Mike Watterson

Mike Watterson (born 26 August 1942 in Chesterfield, England) is a former English professional snooker player, businessman, entrepreneur and commentator. He won a National Amateur Championship,^[1] and was an England Amateur international for two years before turning professional in January 1981.

Early life

Watterson was born the son of George Robert Watterson (10 June 1911 - 16 July 1967) and Olive Ethel Pilkington (16 November 1910 - 6 May 1986). They married in 1937.

His full name is George Michael Edwin Watterson (he was named George after his father) but was always known as Michael or Mike. He was born on Wednesday 26 August 1942 in Chesterfield and he was the 3rd of 4 children (There was a last fifth who died only weeks old). However his birth was registered a day later as the 27th as his father who had been on nights in the steelworks during the war gave the incorrect birthdate.

Business activities

Watterson's early business career saw him work as a wages clerk and then as a car dealer. He was a salesman with the Sheffield-based Vauxhall dealers, Bentley Brothers, and was one of the first people in the country to sell the Vauxhall Viva when it was introduced in 1963.

In 1977, his late wife, Carole, went to see a play at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, and suggested to her husband that it would make the ideal setting for snooker. Knowing that there was a real danger that there would be no World Snooker Championship that year, Watterson spoke to the theatre's then-manager, Arnold Eliiman, and asked if he could stage the tournament there. Watterson rented the theatre for £6,600 for two weeks, and had to make a bid to the snooker association, guaranteeing them £17,000 from the tournament. It was accepted and the tournament remains at the now world-famous venue to this day, famous for its intimate atmosphere ^[2]

Later that same year, he created the UK Championship from scratch, and within a few years had set up the British Open and International Open, as well as arranging the sponsors and TV contracts with the BBC and ITV. In 1979 he created the first World Cup (snooker), sponsored by State Express. In effect, he was involved with the creation of most of the major professional tournaments that sprung up during the 1980s, many of which still exist to this day.

However, his relationship with the sport turned sour in 1983, when he was told by the WPBSA that he was no longer needed as a promoter. According to Gordon Burn's book Pocket Money, Watterson said that every time he missed a meeting, he found he had lost another tournament. In a relatively short period of time, he was squeezed out of the game, as the WPBSA started promoting the events themselves.

Watterson lays the blame for this on the late former WPBSA Chairman and snooker manager Del Simmons, as well as his former employee Paul Hatherell, and former player come WPBSA Chairman Rex Williams. He said that when he lost the World Championship, it was like someone had killed one of his children.^[2]

At various times, he also managed some well-known professional snooker players including Kirk Stevens, Cliff Thorburn, Jim Wych and Silvino Francisco.

Watterson also created the BDO World Darts Championship, an idea he came up with while sat in a barber's chair in 1977. Imperial Tobacco, who already sponsored the World Snooker Championship with their Embassy brand were also interested and with Watterson promoting the event Imperial also signed up to the darts version, which they were to sponsor for 25 years. Once again, Watterson arranged the sponsorship and TV contract with the BBC. The tournament was originally held at the Heart of the Midlands nightclub in Nottingham, which belonged to his late friend Derrick Wright. He then took it to Jollies in Stoke-on-Trent.

However, his relationship with darts turned sour when he accused BDO Chairman Olly Croft of stabbing him in the back, with the help of the late Peter Dyke of Imperial Tobacco. Today, Watterson no longer even watches the BDO World Championship on TV, believing the best players now play in the breakaway rival Professional Darts Corporation. He supported the reasons for the breakaway, which many leading players put down to Olly Croft's behaviour and attitude towards the professional game.

Watterson also created the system of sets and legs, creating a climax every 20 minutes and thereby maintaining the interest of TV viewers, which is used in darts and bowls to this day.

Elsewhere, he staged the first floodlit cricket in Britain in 1980, which was a six-a-side tournament between Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Kent, staged at Bramall Lane stadium in Sheffield.

In 1981 he created the first UK Indoor Bowls Championship at the Preston Guild Hall. He changed the format to 21 ends, to three sets of first to seven ends.

He took over promotion of ITV's Pro-Celebrity Snooker, held in Leeds, after Canadian Club withdrew their sponsorship. He got a new sponsor and ran the event for a few years.

Football Club Chairman

Watterson had an eventful spell as Chairman of Derby County Football Club in the early 1980s, which saw him bring Brian Clough's former assistant manager at arch rivals Nottingham Forest, Peter Taylor out of retirement to become manager of the Rams. Within a short period, Archie Gemmill and John Robertson had made the journey across from Forest, although Watterson never approved of the Robertson transfer, believing him to be past his prime. Battles in the boadroom and a disillusionment with the club's hooligan fan problem led to Watterson leaving within a few years.

In June 1983 he was approached by Chesterfield F.C. secretary Bob Pepper and the club solicitor Roger Woodhead, who advised him that the club was being wound up in the High Court in London, for debts totalling £91,000 to the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise. They asked him if there was anything he could do to help. He gave Pepper two cheques and told him to present them at the Court in four days. Watterson still has the cheque stubs as living proof, and the club was therefore saved. He then became Vice-Chairman of Chesterfield, but only stayed until November that year. However, he did return for a spell as Chairman which lasted just over a year, but he became disillusioned with football and the people in it, and only attended two matches between 1986 and 2014, but on Good Friday 2014, he made his first visit to Chesterfield's new home, the Proact Stadium, to watch the 1-1 draw against Exeter City as a guest of club director David Jones. He continues to follow the game closely on television.

Snooker commentator

During his time promoting ITV's Pro-Celebrity Snooker in the early 1980s, Watterson commentated on one episode alongside Rex Williams, who is now a sworn enemy of his. The series presenter was Mike Smith, a former master of ceremonies at major snooker events who went on to have a long career as a Eurosport commentator, before retiring in 2013. However, Watterson's main commentary career began in 1989 or 1990 when he began working for the original incarnation of Eurosport, which was then jointly owned by Sky Television plc and the EBU.^[3] His regular commentary partners were Canadian Jim Wych and Willie Thorne. The event he most enjoyed commentating on was the one-off Mita World Masters in 1991, an innovative event created especially for television by Barry Hearn. He also commentated on the British Open and International Open for several years, when the coverage moved from ITV to Sky. When Sky moved its sports programming from Eurosport to Sky Sports, which it owned outright, Watterson continued in the role. He stepped down from his commentary job with Sky in 1994 or 1995 because he wished to spend more time enjoying his property in Spain during the winter months.^[3] However, he did briefly work as a commentator for the current incarnation of Eurosport for a short while after that.

Current work

Watterson felt deeply hurt by the way snooker disposed of his services in the early-mid-1980s and never returned to business full-time again. He continues to hold a significant share portfolio and owns property in Britain and Spain. However, in late 2009 he announced his support for Barry Hearn's ultimately successful bid to take over professional snooker, and described it as "the best thing to happen to professional snooker in 30 years".^[3] He has stated he is willing to become involved in snooker administration again if asked. He remains in regular contact with his friend, snooker commentator and journalist Clive Everton.

References