His comments calling for Barry Hearn to quit earlier this week have made the national sport headlines but tonight he did his talking on the table.
 | |
| Picture by Monique Limbos |
His performance in his 6-2 win against Ali Carter proved why I believe he's the best player on tour never to have won a ranking event.
He potted some exquisite long balls, refused pots when he had to, scored heavily, hit on the counter-attack and showed he can play safety too. It was a complete performance. He was in lethal form, playing like someone desperate to prove a point. That's not always a bad thing.
His attacking prowess was on show for all to see as Carter just couldn't live with him.
While we've started the week talking about Allen off the table, it would be ironic if we ended it discussing his qualities on it. Maybe adversity will bring the best out of him as he bids for silverware.
Allen was always a threat in the longer matches, so it was no wonder he was slightly irked by the change in format this year. He is a talent, although I think he has a mindset where he needs to always be fighting to produce his best stuff.
ReplyDeleteI like watching him play, and his run to the World semis a couple of years ago was great to see.
He's my favorite for the UK at the minute as well.
~boguesy
Mark Allen, Quotes
ReplyDelete"It's time to let someone else have a go."
He claimed Hearn, who took over as chairman in June 2010 after being voted in by a majority of the world's top 64 players, had pledged not to make changes to major tournaments.
- The only reason it was a majority vote was because the Board members voted for the change - thus making it a majority.
When Barry came in, one of the first things he said was that the World Championship, UK and Masters wouldn't be touched. Only 18 months later, the UK format has changed,"
- The BBC are being blamed for the changes – has anyone seen the correspondence from the BBC requesting that frames be reduced?
"I don't think he's pleasing too many players, but anyone who voted for him has only got themselves to blame. I wasn't one of them.
- It’s common knowledge that players are very unhappy with the current set up, even the players who voted for change are complaining, unfortunately they won’t speak out because they fear reprisals
"I've got no doubt he'll tweak the World Championship. The whole tradition of the game is going to pot.
- Snooker used to be the pinnacle of cue sports, a class apart from all the others, now it is played in conditions that weren't acceptable to the professional players of twenty years ago, how can that be considered taking the sport forward by todays payers? Quite simply it can’t
"It's not all about bringing people in to watch and have a good time, shouting and having a drink. He [Hearn] needs to get away from the darts factor. It's getting close to that."
- Hear Hear, the sport could do worse than getting back what made it such a popular TV spectator sport, Its time for some class and finesse, not beer and lager louts
Ronnie O'Sullivan Quotes
"I feel blackmailed.
"They put these ranking events on and ranking points at these tournaments and it just feels like the winner's prize is not great.
- He’ not alone in thinking this, many players feel the same - in fact the majority of players have said so recently
Continue reading the main story
"Most players are going there and losing money, but they're putting ranking points on so it's forcing the players to play in it, which is not great, but what do you do? You have to go."
- The Chairman of the WPBSA should be protecting the players interests - clearly he is not. The best option for the players is to vote in a chairman who will fight their corner, then they may have a chance of being heard.
“there are players lower down the ladder who are losing money by taking part in the tournaments”.
"The lower-ranked players can't afford it and the top-ranked players don't really get rewarded for what they do, so no-one is a winner”.
- Most of the players feel its to late to do something about the “minimum wage tour” its not.
The first thing the players need to do is find a Chairman who will go into battle for them and not swan around tournaments telling you what he thinks they want to hear.
Most of the people who report and commentate on snooker know that the game is in bad shape at the moment with Micky Mouse ranking tournaments that cost the majority of players more money in entry fees and expenses than they can win in prize money.
ReplyDeleteThe reason they don't criticise the state snooker at the moment is because they are the ones making the money, commentating and reporting on all these Mick Mouse tournaments - the more the merrier as far as they are concerned.
They couldn't care less about the cost to players or the conditions, they also couldn’t care less about the poor standard of play that the inadequate tables and shorter frames produce, if they did they would be supporting the players and calling for the WPBSA Chairman to do something about it, as they have always done in the past.
Is there a fear factor with this group of individuals as there is with some of the players?