Graeme Dott slams Crucible critics: ‘I think it’s a little bit of an excuse’

Graeme Dott says he doesn’t want to hear any criticism of the Crucible and suggests those that want a change to the World Snooker Championship are just looking for excuses for their own poor performances.

The home of the World Championship has had its critics over the last few months, with the likes of Neil Robertson, Judd Trump and Stephen Maguire all suggesting the tournament should move from the Sheffield venue.

Many fans are strongly opposed to a move, firmly attached to the historic South Yorkshire theatre, while other players, notably Kyren Wilson, Anthony McGill and Joe Perry, have dismissed the idea of a new home for the event.

Complaints tend to be about the size of the Crucible Theatre, either in terms of number of spectators or the space available in the playing area itself.

Robertson in particular has made the point that he finds the Crucible in the two-table set-up is too tight to play some shots properly, although he did say this year that he practiced specifically to deal with that and did not blame the issue for his surprise last 16 defeat to Jack Lisowski.

It was the eighth year on the spin that the brilliant Australian has failed to make it to the semi-finals, though, and Dott believes criticism of the Crucible stems from him looking for reasons why he has not done better in Sheffield, despite being one of the world’s best and the 2010 world champ.

‘I don’t really like people that say it’s wrong or that you should change it, I’m not for that,’ Dott told the Talking Balls podcast. ‘I’m fairly sure it’ll be the same size when Ray Reardon won it, it’s the same test.

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