Barry Hearn has appointed Pat Mooney and Brandon Parker to the WPBSA board and accepted the resignation of Dr Hamish McInnes.
Mooney is manager of John Higgins and promoter of the World Series. Parker looks after Shaun Murphy and promotes the annual Paul Hunter Classic in Germany.
Having player managers on the board - 110sport's Lee Doyle is also there - is not always a welcome idea as it leads to the suspicion, whether true or not, that they might be more alive to their own clients' concerns than the rest of the players.
However, under Hearn there seems to be a genuine desire for everyone to work together and there's no doubt that Doyle, Mooney and Parker all have something to offer the sport.
No reason was given for the resignation of McInnes but he was associated with the previous board, which was rejected by the majority of the players at last month's AGM.
Hearn is meeting the BBC tomorrow to discuss the future, with the contract up for renewal at the end of next season.
He has also had discussions with other broadcasters about possible future tournaments.
32 comments:
It's a bad move getting these people on the board. There is a clear conflict of interests that will lead to the inevitable calls of nepotism that can only be bad for the game.
If one manager's there, they should all be there.
That said, at leas McInnes did the decent thing. I notice Lee Doyle hasn't resigned.
I wouldn't be surprised if Hearn invites a Chinese and a European representative to the board.
It will be interesting to see what the BBC do. Maybe a move to Sky would be a good thing. It certainly improved darts.
I think it will be a good move, hopefully with the experience that Pat Mooney had last year with the world series will help when cracking parts of Europe to Snooker. the players want more tournaments and i think they are going to get them.
Regards
Dean.
p.s. reading some old snooker scene's the other day and was wondering how Janice Hale is Dave.
And this is the same Brandon Parker who tried to get on the board in 2008 and was overwhelmingly rejected by the players. BAD BAD move in that respect. As for Mooney, jury's out at the mo.
welcome to the new 64 player tour ! conflicted out of there minds !
Dave, can you explain your update on Twitter about Willie Thorne wanting Ronnie O'Sullivan banned from snooker on Facebook?
Brandon Parker on the board of WPBSA?
Thats been at least 8 years overdue, and now having him on the board means I now have even more reason to believe this sport can be saved, and lets have it right, it does need saving.
He is an innovative thinker with a true desire to succeed at everything he undertakes. He should work well with the new chairman, who obviously saw the benefits of having people with the calibre of 'The Nosey One' working with him.
Good call Mr Hearn.
Hi Dave,
Back from a good break and it has all been happening and not just at Wembley by the looks of it!
I agree with the previous posts. Surely Doyle has to stay on board. That would complete the set for me. With Doyle's 110sport camp. It would make sense to keep him on board.
More importantly to me, what has happened to the SPA? Davis was chairman wasn't he? Are they still going ahead with it, or did it REALLY have another agenda whilst the old board were in charge?
BTW, what snooker personnel are really on FACEBOOK? Does anyone know? I bet there isn't many?
Happy new year, thanks, Joe
Off topic Dave what's the latest on Willie Thorne wanting Ronnie to be banned from snooker?
Willie's status update said Ronnie should be banned but much doubt has been cast as whether it is really Willie (probably not is my view).
Banned for what ?
If this new board try to get more money from the BBC from the new TV contracts then it will be the death of snooker in this country. The BBC is already funding the majority of the tour's ranking events as there's next to no sponsorship. Even the Betfred money for the World Championships is only £500k per annum, and the prize money for this event alone is over £1m. New people on the board will not change the fact that no-one wants to put much money into sponsoring snooker.
the players deserve everything they get with mooney and parker on the board, let's hope they don't use world snook funds to bail them out of the failed and in dept world snooker series,I agree with earlier post ,players do not want parker on there !
Ronnie has probably said something totally unacceptable again... :)
i'm happy with how things are shaping up. sure, it sounds weird to have players' managers on the board, but hey, it ONLY SOUNDS weird, doesn't mean it'd actually be that. Parker and Mooney have experience working with snooker-y things outside UK and that alone can only be a good thing.
i'd be more worried by the state of the commercial department of world snooker, are walker and mcmahon still hanging around there? now that really would be weird.
just type willie thorne in the search box on facebook and look at lots of comments about a comment willie has there saying o'sullivan should be banned for his post antics-ceremony at wembley arena on sunday night.
someone truly having a laugh at willies expense. and a lot of people buying into it, going by the comments....
On Facebook it most probably is someone messing about, but I would have thought you meant Twitter as I think generally thats where celebrities like yourself tend to be. I will check this out though. I have to say I felt Ronnie probably should have waited to see Selby collect the trophy. Although it showed that defeat hurt and as a Ronnie fan I want to see that he cares. Not that I have ever taken his comments about not liking to lose seriously. What really hurts him most is he knows his A game can beat anyone else's and he said as much on that snooker forum. Drago v Lines should be tasty today in Prestatyn, nice to see Wattana get a good win over Wells yesterday.
Parker previously rejected by the players at agm and one has to ask why he only has one player on his book. Stevens left him, Robertson left him and Hawkins left him. Popular isn't he !!!
This is the trouble with blind allegiance to Ronnie (or indeed any other sports star) - you forgive them more easily for their indiscretions (like using the c*** word on TV or storming out gracelessly before a trophy presentation, or demeaning Selby's talents on more than one occasion in press conferences).
If a lesser player had done it people would be calling for their heads. Instead, because it is O'Sullivan it is overlooked by all - governing body, broadcasters, blog editors et al. I lost count of the number of times i heard commentators saying what self-control and discipline O'Sullivan had shown last week - as if we should be grateful for him behaving like every other professional on tour.
rant over
Yawn's at 2:57pm..
This board is looking about as egalitarian as those Bush/Obama cabinets full of Wall Street people!
Yawns at 7:55PM
i absolutley agree with 2:57 pm i mean how many times do you hear commentaters go on about ding been petulant at the masters a couple of years back but no one seems to mention the amount of times ronnie has been disrespectful
Great response 8:59 hats off to you!!
Dave - what's happened to the podcasts this season? They were great! Any more planned?
Hopefully there will be some more
This sport would be dead without Ronnie - and Hearn knows it.
When you play a knock-out competition you want your best and most charismatic performers in the finals - and that's what you get with Ronnie.
He puts bums on seats and people watch him on TV. For all those knocking him bear in mind that you are having a go at the man keeping snooker alive at the moment.
Less than 2 days have elapsed since the appointment of Mooney & Parker, and people are already intent on causing an upset with the new regime.
Some of the comments already posted seem to be from the democratically beaten old guard, or the players they represent.
Why not see what the new board can do collectively for snooker. The old regime finished with only 6 ranking events, a diary with little snooker in it, very few sponsors, and little player representation with the decisions important in the game.
Parker and Mooney have track records in Europe and in management. Let us all see what happens in the next year.
As for Parkers management of players.... he seemed to have done a fair job with Paul Hunter & Quenton Hann who are both sorely missed in the sport for different reasons, and now with the talented Shaun Murphy.
Maybe you should ask those players who have left him to comment on how their affairs were handled, rather than sumising.
Let us judge Barry's decisions on his new board when they have had as much time as the previous tenants.
Barry Hearn, the man requested to lead snooker by nearly all involved in the game, invited these two on the board, and to question their appointments at this early stage, is to question the suitably of Hearn himself.
This sport has had more than its fair share of - at best – amateur people running it. Lets give a bit of time to the people who work in it and know it best.
The sport's going to be even deader if we don't stop with this obsession with Ronnie and every little thing he does or doesn't do or is perceived to have done!
I'm one of his biggest fans but I'm sick of how the biggest story in snooker is so often "controversy over Ronnie". If silly "controversy" and in-fighting was what people really wanted, F1 would be the biggest sport in the world instead of football. I'm also sick of hearing so many players mumble something like "oh we're so lucky to have Ronnie". The man can't pot a long ball to save his life, he just turned 34, he's going to be pushing 40 before we know it, and who knows where he could be by then. The players who should be the next Ronnie(s) need to stop basking in his warm glow and giving thanks for him, and start challenging to be his successor instead.
Greg said...
The sport's going to be even deader if we don't stop with this obsession with Ronnie and every little thing he does or doesn't do or is perceived to have done!
I'm one of his biggest fans but I'm sick of how the biggest story in snooker is so often "controversy over Ronnie". If silly "controversy" and in-fighting was what people really wanted, F1 would be the biggest sport in the world instead of football. I'm also sick of hearing so many players mumble something like "oh we're so lucky to have Ronnie". The man can't pot a long ball to save his life, he just turned 34, he's going to be pushing 40 before we know it, and who knows where he could be by then. The players who should be the next Ronnie(s) need to stop basking in his warm glow and giving thanks for him, and start challenging to be his successor instead.
12:26 PM
Concur
I totally support that! Continue that way!
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