The truth....

I've been so busy and things have been kicking off so couldn't really be bothered writing loads of stuff...

So I'm "leaving" GB9...

The real story:

After I split up with Lee, all we could do is argue. About every little thing. This was not good for the tour, my health and all the other stuff... I had to leave his house and Barnsley.

I found a new job, room, flatmates and friends... It was stressful to move to a whole new city but I was up for the challenge... Unfortunately Lee had to keep calling or texting or emailing me every day... Tried to say that I would appreciate it if he would give me some space...
There's a reason we split up!!!

The running of GB9 only gave me more stress because that meant I had to keep in touch with him, which I rather didn't... At GB9 Shepherds Bush we did not get on and I started to think of the future. We couldn't keep on going like we were. Think everyone that was there noticed it wasn't going well. I told some of the committee members what I was thinking and that I wasn't sure what to do next year. Especially with trying to combine it with my full-time job. I got told that Lee was stepping down anyways so things would get better.

Unfortunately the arguments with Lee kept continuing and I was getting more and more stressed out. Then I got some bad news about my mum and I got sick myself. I asked a committee member to email around that I would not be available for a while so I could sort things out, but some person just kept on calling, emailing and texting me. I had had enough and decided to quit GB9 a week before Solihull.

I know it wasn't great timing but I just could not handle it anymore. A committee member then asked me to reconsider or at least stay till the end of the year.... After thinking and cooling down I decided to do this. Solihull comes and I really enjoyed running the tournament again. I wasn't as stressed out as I normally am but I realised why... It was because a certain person wasn't there... It really helped. The tournament ran well, early even and everything went as good as it could, seeing I forgot my charger for the laptop. Thanks again Mr Lim for letting me use your charger.

Day after Solihull I got asked to send loads of stuff over via email to Lee, asked him why and got told I wasn't needed anymore. I was not impressed because if they/he had told me this in advance I would have been able to say bye to everyone in Solihull and announced in a proper way. I emailed the committee to tell them I was just told this but apparently not everyone knew about his decision. Things were being said back and forth and eventually they decided that Lee would become the TD for Barnsley and 2010.

I got 2 options:
1. I come down on the Friday, work till the Saturday afternoon, get a small presentation and £150, train and hotel expenses paid.
2. I come down on the Saturday, not work, get the presentation, £100 and the train and hotel expenses paid.
But.... I had to come to an agreement about my reasons for leaving GB9.

Sorry but I couldn't. I can understand that they want to keep the tour in a good daylight but I can't agree to something I don't agree with..

So this is my side of the story... The will probably see a different side, but that's the point of sides right? Everyone sees things how they want to see it. I could copy loads of the emails from both sides, but I don't want this to become a war.. There's no point... It's not worth it. I have spend my last 2 1/2 years working on this tour for not much money, but for the love of the sport. But there comes a time in life when you have to start thinking of yourself!

It's a shame... I was talking to a big sponsor regarding a deal for £100000 over 5 years but it was a combined deal of a national tour with me as a TD... Trying to convince them to give me less with some smaller events but it's not as much of an attraction... Got some opportunities coming up that I'm thinking of doing because I suddenly have an extra 24 holidays for next year...

Friday I'm off to the GB9 in Barnsley to say hi to my old friends from when I lived there... And to say bye to some of the poolplayers of GB9... I'll still see some of them at the MBO events and maybe even at one of the other events that are coming up. I'm not done with the poolworld yet but the pokerworld is nice too ;-) Just don't expect GB9 to do much for me after this post! lol

Love you all!!! (except some!)