Tom Ford Is Happy To Be Snooker's Most Miserable Man

“I am never going to cheer up in my interviews. I don’t like smiling"
22:00, 17 Nov 2022

Tom Ford is happy being snooker’s most miserable man. The 39-year-old from Leicester is into the quarter-finals of the Cazoo UK Championship for only a second time in York. 

And though a sociable member of the tour world No32 Ford – yet to win a full ranking title - himself admits he is best known for his downbeat demeanour. 

Like so many Ford struggled with lockdown. But the man who bears a passing physical resemblance to MC Rob Walker with a delivery similar to comedian Jack Dee insists this dates from way back. 

He said: “I have already got the tag of being snooker’s most miserable man – maybe along with Mark Davis. We are on a par. 

“I am always a glass half empty person. If you speak to anyone I am just one of those negative people, and always have been. 

“I am working with a sports psychologist Sabrina Francis on the snooker side, and that is helping me to think more positively. 

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“I am never going to cheer up in my interviews. I don’t like smiling. Either in interviews or when I am playing, I am not one for being in the spotlight. 

“I don’t like it, and it is a case of just get me out of there. I am not one of these that will come in for media laughing and joking with everyone. 

“I just want to get it all done and get out of there. What gets me excited? The pub! Just getting out of the building and going for a pint. 

“To get over the line against Luca Brecel and get to the quarter-finals was a big win for me because hopefully that is me in the Grand Prix, as I didn’t qualify for the English and the Scottish. 

“I knew it was a big game, and you don’t get many big paydays when you are ranked in the 30s in the world. So coming just before Christmas that will help. 

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“Though I am sure when the littl’un finds out he will want some more Christmas presents. 

“I am feeling a little bit better as the matches go on. I am not missing a lot, and didn’t miss loads against Luca though I was falling out of position quite a lot against John Higgins. 

“But my game is getting there and I am not far away from playing well, though it will need to improve again for the quarter-final.” 

Meanwhile Geordie Sam Craigie, 28, is the lowest-ranked player in the quarter-finals at a lowly world No47. Craigie was one of the most talented juniors of his generation but by his own admission did not dedicate himself to the sport in the way he should have as a younger man. 

That contributed to him falling off the tour in 2012 for four years, during which time he reached rock bottom doing a job that involved him delivering leaflets during a blizzard in Glasgow – and that proved a turning point as Craigie decided to knuckle down and give snooker another proper go. 

However Craigie, who takes on Mark Allen on Friday, is frustrated that now being far more professional and a father himself, he has not fully been able to shake off a reputation forged early in his career for not putting in 100 per cent and enjoying a very active social life.  

Three-time UK winner Mark Selby went public on live TV only very recently with the revelation that he helped sponsor Craigie’s early foray onto the tour but then withdrew the funding - believing that the beneficiary was not putting in the necessary work. 

Craigie remains furious at what he sees as this betrayal by Selby coming a decade after it happened as he now tries to make his way into the upper echelons of the sport. He said: “I thought it was embarrassing to be honest, bringing up a story from what, 10 years ago? 

“I might be wrong but that was a long time ago and it was just absolutely irrelevant. I don’t understand why he did it and I never will. It was a shock as to why someone who went through bad experiences and mental health has openly tried to knock someone else down. 

“Mark Allen though is someone I have had meals with and spoken to, and it was good to hear that he didn’t agree with the way I had been dug out live on TV. 

“The worst it ever got when I was off the tour was a mad job. Half of it involved learning karate, and the other half knocking on doors and delivering leaflets. And one time in Glasgow it was blowing a blizzard and I looked like a snowman. And at that moment I said ‘that’s it, I’m done’. I drove home and vowed to give snooker another proper try.” 

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