D Day for snooker

zack01

Today really is the D Day for snooker, it's the day of the AGM for the WSA, all the top players are attending and the cruical vote will take place wheter to ratify new chairman Barry Hearns proposal to overhaul the sport with new ranking events, more sponsorship, and bigger financial rewards for the players.

It seems a no brainer and you would think that all the players will go with Hearn, but there are a select few which include Peter Ebdon who do not want to go with Hearns proposal.
The sticky point is that Hearn wants 51% share of the WSA which will give him full control of world snooker, myself personally wouldn't have to think to long about it, I would give my vote to Hearn and let him bring his skill and dedication into the game and get it back up where it belongs.

The Higgins affair will no doubt be on the table as well but that is for the disiplanary panel to discuss.

As soon as I get word of how the vote went I'll post on this thread.

DubGF

I can see Ebdon's point about handing over the complete control of snooker to Hearn, however snooker does need a change.

It will be interesting to see how it goes today

Myrddin

DubGF wrote: »

I can see Ebdon's point about handing over the complete control of snooker to Hearn, however snooker does need a change.

It will be interesting to see how it goes today

Funny, because I cant see it at all. Hearn, to be honest, is the last roll of the dice for modern snooker. Floundering figures, diminishing sponsorship etc will make the game implode if something isnt done about it. Hearn has proven himself and his abilities - and apparently is a big snooker fan to boot. There should be NO doubt whatsoever here as to whats at stake.

Zack, your our man on the inside, Ive read your posts with great interest lately - keep it up!

giant_midget

My opinion is that it will be a majority swing in Hearn's favour, The game needs it. His changes will make it bigger than ever!

oneillMan999

EnterNow wrote: »

Funny, because I cant see it at all. Hearn, to be honest, is the last roll of the dice for modern snooker. Floundering figures, diminishing sponsorship etc will make the game implode if something isnt done about it. Hearn has proven himself and his abilities - and apparently is a big snooker fan to boot. There should be NO doubt whatsoever here as to whats at stake.

Zack, your our man on the inside, Ive read your posts with great interest lately - keep it up!

+1

I think Zack shud be promoted to moderator

On the vote thing, i think he will get an astounding yes vote, a complete no-brainer!

zack01

Just got the latest from the meeting in Sheffield today, the vote has been put back to June solely because a number of issues have to be cleared up first, the main issue as I said earlier is the control of world snooker, Hearn wants the 51% but today faced stiff questioning from Ebdon and top coach Del Hill (he has coached among others Hendry, O'Sullivan) apparantly Hearn told Hill that he maybe the best coach in the world but what he knows about business you could write on the back of a fag packet! Take into account that Hill is 6ft 8"!!
Hearns plan includes handing the remaining 49% to the players and various shareholders.
The other proposl on the table is from Lee Doyle, he is an ex board member and son of snooker manager Ian Doyle (the man who gave us Stephen Hendry).Doyle's plans are along the same lines as Hearns but he lacks the vast experience that Hearn obviously has.Hearn reminded the players present of this and he was then asked was he only in this for the money? He revealed his personal wealth to the players just to confirm that no he wasn't in it for the money!






Players that attended today included Dott,Williams,Davis,Selby,Murphy and Doherty and they all confirmed they are backing Hearn.
So as of now the players have heard what has to be said, now they must go away and make their mind up on who will get their vote.

Lemegeton

ffs with hearns experience and track record this should be a no brainer for anyone involved in the sport. ebdon was always a tool and has proven it again. just make the vote already so the sport can move forward

mickdw

Isnt this match fixing scandal suiting Barry Hearn down to the ground. He is having a little trouble in getting the players to agree to sign over the rights to the game to him. This match fixing highlighted on the biggest day of the snooker year 'shows' how the game in on its knees & needs a major shakeup. Will it make the players think that he is the only hope for a dying game?
Also Peter Ebdon, a high profile opponent of Barry Hearn was himself involved in a betting scandal. Will this make Ebdon go away for awhile?
What was John Higgins opinion of the Hearn takeover?
I myself believe that this matchfixing is happening throughout the lessor competitions & possibly the poorer players in major competitions are also at it. I believe all the pros know it & the association knows it. When it comes to major tournaments, its not worth it for the top players as it would be more beneficial for them to possibly win the tournament.
I believe Higgins is a pretty straight guy. Yes its pretty obvious that he was agreeing to fix these frames but I did hear them say that it woud be only in this world series. I think to believe that the majority of players are not fixing in some of the unimportant competitions is niave.
Hearn is far from clean when you look at his dealing over the years

Lemegeton

mickdw wrote: »

Isnt this match fixing scandal suiting Barry Hearn down to the ground.

yeah its great for him. snooker is struggling with lack of sponsors and viewing figures and a match fixing scandal is just what hearn needed :rolleyes:

Will it make the players think that he is the only hope for a dying game?

plenty of high profile figures have already given their full support to Hearn long before the World Championship began. I dont see why a player would care how much of a controlling stake hearn has. if i am a pro in any sport then my main concern would be the amount of ranking tournaments and prize money available and that is what Hearn wants to fix above all else.

Will this make Ebdon go away for awhile?

god i hope so.

I believe all the pros know it & the association knows it. When it comes to major tournaments, its not worth it for the top players as it would be more beneficial for them to possibly win the tournament.

disagree. just because there is not much prize money in the small competitions does not mean other players are involved in scams. believe it or not some people are actually Honest and want to make and Honest living, and love the sport too much to ever damage its integrity.

I believe Higgins is a pretty straight guy. Yes its pretty obvious that he was agreeing to fix these frames but I did hear them say that it woud be only in this world series.

so in your eyes fixing the outcome of a match and cheating viewers and punters is ok if its in a small tournament. There is no grey area here. Higgins and Mooney were WRONG, end of story.

Hearn is far from clean when you look at his dealing over the years

and what did he do that was so unclean? yes he is a ruthless businessman and has made himself rich from other sports but the point is it was not at the expense of the sport, just look at Darts. he wants the 51% share so he is the 1 and only boss. you cant fix something thats broken if you dont have total control. if he was only in it for money why not make it a 55% or 65% share.

mickdw

Lemegeton wrote: »

yeah its great for him. snooker is struggling with lack of sponsors and viewing figures and a match fixing scandal is just what hearn needed :rolleyes:

My theory is that the lower & more worthless & bent the whole snooker scene appears to be, the easier it will be to get the controlling interest. Hearn no doubt already has his all new plan in place to build up the sport with no doubt numerous bookmakers etc lined up as sponsors when he takes over. I dont think he is overly worried about a short term dip in snookers reputation

Lemegeton wrote: »

plenty of high profile figures have already given their full support to Hearn long before the World Championship began. I dont see why a player would care how much of a controlling stake hearn has. if i am a pro in any sport then my main concern would be the amount of ranking tournaments and prize money available and that is what Hearn wants to fix above all else.

Yes he has support but all is not going as smoothly as hoped as the vote coudnt be taken this week as previously hoped.

Lemegeton wrote: »

disagree. just because there is not much prize money in the small competitions does not mean other players are involved in scams. believe it or not some people are actually Honest and want to make and Honest living, and love the sport too much to ever damage its integrity.

I agree that its wrong & a shame but I believe its niave to think its not happening. Its been happening for years & will continue. There are top 50 players not making a living from the sport. That will alway leave them in an awkwar position tbh.

Lemegeton wrote: »

so in your eyes fixing the outcome of a match and cheating viewers and punters is ok if its in a small tournament. There is no grey area here. Higgins and Mooney were WRONG, end of story.

Not ok but my point is that it is happening. I still believe higgins would be one of the more genuine people. The lower profile players would never be caught in a sting like this as it takes too much time & money to do it that only the high profile guy will be caught.

Lemegeton wrote: »

and what did he do that was so unclean?

He is a boxing promoter!

Lemegeton

mickdw wrote: »

Not ok but my point is that it is happening. I still believe higgins would be one of the more genuine people.

i know Higgins came across as a decent guy and if you compare him to Hann who got caught a few years ago nobody was that surprised at that cos Hann was an out and out prick and Higgins seemed a genuine guy. but i just cannot consider Higgins genuine now. if a lower level player was caught then the lack of earnings could be used as an excuse given that state of the sport but Higgins is a millionaire so this was pure greed so he is a wanker in my eyes and should never play pro again.

He is a boxing promoter!

so what. he knows business and he knows sport . imagine the contacts hearn has built up through the boxing and darts years. If Hearn cant bring some glory back to snooker then i doubt anyone can.

Myrddin

mickdw wrote: »

He is having a little trouble in getting the players to agree to sign over the rights to the game to him

Thats news to me, I figured it was an overwhelming majority? With the exception of Ebdon & onr or two other short sighted individuals...

zack01

I spoke to two players that attended the meeting last night and they told me that Hearn has the full support of the majority of the professional players,the vote is scheduled for mid June, all that is left to do is finalise the legal end of things, but make no mistake Barry Hearn will be chairman of World Snooker and as promised the new calendar of events issued last month will take effect for the new season.
That is straight from two players who attended yesterdays meeting.

Arthur Daley

let Barry 'earn

Myrddin

zack01 wrote: »

I spoke to two players that attended the meeting last night and they told me that Hearn has the full support of the majority of the professional players,the vote is scheduled for mid June, all that is left to do is finalise the legal end of things, but make no mistake Barry Hearn will be chairman of World Snooker and as promised the new calendar of events issued last month will take effect for the new season.
That is straight from two players who attended yesterdays meeting.

Fair play for the updates Zack, Im not jealous of you being so involved/close to the snookering world...honest

mewso

So what are Hearn's plans? Why does he need a majority share in World Snooker to do it? Are his plans similar to darts - i.e. is the music as players entered the World Champs just the beginning?

I'm always a bit suspicious when everyone thinks something is a good idea but if Hearn's motive are good then fair enough. My only worry is if the future is crowds of beer swilling louts cheering on players as they take their shots and dancing to loud crap music. Bill Werbenik woulda loved it.

Myrddin

mewso wrote: »

So what are Hearn's plans? Why does he need a majority share in World Snooker to do it? Are his plans similar to darts - i.e. is the music as players entered the World Champs just the beginning?

I'm always a bit suspicious when everyone thinks something is a good idea but if Hearn's motive are good then fair enough. My only worry is if the future is crowds of beer swilling louts cheering on players as they take their shots and dancing to loud crap music. Bill Werbenik woulda loved it.

If it was as easy to resurrect Darts as simply playing music during a player entrance, it wouldnt have took Hearn to do the job. The man is a driven buisness man, which for snooker means sponsorship/events/media/expansion etc etc. With Hearns belief & contacts, he's the only man up to the task - and on top of that actually WANTS to do it. Make no mistake, without Hearn snooker is not going to last into the foreseeable, this isnt really a choice in my books, its a necessity.

mewso

EnterNow wrote: »

If it was as easy to resurrect Darts as simply playing music during a player entrance, it wouldnt have took Hearn to do the job. The man is a driven buisness man, which for snooker means sponsorship/events/media/expansion etc etc. With Hearns belief & contacts, he's the only man up to the task - and on top of that actually WANTS to do it. Make no mistake, without Hearn snooker is not going to last into the foreseeable, this isnt really a choice in my books, its a necessity.

Which is fair enough but why does he need to have a majority share of World Snooker?

Myrddin

mewso wrote: »

Which is fair enough but why does he need to have a majority share of World Snooker?

I suppose it cuts down on debates about his ideas/increases the speed with which he can implement his plans/he prob knows the rest of the board were/are incapable of doing what hes about to do so why shouldnt he have total control. Im not 100% but Zack should have a good input on this one...

zack01

The whole reason behind this is because the 51% stake Hearn wants is in World Snooker, which is the commercial arm of the WPBSA, he intends to make it an independent business with players and other stakeholders in the sport owning the remaining 49%. Hearn would then resign from the WPBSA to run World Snooker.The date for the EGM has been set for June 2 where Hearn I'm told will receive unanimous backing from the players.

Other news today is that Graeme Dott has parted company with his manager Pat Mooney, no surprise here i guess!

The World Seniors Championship which takes place early in the new season sees the qualifying rounds take place at the end of this month.Any professional over 40 years old can enter, Tony Knowles Joe Johnson Mike Hallett and the silver fox David Taylor have confirmed their entry.

The Paul Hunter Schlorship which was set up to help young players in the name of the late Paul Hunter was awarded to a young player named Jack Lawoski last year.Jack has now won his place through the PIOS events held throughout the season and will now have a place on the main tour next season.It's a great achievement and I'm sure Paul would be very proud.

connie147

mewso wrote: »

Which is fair enough but why does he need to have a majority share of World Snooker?

Hi Brian,
These are quotes from barry Hearne that might go some way to explaining his thinking on it.


“The players will be presented with a 20-page document, that covers pretty much everything”,
“Some of it they won’t like, in fact lots of it they won’t like. There are lots of changes required
The fact that the commercial rights are essentially owned by the players has created the problem. The game has been poorly run for 20 years, and the players have allowed that."

”Now it is time for professional management to take over and make the sometimes difficult decisions that have to be made in business without the emotion and romance of being too closely involved”,

“I dont know everything, the ideas I will present are my thoughts. I cannot guarantee that it will work but I know that it is not right that there are only six events for players to compete in, and that is something that will change. It has taken me three months to put together and I have really enjoyed doing it.”
“We need to reward excellence and stop recognising mediocrity”,

"I propose taking World Snooker Ltd, the commercial arm, away from the players,” he says. “They are not qualified to run the commercial arm. I will have majority control, I don't run any business I don't control. The players will be my junior partners.”
“Once the deal is done, the players and I will go and make some money,” he says.

"Snooker players don't make very good business people," he says.
"You have to understand how to sell to broadcasters and sponsors."
And part of that knowledge, he says, means changing the product itself.


and finally, a paragraph from BBc sport.

Under his plan World Snooker Limited, currently a subsidiary of the WPBSA, would be split off and would issue shares to raise £500,000.
The future face of snooker could be decided in the coming weeks


Hearn's own company Matchroom would take 51%, with 25% going to the players, whose entitlement would depend on their world ranking and tournament wins.
The remaining 24% would be split between other commercial partners.
So, for £250,000 of his own money, Barry Hearn would control the commercial future of the sport.
If he pulls it off and revives snooker's fortunes, he could make a lot of money. But as he says himself, he's already a rich man.
If he can pull it off it will be a trick shot worth watching


My own opinion is that the sport has to take the gamble of going with Hearne. He always made the case that since he started to manage steve davis nearly 30 years ago, he never told steve how to play a shot, and steve never told him how to do a buisness deal. I suppose this is much the same only on a bigger scale.

Also Brian, there is little to no oppossition to his plan, and he's going to get an overwhelming vote from the players when they have their EGM.

Connie

mewso

Yeah I appreciate that it may do a lot of good. Put my questions down to a natural mistrust of business men in general but Hearn is a straight talker which I like. It's a sport that has always been close to my heart despite being a crap player , simply a fan so I hope he does the job.