In his first season as a pro he only failed to reach the last 64 in two ranking events and gained the attention of the snooker world by reaching the UK semi-finals. He also reached the last 16 of the Mercantile Classic and the World Championship. In non-ranking events he won the B & H Championship to qualify for the Masters at Wembley. He ended his debut season ranked 41st, the highest placed rookie, and was voted WPBSA Young Player of the Year. Season number two was even better. A semi-final in the Grand Prix and quarter-final in the Mercantile were followed by his first ranking final, losing out to Steve Davis in the Asian Open. He ended the season reaching the semi-finals at the Crucible and being ranked in the top 16 (13th) after just two seasons.

1992/3 brought another ranking final, the Regal Welsh where he lost to Ken Doherty, and four more semi-finals including the world championship again. In just three seasons he had reached no less than nine ranking semis going on to the final in two of them. In other events he was runner up in the Irish Masters and the Matchroom League and a semi-finalist in the B&H Masters and the World Matchplay. His ranking was now 6th. He was becoming known at the nearly man and this seemed justified when he reached three more ranking semis in 1993/4 plus runner-up in the Regal Welsh again. His first major title came however in the 1994 Masters at Wembley when he put an end to Stephen Hendry's five-year unbeaten run. He was also runner-up in both the Irish and Scottish Masters that season.

The 1994/5 season saw Alan finally win a ranking title, the Dubai Classic, but he only reached the quarter-finals of one other ranking event and kept his sixth place in the rankings for a third successive year. The Thailand Open gave him his second ranking title in 1995/6 and he added three more semi-finals, two in ranking events plus the Masters. He ended the season in sixth spot yet again.

Scottish snooker was now dominating the game and Alan, along with team mates Stephen Hendry and John Higgins, took the World Cup title which was revived in 1996. Although Alan has not added to his tournament victories, he continued to be one of the most consistent players and in 1996/7 was runner up in the Scottish Masters and reached a clutch of quarter and semi-finals in ranking events. His ranking dropped to 10th however as the competition was now becoming fierce. In 1997/8, despite failing to reach a ranking semi-final for the first time in his professional career, his ranking was back up to 8th. He was runner-up in the Scottish Masters again. The next season he reached the finals of both the Irish Open and Thailand Masters losing both and after a mediocre season in 1999/2000 he just managed to retain eighth place for a third season. 2000/01 was slightly better with one semi and three quarter-finals but competition was such that his top 1t position was in jeopardy for much of the season. At the Crucible he lost his record of never having been beaten in the opening round and dropped to his lowest ranking for nine years - 12th.

Alan's winnings up the end of the 2000/01 season total over £1.6M and his record is notable. He has reached some 36 semi-finals and 20 finals but only won four titles. If only he could have converted a few more of those to victories he would be one of the game's all-time greats. He was a member of the Scottish team who took the Nations Cup in 2001.

Achievements:

World Professional Championship semi-finalist - 1992, 1993
Dubai Classic champion - 1994
Thailand Open champion - 1996
Masters champion - 1994
B&H Championship winner - 1990
World Cup winning team - 1996 (Scotland)
Nations Cup winning team - 2001 (Scotland)
Welsh Open runner-up - 1993, 1994
Irish Open runner-up - 1998
Thailand Masters runner-up - 1999
Irish Masters runner-up - 1993, 1994
Scottish Masters runner-up - 1993, 1996, 1997
Matchroom League runner-up - 1993

LG Cup runner-up - 2002

China Open semi-final - 2005

Irish Masters semi-final - 2004