The ‘Tyneside Terror’ on his journey from child snooker prodigy to losing his tour card, before returning to the top at the Crucible
Gary Wilson was no longer folding crispy pancakes at the frozen food factory but he was a taxi driver when his long struggle to establish himself as one of the world’s best snooker players seemed an impossible dream. “That was the point where I started thinking: ‘It might never actually happen’,” Wilson says 13 years later. “I knew deep down it should and that, given the right circumstances, I would be good enough. But life doesn’t always work out as you want, does it? I was 25 and I thought I might be a taxi driver for a long time.”
There were times when Wilson was reduced to tears and, as he says, “generally, I’m not very emotional but that’s one area in my life where I’m very passionate. It’s my career and it’s been my dream for such a long time.”
