Graeme Dott - Frame of Mind: The Autobiography of the World Snooker Champion

I dedicate this book to Alex Lambie. Without him I would never have achieved a fraction of what I have managed to do. He backed me, he supported me and he gave me the confidence and self-belief to play snooker at the highest level. He was one of the kindest men I ever had the privilege of meeting and he died far, far too young.

And without Alex in my life, there would have been no Elaine. I owe her a special thank you for being such a wonderful wife and fantastic mother. She was my rock when I was at my lowest and my best friend through all the highs and lows. I know that it could not have been easy for her when my depression was at its worst but through it all she offered nothing but support and love. She stood by me and we came through it. Now our family is complete with our children, Lewis and Lucy and we could not be happier.

I also want to say thank to Mum, Dad, Uncle George, my brothers John and Billy, my friends Jim and Alexander and to everybody else who has helped me throughout my life, on and off the snooker table.

G raeme Dott is one of the most delightful people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. He is a credit to himself, to his family and to the game of snooker.

I first came across him many years ago when he was struggling with his game and came down to Wales to see me. We sat down and spoke for hours. It was obvious to me that there wasnt much wrong with Graemes game but, like many players before and since, he had reached the point where he had almost lost the will to play the game because he wasnt producing the results he knew he was capable of.

Sport is like that. When you are at the top of your game, you cant wait to get out there and do your thing, whether it be football, tennis, golf, snooker or whatever. But when your confidence takes a knock, it can start to affect all sorts of things.

One of the key things that Graeme and I worked on was motivation. I realised that he was a very competitive individual and that, if he could get his preparation and his motivation sorted out, he would soon start winning matches again and, when he did that, so his confidence would return.

Graeme may say that I unlocked something in him and the results were pretty immediate because within a matter of weeks he had reached his first final and made a maximum break, winning himself a car in the process. The truth is that Graeme did it all himself.

And he also did it all himself when he went on to win the World Championship. I listen to people talking about talented and gifted snooker players it was said for years that Jimmy White was the most talented player ever to pick up a snooker cue but, in my mind, talent is all about winning. Graeme Dott is a winner, and I cant tell you how delighted I was when he won the World Championship.

He went through some very dark days and difficult times when his father-in-law died, and it is to his eternal credit that he has come out the other side. It cannot have been easy for him.

To be honest, I thought that his form, when he lost in the final of the 2010 World Championship, was better than when he won it. Many so-called gifted players have never been world champion it takes special qualities to reach that status; qualities that Graeme possesses in spades.

Some pundits suggest that he is not the most fluent of players, but he is certainly one of the most determined. He looks as if he is trying his heart out on every shot that he plays and I have always believed that, if you say that about yourself, you can go home and sleep easy at night.

I love watching Graeme play. It is great to see him back among the games elite and it looks to me that he is ready to start winning again. His story is an inspirational one and I cant wait to read it.

Terry Griffiths

I was sitting in class one day and Mrs McDonald, a teacher I didnt get on with, was talking about forthcoming exams. She was really winding me up, and eventually I said, Listen, I dont care about the exams.

Dont be silly, she said. Why dont you care about them, Graeme?

Because I am not going to be sitting them. I am going to be leaving school.

And what are you planning to do with the rest of your life?

I am going to become a professional snooker player.

Graeme, you will never make a living as a snooker player.

I remember her words very clearly. She had obviously never heard of Stephen Hendry and was oblivious to the explosion of interest in snooker that he had generated. Alan McManus, John Higgins, Drew Henry There was a production line churning out top players. Finally, it seemed, Scotland had found a sport that it could dominate.

And I wanted to be part of that production line. Stephen was setting new standards, breaking records all over the place and earning lots of money. He was an exciting player. It seemed that every time he got in among the balls he would score a century.

Despite Mrs McDonalds words, I knew that I could play a bit. I was winning junior and amateur tournaments all over the country, and receiving positive publicity, which delighted the likes of the headmaster at Lochend, my secondary school. It was just a shame that Mrs McDonald did not agree with my chosen career path, whereas some teachers encouragement can stay with you for your whole life.

I remember having to pick a subject in third year to make up the numbers for my GCSEs and I opted for photography. To be honest, I thought it would be a good opportunity to have a bit of a laugh, and I was really looking forward to it until I walked into my first lesson and there was Mrs McDonald. How did that happen?

Dont get me wrong. She wasnt a bad teacher, she didnt mistreat me and I didnt hate her, but I just couldnt relate to her. And what right did she have to tell me that I wouldnt make it as a snooker player anyway?

At least my parents, my brothers and my uncle George all seemed to believe that I could make a decent living from the game. Later, the support of Alex Lambie (my manager) and his daughter Elaine would also be invaluable.

Yet, in their own way, Mrs McDonalds words had encouraged me in an unexpected way. She had made me absolutely determined to prove her wrong.

I was born in Easterhouse on 12 May 1977 into a traditional working-class Glasgow family: my father John, my mother Susan and three older brothers, John, Robert and Billy. I was the baby of the family, the last chance for a girl, but it didnt happen.

As you will discover, I grew up in a pretty tough area and knowing that I could call on my brothers if I needed to was extremely useful. It meant that I didnt get into much trouble.

My grandfather, my dad and my uncle have all, at some time, worked for Yarrows, the shipbuilders on the River Clyde. For much of the 20th century there was a huge workforce employed on the Clyde and the yards built some of the worlds most famous liners, including the QE2.

Most of the men who worked there had what were regarded as jobs for life and their sons would follow them into the shipyards. For years it provided a working wage for thousands of Glaswegian men. The work was demanding but the guys also had plenty of fun. Billy Connolly, the Big Yin, worked in the shipyards on the Clyde and it was there he met many of the characters who formed the basis for much of his early comedy work.

When Dad left Yarrows, it was to work in a giant refrigeration unit. It would be fair to say that the majority of the men knew how to look after themselves in order to survive in that environment, you had to. They would receive their weekly pay packet and then head off to the pub for a few drinks on a Friday night and, hopefully, when they got home there would still be some money to give to their wives. These men worked hard all week but they played hard too, my dad among them.