when you’re at the top of the table, it’s made me grow a lot, so I feel like I’m in a place where I’m having a lot of good experiences about me now.

“I’m really confident in my game and I play in the Premier League so I want to be a standout player and help my team.

“That’s why I chose Everton because we were consistent and had the same idea about what we wanted to do.”

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