World champion John Higgins and world number two Stephen Maguire have given their full backing to Barry Hearn’s plans to expand the snooker season.

Hearn, the new chairman of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, will reveal his manifesto at the end of the month but has already promised an increased workload.

The sports promoter branded some players “lazy” and doubted whether his proposals would be universally popular, but he can count the two Scots as supporters of his plans.

Higgins, 34, said: “It would be fantastic to be worked harder, because we’ve only had about six or seven tournaments this year, which is not nearly enough.

“He is thinking about over 20 snooker events next year, which would be great.

“From a marketing point of view, Barry Hearn is a great man to have on board.

“You’ve seen how he changed other sports, like darts, so we’re hoping he can do something similar with snooker. It will be hard but we’ll just have to put our faith in him.”

Maguire, meanwhile, joined Higgins yesterday in making the new Q Club in his native Glasgow’s southside his new base, and is also happy to take on a bigger workload.

The 29-year-old said: “If we’re playing snooker every two weeks, I think it’s perfect. After the World Championship, usually that’s us for three-and-a-half months, which is a long, long time. All you need is two weeks’ holiday. It’s like everybody, once you’re off work it gets pretty boring.”

The pair will both fly out for the China Open next Friday but their preparations for next month’s World Championship will be very much intertwined in Glasgow’s second Q Club.

“It’s great for the two of us to play in the same club again,” Maguire added. “And it means we can beat each other up and get match-sharp.”