UK Championship Barbican York, 12th - 20th November BBC, Eurosport

Yeah I thought that myself as well when he said pressure never affected him! This was the same fella who did that famous conceding early v Hendry. And counting the dots on a spoon, or with his towel over his head another time.

Ronnie never gets pulled up on such contradictions because he has played the ‘mental health’ card.

Not sure if you watched the discussion, but they were quite specifically talking about players performing on big stages in front of packed houses. Ronnie may have been stalked by many demons over his career, but that was never one of them. Murphy asked him what advice he would offer Zhou and he said none because it's basically something that is innate and can't be coached. Now, maybe that's debatable but I'd say there's something in that and i could list a number of talented players who underachieved because they could never do themselves justice in finals or one table set ups.

O'Sullivan was talking about champions - davis, Hendry, Higgins, tiger woods etc, who all had that ready made and arguably, innate, will and know how to win. And that's not something you get from any coaching manual. You can of course pick holes in his own mentality but then I'd argue those defects were manifestly due to multiple external factors and never to the occasion or opponent with the exception of Ebdon who he let torture him for one reason or another. Ronnie was just 18 when he rocked up in his first major final and battered hendry. Hard to imagine anything even remotely comparable happening in the near future. I hear people talk about Kyren Wilson as a future world champion, yet just 2 years ago Kyren turned up in a final against ronnie and was pretty much beaten before a ball was even struck. Judd I always thought had it from the off, just his flaws were of a different nature.

Talent plays a huge part. Youre 90% of the way there with it. I dont buy this work hard achieve anything mentality. Some people are just more gifted at certain things.

Also the top guys you mentioned there, and throw in any of the top sports people really - they can all be a bit of a cnut when it suits them.

So you reckon if you trained more you could've played for AC Milan and won the Champions League? And if you were Italian you could have won the World Cup?!

Or if you played ore snooker you could make the tour? I played hours of snooker every day for about 5 years during school/college. Didnt get a call from Barry Hearn....

Gladwell actually seems a nice guy and I've read a couple of his books which can be readable and entertaining. But i believe he has a tendency to take a position and then proceed to compile examples to fit his conclusions. He can make valid points but I wouldn't say he's always scientifically rigorous, and that 10,000 hours thing is a prime exhibit. There's a book called The Sports Gene by David Epstein which deals with the whole nature v nurture question that is very good and does a job in debunking Gladwell. Truth is it's a very complex subject, way beyond Gladwells attempted simplifications.

Of course it helps but does not mean that if you really try hard you can play for AC Milan!

I thought I was in the soccer thread - I was chalked and ready to go. I thought I got a kick and was transported to the wrong thread. Then thought I better find some way to blame the Qatari’s.

But as the man says ‘I ain’t really bovvered mate, it’s just a hobby really, you know’

On the snooker talent issue the four I think of that revamped their game/mind to get the best of their talent in no particular order.

1) Dennis Taylor / got the specs - plus his mother died and it gave him a different focus

2) Peter Ebon - went from the fast swashbuckling ponytailed potter - to a methodical slow style - with a cueball head on him

3) Mark Williams / was going to retire when he tried sight right - revamped his technique - it clicked for him straight away

4) Ronnie O’Sullivan - was once the great underachieving player in snooker -obviously ‘personal issues’ then Reardon - Peters- helped him at various stages. Plus Ronnie completely revamped his cue action.