New Tour proposals are great idea

I’ve been watching the news with interest this week after the plans for a new World Snooker Tour were announced. I really hope it comes off because it would undoubtedly be good for snooker and for the players.

Snooker is still a massive sport and the viewing figures for tournaments are always high. I know we’ve been hit by the credit crunch, but what I don’t understand is why snooker is in such a bad state. You look at a sport like darts and that is still surviving during these hard times, so why isn’t snooker? Why are we losing tournaments? Why are we down to just six this season? Maybe the people behind the scenes are just not working out, so maybe it is time for a change of key personnel, a breath of fresh air.

The fact that we’ve got only six ranking tournaments this season is a farce. There is too much of a gap between each event – it’s been six weeks since the last tournament! We are classed as professionals but, really, we are hardly more than part-time. The gap is so big we could get another job in between tournaments.

The money is still decent if you are a top-16 pro, you can expect to earn a healthy amount during the course of the season, even if you don’t perform particularly well. The ones I feel most sorry for are the players outside the top 64. They are classed as pros but they don’t get enough money to be able to survive. But for me it’s not about the money. All I want to do is play snooker, but it makes it hard to do that when there are only six tournaments.

As I said before, I really do hope these proposals come off. The game certainly cannot get any worse than it is at the moment. If someone like Barry Hearn was to come in, that could be what turns around our sport. Hearn would not be seen as a risk as he has proven before what he is capable of. You only have to look at the darts to see what a difference he can make.

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I was delighted to see Jimmy White avoid being voted out of the jungle on I’m A Celebrity… last night. We haven’t seen the best of Jimmy yet, certainly not the Jimmy I know.

When Jordan went in it was all about her and hardly anyone else got a look in. Now that she’s gone, hopefully Jimmy will get more involved. It was great to see him do a trial at last, that will do him a lot of good with the public. But maybe is low-key profile is all part of his game-plan, I don’t know. Jimmy is a massive celebrity in his own right, but maybe he’s a little star-struck with the people around him.

Whatever happens, I hope he stays in for longer and we get to see the real Jimmy White.