Ssb - mount responds to spa criticism

[hotpot]

As long as you pay for posting it to them Neil .

[Neil Taperell]

Would they be able to walk to the bus or would they want expenses for the shoe leather that they used ?

[Deepscrew]

If Paul Mount hadnt decided to bung a load of cash into building the SWSA, most tof the players in these PTC's wouldnt have any tournaments at all. Have they thought about that? They would either be in Sheffield which is worse than SWSA by miles or in Europe somewhere.

These complainers really need to wake up.

[cazmac1]

when I get back from my hol's I might take a trip up there I really should not pass any judgement till i have seen it for myself.

[Deepscrew]

13 STAR tables that are reclothed at least 4 times a year if not more.
£6 an hour or all day special deals.
Proper balls in cases for each table.
Brushes for each table.
Extenda Extention for every table along with a full set of long tackle, spider, swan neck etc for each table. All in perfect condition.
Clean toilets.
Very friendly staff.
TV if you want some time away from the table.
Pub 5 minute walk away.
Canned soft and alcoholic drinks.
Pies pasties and toasties etc all served from clean kitchen.
Just off a main motorway.

Frankly its snooker utopia.

[Particle Physics]

The grub is fine and for the prices they charge you wont get better . Having watched panorama last night myt heart goes out even more to these hard done players . Its so nice to see someone like Paul and his staff doing so much for the game and more importantly charity as a whole , i find the criticism appauling . So nice to see someone give give give rather than take take take .

They haven't got a clue mate. I'm not aware of clubs having Star tables and 1g balls down here. And only 4 quid and hour. Unreal. That's a bargain worth 12 quid an hour IMO. If they don't want to pay for owt, it's simple. They go up to Bazza and say, listen Baz, can you knock 2k off the charge you make to SWSA, then Paul can put on free grub, practice and drinks. Cheers Baz. I do feel for the players on the fringes, they're basically funding a go at a pro career out of their own pockets which can't be easy. But their criticism should be aimed at WSL overcharging a CHARITY.

[Neil Taperell]

Best post you've put up . Great idea about charging them less .

[Particle Physics]

13 STAR tables that are reclothed at least 4 times a year if not more.
£6 an hour or all day special deals.
Proper balls in cases for each table.
Brushes for each table.
Extenda Extention for every table along with a full set of long tackle, spider, swan neck etc for each table. All in perfect condition.
Clean toilets.
Very friendly staff.
TV if you want some time away from the table.
Pub 5 minute walk away.
Canned soft and alcoholic drinks.
Pies pasties and toasties etc all served from clean kitchen.
Just off a main motorway.

Frankly its snooker utopia.

If Carlsberg did snooker clubs. Crikey, they could teach Rileys a thing or twenty. It's about an hour and 20 from me. I really must go up for a days outing wiv da lads one day. Share a table for a whole days fun. We simply don't have that standard to play on in the SW.

[Terry Davidson]

During my 3 week stay in Gloucester and practicing daily at the SWSA here's what I had to 'suffer' through:

1. Staff courteous and will go out of their way to satisfy their customers.
2. I had to pay all of 40P for coffee or tea AND I had to make my own! God, the indignity! I pay about 1.10 for coffee in Canada at Tim Hortons which is about the cheapest place around.
3. Four pounds and hour for practice is expensive? I had an all-day deal which worked out to around 2.50hr and here I would pay about 6GBP per hour at a club for crap tables and playing by myself.
4. As has been said, tables and balls are always in excellent shape.
5. Six days a week there's a little sandwich bar about 5min walk away along with a pub and a hotel (when I was at SWSA there was no food service so of course if I was a pro I would feel really put out to have to walk 5 minutes to get some food).
6. Oddly enough, when I was at SWSA there were usually 6-10 pros practicing and getting ready for the World Champs, including Marco Fu, Dominic Dale, Ryan Day, Jamie Jones, Robert Milkins, Sam Baird, Andy Hicks and a few others I can't remember and I never heard any complaints about having to go out for food or paying for the coffee or tea.

My question is...which pros were complaining? Certainly the ones I ran into were all gentlemen and not a complaint among them.

[Particle Physics]

During my 3 week stay in Gloucester and practicing daily at the SWSA here's what I had to 'suffer' through:

1. Staff courteous and will go out of their way to satisfy their customers.
2. I had to pay all of 40P for coffee or tea AND I had to make my own! God, the indignity! I pay about 1.10 for coffee in Canada at Tim Hortons which is about the cheapest place around.
3. Four pounds and hour for practice is expensive? I had an all-day deal which worked out to around 2.50hr and here I would pay about 6GBP per hour at a club for crap tables and playing by myself.
4. As has been said, tables and balls are always in excellent shape.
5. Six days a week there's a little sandwich bar about 5min walk away along with a pub and a hotel (when I was at SWSA there was no food service so of course if I was a pro I would feel really put out to have to walk 5 minutes to get some food).
6. Oddly enough, when I was at SWSA there were usually 6-10 pros practicing and getting ready for the World Champs, including Marco Fu, Dominic Dale, Ryan Day, Jamie Jones, Robert Milkins, Sam Baird, Andy Hicks and a few others I can't remember and I never heard any complaints about having to go out for food or paying for the coffee or tea.

My question is...which pros were complaining? Certainly the ones I ran into were all gentlemen and not a complaint among them.

Imagine being able to play and watch pros like that for FREE, practising for the Worlds. That's as good as it gets. Planet Snooker! Gonna have to talk to the boys about a day up north now.

[the legend]

The interesting thing for me in Paul Mounts letter was him stating that the academy is losing 120 thousand pound per year without him taking any wages.That should maybe tell people that what he is doing is not economical.He chooses to do it and fund it i presume because he loves snooker.I would suggest the main charity he is helping is the snooker players who use the place.

[Terry Davidson]

particle:

Just so you don't get the wrong idea. The pros have one room upstairs with 4 tables especially reserved for them while the other players use the other two rooms.

So you can't say play on a table next to a couple of pros practicing. I'm not sure, but I don't think you can hang around all day and watch the pros even though there is some seating in their room as I would figure the SWSA would like you to get a table.

Terry

[Particle Physics]

particle:

Just so you don't get the wrong idea. The pros have one room upstairs with 4 tables especially reserved for them while the other players use the other two rooms.

So you can't say play on a table next to a couple of pros practicing. I'm not sure, but I don't think you can hang around all day and watch the pros even though there is some seating in their room as I would figure the SWSA would like you to get a table.

Terry

Yeah, I just wanted a brief look Terry! Get some photos autographed etc. Anyway, getting to play on Star tables of any kind has to be 100% better than what we have to put up with down here. When you over next buddy, will you be going up to SWSA?

[magicman]

The SWSA is everything that's been said on here and more. Frankly, it's snooker heaven, and I've even thought of relocating to that part of the country to benefit from the facilities.

Paul Mount is a bona-fide saint and the pro's should be thanking their lucky stars that a multi-millionaire exists who loves snooker so much he's prepared to run at a loss while keeping an A class venue up and running.

[cazmac1]

Just want to make it clear I was not having a dig when referring to making a quick buck selling cheap food what I was trying to say was that if he was to sell better food instead of sending players down the road he could generate more income. I think he missed a trick here when he had the club built he should have had a good kitchen installed. If he has got a kitchen I don't see why he can't provide some better food, I certainly wouldn't eat any of the food currently on offer. If he feels that he can't devote the time or staff to the food side of things he could employ a chef to do his food and after costs are taken out split the profits. In the long term he would make more money this way , of course if the facility's are not there then it is a non starter.
If you imagine that you and 3 friends drive down and have a table booked for the day, you set of at six and arrive at 8:30. when you get there you want a cooked breakfast. Now a cooked breakfast for 4 plus drinks is going to cost around £25, then you might want something at lunch ...... well you get my point, why would he want to ignore such a great revenue earner.