Post a reply

Re: Snooker books

Postby Roland

Dotty wasn't happy with the press after his WC win to put it mildly. And he is absolutely spot on, how he was treated in some quarters at the time of being WC was disgraceful. Also his manager was terminally ill throughout 2006 and he actually died during the UK championships in December 2006. That was the time I was the only person on his side of the arena watching his match and went up to him after the match and congratulated him on being WC and told him I loved watching the final and he said "Thanks, that means a lot" :)

Anyway, his head was a complete mess around the time he plummetted down the rankings. The amount of bad luck he had around that time to compound things was ridiculous, especially when he seemed to be on the mend and he broke his hand playing football (sure you all remember that). He also elaborated a bit more about McCulloch and also Quinten Hann who he had a run in with and squared up to.

So far the only loss of marks for the book comes from the occasional factual inaccuracy but that's down to the proof reader not knowing the subject matter. For example when it moves on to 2007 he talks about drawing McCulloch in round 1 again after 2004 when he lost 10-9, and this was 3 years on. Actually it was 2005 and this was 2 years on. Then he talks of the 2006/07 season and the 2007/08 season and gets them mixed up so that in November 2007 he didn't get on a tv table in preference to Ken Doherty and he said to the tournament director "I'm the World Champion not him", but of course this would've been the case in November 2006 and not 2007. In the end you end up not trusting the dates so a bit of checking up would've got the timelines in order prior to publication. And there's also a picture of a bunch of players and Chris Small is credited as being Jamie Burnett who wasn't actually in the photo.

I should finish the book tonight.

Re: Snooker books

Postby GJ

brave man or stupid taking on hann <laugh>

Re: Snooker books

Postby Roland

Hann was the one out of order surprisingly, although he was the one to come forward and apologise at a later date.

Re: Snooker books

Postby Roland

Smart wrote:I've got his autograph and spoke to him at qualifiers when he criticised the table in his match with Michie. They both stopped playing for the match to be moved to another table. Does that get mentioned and does his meeting with me get mentioned. AM I IN THE BOOK>>>>>>>>>>PLS SKIM READ AND LET ME KNOW TONIGHT. :excited: :excited: :excited: :excited: :excited:


Yes he mentions that match and how the slate was warped :santa:

As you'll remember there was a cancer scare with his wife Elaine (who looks well cute in all the pictures by the way) when she was pregnant and she had to terminate the pregnancy. And around the same time his mum was ill, and he turning up to tournaments not caring if he won, in a daze with no motivation to play snooker. He thought about quitting, and was in the qualifiers at Prestatyn thinking back to the likes of Mike Hallett and Tony Knowles who he met on his way up and their way down the rankings in the Blackpool qualifiers years before and which he made a mental note at the time that he wasn't going to be like.

So then he was seriously thinking about looking for another career, saying how poor the prize money was and how not being paid between May and August/September must be especially hard for the lower ranked players who then try to earn a few quid playing exhibitions. Something he said he enjoys but would never want to play in them for a few hundred quid as a way to earn after a snooker career.

He then had to pull out of the UK due to heavy flu (against Mark Williams at 6-2 down) and missed the 2010 Masters because he wasn't in the top 16, so he watched it at home and he was inspired by Mark Selby in the Masters final playing with hunger in his eyes, loving competing and "a light went on" in Dott's head who recognised that's what he used to be like and then he couldn't wait to get playing again. And then he goes and KO's Selby in the Crucible! How's your luck Selby?

Along the way he practiced with John Higgins and compared it to playing a robot you could measure yourself against and if you could stay close you were playing extremely well. He said one time he was 4-1 down and decided to "fight fire with fire" and try attacking more and even though he lost 10-8 he made up his mind that's how he was going to play at the Crucible.

It seems the Mooney/Higgins saga didn't bother Dotty too much, and it was out and out mental exhaustion from the Selby game and Robertson's edginess that turned the 2010 World final into the sludgefest it became. Not surprisingly when you hear it from his angle (and it's not something I personally agree with but it's his opinion) he thinks the players should have a break between semi-final and final and use the extra day for junior pot black or a 3rd/4th place play off.

There's a chapter near the end which is hilarious listening to him go on about his day to day life with typical self depreciating humour. And at the end he gives a summary of his opinions of some of the top players (a huge respect for Selby during their Crucible semi) and says Mark Williams is his favourite player to watch. Oh, and that Ronnie went up in his estimations when he called him during a spell of depression to talk about it.


There was another error towards the end too, he talked about the PTC events being best of 5 when they are best of 7.

So there you go. My synopsis is nothing like reading the real thing, I'm saying what it is in the book to hopefully make some of you want to read it for yourselves and become a fan of Dotty like me :D

Re: Snooker books

Postby Bourne

so he watched it at home and you'll never guess what inspired him? It was Mark Selby!

bad monkey

Re: Snooker books

Postby Roland

<laugh>

yeah I should edit that fanboy rubbish

Re: Snooker books

Postby Bourne

He's spot on about the extra day's rest btw, that's the one thing i'd change about the worlds <ok>

Re: Snooker books

Postby Roland

It would make for a better final. Where I said I didn't agree with him, it wasn't so much that, as you get the feeling he's forgotten his roots and that he's a talented match player who knows how to play different opponents, and spends too long worrying about perceptions that people think he's a slow player after two world finals which went on late and were scrappy.

Re: Snooker books

Postby Witz78

my snooker books

Ronnie : my autobiography
Virgo : let me tell you about Alex
The Hamlyn Encylopedia of snooker
Whirlwind ; the Jimmy White story
Play to win ; Davis snooker skills
Winning snooker by Eddie Charlton
The Complete Book of Snooker by Eddie Charlton
The Hurricane
Snooker Skill and Trickshots by Tony Tonrnado Drago
Snooker Rules OK
Alex ; My Story
Double or Quits ; the Willie Thorne story

Re: Snooker books

Postby randam05

Nice witz, I have lots too!

SNOOKER, introduced by steve davis.
Understanding billiards and snooker, jack karnhem
The snooker quiz book
Encyclopedia of snooker
John virgos trickshots
1990 Matchroom special
SNOOKER AND BILLIARDS
John virgos snooker sideshow
Dennis taylor natural break
Lets guide successful snooker
The little book of snooker (which is my newest and only jutst published, contains lots of facts, statistics, happenings and quotes from recent tournaments..recommended)
Know the game:snooker
Ray reardon, bedside snooker
Greatest moments of snooker
On the spot
Ronnies biography
Hurricans biography
and SNOOKER, clive everton

Accompanied by many DVDS! :)

Re: Snooker books

Postby Roland

I've thumbed through Pettman's book as Matt had an advanced copy. It's called "As sometimes seen on tv" and it's one for all you snooker folk to read about what goes on behind the scenes and what it's like to be a professional struggling to make a living on tour. It looks like it could be very interesting. Matt reckons it'll be the best of the recent snooker books.

Re: Snooker books

Postby randam05

Cant believe ronnie rang dott during his depression, thats very kind of him <ok> and very suprising

Re: Snooker books

Postby jojo

tubberlad what ronnie say about williams parrot and hendry ?

i know he didnt have a good relationship at times with williams and hendry think he made up with them now but the stuff about parrot is it to do with fixing a tip or cue when ronnie asked for his help and didnt get any ? it was at the crucible one year when ronnie lost may have been the 2006 semi with dott the tip incident i might be wrong but tell us a bit more like sonny has about dott story or in fact tell us as much as you can thanks

Re: Snooker books

Postby Roland

What's the story with Parrott? I remember him helping Ronnie with his tip and talking about it on BBC with Hazel so there was no animosity between them as far as I can tell.

Basically in his book Dotty talks about the 2004 World Final and how after being 5-0 up he didn't do a right lot wrong and was awestruck at how good O'Sullivan was. He said everytime he thought he'd got him, Ronnie came back with an even better safety putting him right under the cosh.

Then in 2006 he said he was something like 5-3 behind at the interval (unsure of the score but he was behind... sod it I'll get the book to carry on) and talked to Del Hill and could see the same thing happening as in 2004 and being blown away. But Del Hill was with Ronnie in 2004 and told Dott that he knew how to beat him and it was to play 3 or 4 safety shots in a row against him. rather than the 1 or 2 needed against Robbo. "If you win the safety game, you win the match". Sure enough, after that extra safety from Dott, Ronnie started getting frustrated and played some rash shots to let Dotty in and he took full advantage.

He said he knew he'd got him when Ronnie pulled his tip off. He took the lead at 7-6 and Ronnie pulled his tip off and walked out of the arena. He didn't know what had happened at first but was told to go to his dressing room and Ronnie would have 15 minutes to get a new tip put on. Dott was getting really frustrated in the dressing room, didn't know what was going on and was getting angry telling the officials he wanted to get back out there and carry on.

Then when they came back out Ronnie didn't say a word to him or apologise and it got his back up and made him fired up. Although with the new tip "Ronnie being Ronnie made a century in the very next frame"!

Then he got it back to 8-8 at the interval and felt in control. He said he felt like Rocky from the film. He gave the champ a bloody nose and the safety exchanges were like soaking up punches before launching a brutal attack. He was growing in confidence, and was completely unaware of the focus on Ronnie and his tip from the tv people. In the last session he couldn't believe he won 8 frames in a row, said Ronnie was just missing the long pots and could see it was frustrating the life out of him.

He said he had to stick the game plan and keep it tight and keep Ronnie frustrated which meant turning down some long pots himself that he wanted to go for. He said he wanted to play more free flowing but had to stick to the gameplan because of how dangerous Ronnie is.

As I said before he was oblivious to what was going on with Ronnie and his tip because as far as he was concerned there must be people appreciating his tactical play and demonstrating how to beat a genius. And at 12-8 he felt if he could get to 13-8 then he would win all 8 frames so that next frame was big for him. Then in his words

"I began to consider the possibility that, if I could win eight successive frames against him, there was no reason why he couldn't win nine on the bounce against me. Aaarrgh!"

<laugh>

He hated the atmosphere in that last session. He didn't know what Ronnie was going to do, throw caution to the wind or outplay him at safety. Everyone at the Crucible was behind Ronnie. Everyone was expecting Dott to win so every time he missed a pot there were loads of ooh's and aah's which were light hearted but affected his concentration.

In the press conference after Ronnie was full of praise for Dott.


If you want to know more detail then get the book because I aint typing no more :redneck:

But basically Dott goes into the BBC pundits and how he was aware of their read on his matches which conflicted with his and in one bit he singles out Clive Everton for a comment he saw in a documentary where Clive said if Ronnie had his head screwed on he would've beaten Dott. That hurt him because he respected Clive's opinion more than the others.

Re: Snooker books

Postby jojo

keep the stories coming sonny this very good one story per night would be good half a page would do keep pushing pal

Re: Snooker books

Postby Roland

just get the book :redneck:

Re: Snooker books

Postby jojo

sonny what the dott book called and how much is it ? if i do get it i will buy it just a few days before the world championship starts to get me in the mood think it sounds interesting some of the stuff you been saying

Re: Snooker books

Postby Smart

jojo wrote:sonny what the dott book called and how much is it ? if i do get it i will buy it just a few days before the world championship starts to get me in the mood think it sounds interesting some of the stuff you been saying


good idea pal :santa:

Re: Snooker books

Postby The Cueist

Roll up ,Roll up, I have two pieces of unused Triangle chalk that would have been used by the regulars of The New Inn had the landlord not have ripped the till off blind and ran off with the part time cook who made a lovely Ploughmans lunch.

Only bids of £2 sterling and upwards for these authentic pieces of cultural British pastime pieces,Please do not send Cheques.

Postal Orders only.

PS,due to the high demand for these sought after cultural pieces,Please do not be dissapointed if your bid fails.

Happy bidding folks. <cool>

Re: Snooker books

Postby randam05

jojo wrote:i think i will get dotts book some time this week


might join you

or pettmans?

Re: Snooker books

Postby randam05

simplysnooker wrote:Not a book but just won the 30years at the Embassy DVD on ebay :D


Good, youll enjoy it <ok>

Re: Snooker books

Postby Cheesyman99

Just ordered the Pettman and Dott books, not really a book person but looking forward to reading these

Re: Snooker books

Postby Smart

Cheesyman99 wrote:Just ordered the Pettman and Dott books, not really a book person but looking forward to reading these


Both sound like a good read for different perspectives on a snooker players life. :-)

Re: Snooker books

Postby The Cueist

:D I will buy Dottys book ;-)

But Stuart who?No thanks :chin:

I used to own a copy Joe Davis bible"How to play Snooker,Cracking book,I learned how to screw back in five minutes after reading the chapter on it.A great player and a clever guy who realised close up photos would echo the points he made for a straight cuing technique and white ball and two ball control.

I have read Steve Davis's first paperback book,It was very "Interesting" of course. :-D

Alex Higgins through the looking glass,A very honest insight into an enigma of a man. :hatoff: That is what i liked about the great Alex "Hurricane " Higgins.

What a guy. :hatoff: :ahh:

And also i read John Parrots book which was very witty as it made me laugh, and also very honest.

I have been playing such bad snooker of late i am thinking of authoring my own book titled "How not to play Snooker"!!LOLOLOL!!! ;-) :-D