You'll recall it was only a few weeks ago that Sir Rodney Walker, chairman of the WPBSA, roundly rubbished Ronnie O'Sullivan's claims that snooker was in serious trouble.
Today, Walker has told the players that the salaries of the staff and directors of the WPBSA will be reduced by 10%.
So everything's going great, then.
The truth is that the WPBSA is seriously cash strapped and the circuit will not be far from collapse if extra revenue is not found in the next year.
I feel very sorry for the staff of the WPBSA, most of whom have done nothing wrong. These are the footsoldiers, not the people who make the decisions.
Walker's letter says there will also be redundancies.
Presumably he won't be one of them.
You should exchange the phrase "Presumably he won't be one of them" by "Sadly he won't be one of them"...
ReplyDeletei think hes done a good job
ReplyDeletewhen needing to make cutbacks most businesses encourage the highest paid members of staff to resign
ReplyDeleteObviously a pre-emptive strike to the reaction of the impending players' prize reductions.
ReplyDeleteThe reason to be given, "The Global Economic Meltdown", is in this case largely a sheild for a fundamental incompetence.
The staging of the pathetically sponsored and ill-attended Bahrain Open, where SOME of the worlds best players competed for ranking points, after the loosing of sponsorship of two of the most expensive tournaments elevates this higher than the farce it originally seemed. This was little more than an homage to Mr. Walker. Proof that after cutting prize money and accumulating a surplus, he could claim that he was expanding and doing something for snooker. Egotistical and unbelievably inept.
when needing to make cutbacks most businesses encourage the highest paid members of staff to resign
ReplyDeleteI wish that would be the case. We in Germany have more problems with companies reducing staff AND paying higher bonuses to managers...
i think hes done a good job
If he had done a good job, snooker would be there where darts is now...
to anon 10.36pm
ReplyDeleteyour last sentence is quite simply not true
darts and the PDF have been on the go for well over a decade. Sir RW has not been at the helm for anywhere near that amount of time
not that darts or its success is directly related anyway, except through one person.
it is not the fault of Sir RW that snooker never took that routte all those years ago. do your homework before you blame those who are not responsible.
Lets keep this real simple,
ReplyDeleteSir Rodney will be resigning, he has no choice as the man in charge. It is the only honorable thing to do. However he is only one link in a very weak chain. The current finacial situation has nothing at all to do with the economic crisis. This is just a rather convinient excuse. Televised Snooker culd not be in a better position to approach and work with Large corporations looking to continue high profile exposure in times where budgets are tight. The costs associated with snooker are minimal in comparision with aother similarly promoted sports. The challnge is simply incompetence at senior management level. If you speak with anyone who has had dealings regarding business at senior level and they will support this. SRW cannot be held responsible for every day to day decision taken but he should be accountable for not addressing them when they are bad ones. World Snooker have ruled through fear. They were the only show in town and the only real opportunity for these very talented individuals to ply their trade and this has been abused in the way they have treated and bullied, players, managers, commercial partners and basically everyone who has any dealings with them at all. It would take less than six months to turn snooker around with the right leadership but that would require investment in the right personnel. World Snooker will now look to shrink their way to greatness and unfortunately this cannot be done. There will be change and it must be well thought out by experienced business people. They have to keep and encourage all that is good about The WPBSA and World Snooker and either get rid of or change the attitude of those who currently are under performing. Lets hope that those who have been privilaged to running World Snooker this close to the rocks do not under any circumstances be given the opportunity plunder the cargo should it run aground. For example you would ceratinly hope that no board member would be given the opportununity of say a 'Management Buy Out' as it may be said there might have been a conflict of ineterest.
Its time for Professional Snooker to call on the do'ers to help rather than the talkers.
@ Anon, 11:22
ReplyDeleteWell said, couldn't agree more!
@ Anon, 08:09
I have never claimed that SRW is as long in charge at WPBSA as those guys at PDC. And, besides, that is not the point. The point is that he is long enough in office to initiate some kind of change in the behaviour of the WPBSA. Of course he is not the only man responsible, but he is one of them. And again, you are right that SRW is not responsible for the damage that has been done ten, twenty years ago. But he is directly responsible for what he does now. And that is, in fact, quite little. Players moan about the situation of snooker and that something needs to be done. They even organize events like the World Series to attract new fans in continental europe. Journalists (like Dave) moan about the situation of snooker and even give direct proposals what could be done. The WPBSA behaves like an oil-tanker and SRW doesn't seem to be the man who can turn it around fast enough.
it is entirely the point. your comparison was not like for like. not anywhere near close, so it was a waste of words
ReplyDeleteIn any business I know of, the buck "stops here" - ie at the top.
ReplyDeleteStaff should be, but aren't, encouraged to reach for their limits, then delegate upwards.
So if there are salary cuts and redundancies they should come from the top down, not the bottom up.
And most certainly not from the hard-working tournament team, or referees out on the road for relentless hours.
i disagree entirely
ReplyDeleteIf a certain Ding Junhui had not won the first China Open and if Ken Doherty had not been so terrific in Sheffield 2003, so it
ReplyDeleteconvinced eurosport to sign longterm contracts.
Where do yo think the sport had been then?
It is pretty quiet about World series for the moment.
WSA did fantastic promotion in europe 1996 with the World Cup
qualifications.
Stuff like that would go home very well on the telly.
World series are dead in the water if it can,t copy Championship League in a smart way.
Maybe we should get used to more
asian tournaments and remember that
the members vote and decide to be 96 pros on the tour.
Don.t blame SRW for a system he can,t change.
Also,I can,t help to ponder what would have happend with the Altiumdeal if it had gone through, now when the Royal Bank of Scotland (their backer)are bankcrupt!
There might have been only goverment owned tournaments!
How well has UK snooker&Billiards
run their sport when they still are
not recognised for lotteryfunds et.cet!
I think the grassroot managers are doing pretty poorly in helping the sport.
Altium weren't backed by RBS, they were backed by Warburg Pincus.
ReplyDeleteOk, how are Warburg Pincus doing?
ReplyDeletenice apology there.
ReplyDeleteAltium was ages ago. being backed by them then wouldnt mean if they are doing bad now then snooker would. most places just now are doing crap, so its a bit of a pointless debate IMO
In the five years from when Altium would have taken over - long before this recession - the players would have been competing for £9.5m more than they actually did.
ReplyDeleteIt would also have provided an opportunity to build a solid foundation for the future, as opposed to the quicksand the professional game is now in danger of sinking into.