Jimmy White & Alex Higgins The UNTOLD Snooker's Wildest Scandals Their Manager Told Us Exclusively!🤫

Harvey Lisberg, Managing the Bad Boys of Snooker. Jimmy White and Alex Higgins. An exclusive interview with the author of Managing the Bad Boys of Snooker. Inside the world of Snooker's most iconic players. Announced music industry manager Harvey Lisberg, best known for managing iconic acts like Herman's Hermits and 10cc, has turned his attention to the world of Snooker in his latest book, Managing the Bad Boys of Snooker. Jimmy White and Alex Higgins, co-written with Charlie Thomas. We had the privilege of chatting with him about his book and hearing some of the wild tales from those truly head-spinning days. Reflecting on his career, Lisberg notes, the idea was to give a feel of what it was like in those days, because they were unbelievable days. Managing Jimmy White, a rollercoaster of talent and troubles. Managing these larger-than-life snooker players, Jimmy White and Alex Higgins, meant many ups and downs, according to Harvey. However, their resilience and determination shone through, inspiring all who witnessed their journey. His relationship with White, despite contractual disputes and settlements, remains intact to this day. So, in 1984, we had another three years to go, and somebody got talking to him, an ex-player who'd made a fortune in property in London. Jimmy just left, even though he had re-signed an extension agreement, Lisberg recalls. In England, the law is you can't hold anybody to a service contract. All you can do is get damages. After six months of battle, we got a tremendous settlement, which we didn't want. I would have carried on managing him if I could've. We're always friendly, because he's a lovely boy. You couldn't ever be angry with him, and I speak to him virtually daily now. In fact, I'm more or less, in a way, representing him now, which is weird. I negotiated a film deal for him and other things, but I always liked him. He was a wonderful player, the best sportsman I've ever been involved with. If he made a foul shot that the referee didn't see, he would call it himself. He was unbelievable. Alex Higgins, the unmanageable genius. While managing Jimmy White, Harvey then took on White's idol, Alex Higgins. Lisberg's tenure with Alex Higgins proved even more volatile, and with Alex Higgins, we signed him because he saw a great job we're doing on Jimmy White. He explains, we put him in a hospital, tried to get him off drinks and everything, and he went through a horrible phase there because of coming off drugs and drinking. It's not easy. When it finished, he was then very abusive to all the staff at my office, because he was a rough diamond. He had two sides. He improved by 25 percent when he came out of the hospital. I told my partners that we had a meeting, and it was a big meeting of the four members of the company that controlled our sports interests. And it was three to one that we voted to get rid of him, because he was so much trouble. I put a huge bet on him to win the tournament, but he had no chance of winning. I put, I think, one thousandths on the 25-1, and he went and bloody won it. Not only did he win it, but he beat Jimmy and all the others along the way. It was like a double whammy for me. The only money we ever made out of Higgins was that bet, and the only money we really made out of Jimmy was the court case. Higgins, known for his reckless spending habits, often found himself in financial turmoil. Alex never had any money, because he would bet 25,000 pounds in an afternoon on the races. He recalls, whatever money Alex ever had went in and out. We had a professional snooker league, and he was in it. And it got to a stage where it was getting into real trouble, so we decided we'd better fold this league. Alex then decided that I owed him 4,000 pounds. So every time I phoned him, he said, Harvey, why don't you pay me the 4,000 times? And I said, Alex, look, it went into liquidation. Forget it. It's nothing personal. It just didn't work out. The Higgins phones me up one day and says, I believe you're putting David Bowie on at Main Road. Could you get me tickets? I said, don't worry, Alex. I'll get you tickets. I phoned my partner and said, get him two tickets in the director's box, whatever happens, and make sure he's looked after. Alex goes to see David Bowie, and the next morning, he phones the office. Harvey, that was fantastic. Forget the 4,000 pounds. That was his mentality when he got some money. It had nothing to do with reality. He was in a cloud of his own. I think Alex was unmanageable, quite honestly. He was just a phenomenally brilliant player, a wild kid from the streets of Belfast, and had his own laws and rules of life. He was the bad boy of snooker. Navigating scandals and protecting reputations managing snooker players involves more than just overseeing contracts. Luesberg recounts how he once had to suppress a scandalous story involving Jimmy White and a British reporter. Jimmy really did some stupid things. He once vetted a reporter from the Daily Mirror after an interview, and the news of the world, which was the biggest, like the National Enquirer in England, was going to run a two-page feature because this reporter had spilled the beans. My job as a manager was to keep him out of this, keep all the dirt out of the press. I managed to do it because I always employed the best people, from my artists and the publicist who represented Sinatra, and the Rolling Stones did a deal with the editor of the news, the world. I never knew what it was, and I had to keep that story out, and I don't know how he did it. And Jimmy came out of the house, and I said, Jimmy, you can go with anybody but a reporter after an interview. How stupid is that? And after about 10 minutes, you're back laughing with him because he's like the artful dodger. Today, White has turned his life around and working as a commentator for Sky Sports. He's clean now, no drugs, no drinking, a different person, he says, a life among crazy characters. Crazy characters were everywhere, whether they were managers, Colonel Parker, Elvis Presley's manager, or snooker players, Jimmy White and Alex Higgins, he says wistfully. Wherever I went, there were people that had very bad managers. I think it has to do with money, glamour, and celebrities. It attracts all these wild people. That's what I lived through. He shared a couple of stories of the excesses of those days. My wife came to America, and my lawyer said, oh, I'll arrange for her to be picked up at the airport. She's picked up in a White Rolls Royce. I mean, it was all out of all proportion. We lived like billionaires, you know. It was just crazy, and everything was provided. When we went to Las Vegas for the first time, and in those days, Las Vegas was unbelievable, I got to the hotel with Herman's Hermits, and the manager said to me, oh, everything you have on your bill will be free. Go to the shop, do what you like, spend what you like. It's all free, and we've given each of your boys a hundred, one hundred thousand dollar credit limit each. This was in 1960. It's probably a million dollars today, and I said, I don't think we'll be using that. We didn't, obviously. I didn't tell the boys about it either, but that's how they suck you in. The secrets to successful management. When asked about what makes him a successful manager, Harvey shared his thoughts. I think experience, finding the right person, believing in it, staying with it, and also being able to let it go. You can't flog a dead horse, you know what I mean? The other thing that I was good at was delegating. I used the best accountant and the best lawyer. If Jimmy needs a photograph, we've got Lord Litchfield to do the photography, who'd just done Princess Diana and Prince Charles. We always went right to the top, but persistence, taking rejection, always, and in the end, only take on what's brilliant, what you really know is brilliant, and also try to avoid problems. He credits his 55-year marriage to his wife, Carol, for giving him a normal life away from the craziness of his past rock and roll life. He reflects, you've got to be very strong to be able to resist that, but if it's thrown at you all the time, it's, it's not that easy. I mean, I wasn't married at the time, so I was a bachelor. It didn't really match up to me. I got so fed up with it that by the time I was 27, I thought, that's it, I'm out of here, I've had enough, I can't take anymore, I'm gonna settle down. Lisberg recently quit gambling. You go through a time in life where your luck is so preposterous. I couldn't lose a gambler, and that's unbelievable. I used to go with my wife and my in-laws to London, and I'd go to the gambling club to play roulette. I kept winning, and they kept saying we wanted to go to bed. We're up until 4 30 a.m., and I won ten thousand and paid everybody's hotels for the weekend. It was crazy. Maybe because we're making so much money, we have no fear of money, and as a gambler, you have no respect for money. It's just paper. When luck changes, it's oh, we'll have it, the money next week. Oh, the bank's overdrawn. Well, we'll get money, and we'll borrow from people. Become so very impulsive and stupid. I was gambling so much not to make money, but it just took a lot of time up, and if you bet on a football match, it's two hours of the day gone. You bet on an American football, it's four hours. Lisberg adds, I've noticed that since I've stopped gambling, I've got a lot of time on my hands, but it's been a good life. Get your copy. Today, managing the bad boys of snooker, Jimmy White and Alex Higgins is available for purchase from amazon.com. For the full review, please click on the link in the description box below. And again, you're welcome. Collaborations or if you want to join our next event, make sure to subscribe and hit the bell and share. You can also add me online on at tinkiebelleza, t-i-n-k-e-e-b-e-l-l-e-z-z-a. Make sure the T is capital, and send us a message first so we don't miss you. You can also add us on line app by our QR code. Make sure to follow and like us on Facebook as well, at fashionexta, that's www.facebook.com slash fashionexta. Follow us on Instagram at fashionecstasy, also my personal account at tanya.fashionecstasy. We are also on Twitter at fashionecstasy and my personal account at shuetanya, it's H-S-U-T-A-N-Y-A. Or more just visit our website at fashionecstasy.com, thank you for watching. Make sure to subscribe and hit the bell. 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