Ssb - john higgins statement

[FerruleFox]

Mooney immediately tendered his resignation from the Board. There has been no mention of his reluctance to do so. And neither of them have disputed any of the facts published by NOTW, only that they feared for their safety and so agreed to the bribe.

Denial is not going to help the sport. Heavy handed leadership will.

[hegeland]

Yeah, right, they were afraid of the horrible villian wanting to give them £300K...

That's why convinced the reporter it was easy to do, came up with ideas how to bury the future transactions (waistcoat logo, house in spain) etc...

And even more damning, they didn't say a word about it until the story broke in the papers...

This statment is so faulty it would have been better for them to shut up until they had come up with a more plausible plot.

[madman]

Basically, i expect Mooney to take all the blame, Higgins will be exonerated, and everybody will love him again, they will all want to sponsor snooker again, and all the tree's in the garden will be rosey.

Do me a favour, if he crawls out of this untarnished, the whole boards corrupt. Talk about, go along with them because they were scared for their lives. He's a brilliant actor then, so he should get another career in films.

If the idea of throwing matches came up at the beginning, even if it didn't feel right, he could of started off with, 'im not into that sort of stuff', then played along with it if he felt threatened. But there is none of that, because he is just coming out with a load of B------S to save his skin. Its natural to do that, but the interragators will see right through him.

[GailForce]

I hope for snooker's sake that he is telling the truth.

It seems logical that he was in Ukraine for developing his World Series. Was he meeting investors etc?. He has obviously got himself in too deep.

Is the World Series supposed to be competitive anyway?

Higgins has been a great role model for the sport and it's such a shame.

Anyone think that it's overshadowed the final? I'm enjoying watching some good snooker.

[WALTER-ITALY]

So why didn't he inform Hearn OR ANY OTHER person about this right when they came back home? "Just play along", you're talking about crimes here! All credibility is lost when you come up with an explanation after you've been exposed.

The tape is obvious, his excuse is too late and totally unbelieveable. Get real John, and hang up your cue for good.

I'M agree

[attilahun]

Put yourselves in his shoes. What would you do in his place in a hotel room in Kiev accompanied by a bunch of suspicious looking people making you dodge frames for money? I guess you would have **** your pants, that's what you would have done. So don't play heroes commenting rubish from the comfort of your homes! John didn't take any money and maybe he would have reported to the police if those guys tried to contact him again.
I'd like to know what other proffessionals think about this issue. I'm sure all of them would back John up on this issue.

Do not embarrass yourself by trying to make excuses for Higgins. He is one of the players who are trying to do something for snooker...but this is to much. He is one of my favorite players but the fact is....John Higgins is a cheat and should be punished.

[FerruleFox]

Sure hope John didn't take out that mortgage yet.

[FILA]

REPORTER: "Yeah, but I mean what if he gets a good break? What's the risk factor I mean?"

HIGGINS: "No risk. No, because you can miss."

I would like to believe that he was scared to death, but this sounds as he is convincing the reporter to make the deal.

[matoski]

Do not embarrass yourself by trying to make excuses for Higgins. He is one of the players who are trying to do something for snooker...but this is to much. He is one of my favorite players but the fact is....John Higgins is a cheat and should be punished.

No, i'm not embaressing myself. The thing is that i'm not taking the side of the yellow press as most of you did. You will be embaresed when all this will end in John's favour, and then you'll be posting stuff like:

" Oh, i knew John was inocent blah, blah....He is such a nice guy blah, blah......"

[natia]

I absolutely agree with matoski. The media is not to be believed, especially yellow press.
Besides, John Higgins (and any brilliant sportsman like him) won't even think of treating the game they love like this. Moreover, Higgins wouldn't have risked his career like this. It's impossible. It looks like a dirty plot against this wonderful snooker player and I won't be surprised if that Mr. Mooney is involved in this.

[jan-nl]

BBC and Freedom of speech

I got the following email from the BBC regarding a comment I made regarding the John Higgins video. Note that my original comment is at the bottom in italics:

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URL of content (now removed):
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Subject:
Innocent until found Guilty

Posting:
I've seen the video several times and am really devastated by what I saw and heard. John Higgins is an icon for me for many years and I just cannot believe someone of his stature would do something like this. Regarding his statement having a 100% clear conscience and being afraid, even with references to the russian mafia, I have a few observations. First of all, he seems rather relaxed and is trying to convince others in the room that it is easy to change the outcome of a match. Why not state the opposite, John? That would have ended the discussion. Furthermore, if I would have been in the position of being afraid for my own personal security, I would not have talked about my property in Spain. All in all this is very damning stuff and it could hurt snooker badly at a time the sport is already in a rather steep decline. I hope Hearn will handle this matter swiftly and harsh.

[missneworleans]

I dont mind John but he cant get away with this statement
He didnt look scared in the video and really made the deal...

[jamesa54321]

Higgins is making matters worse by trying to wriggle out of it with more lies. The honorable thing to do would be to admit it, or failing that make no comment.

These lies say as much about his character as the secret recording does - he's a cheat.

[fearcomplex]

Ah... the russian mafia...THAT'S why he asked if there were cameras in the room. Explains everything John, cheers
How stupid does he think the followers of this game are?

[jan-nl]

As others suggested, if he really felt that he had to "play along" with the people he was dealing with, then he certainly would have reported this incident to the WPBSA and other authorities and this story would have been dead in the water.