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Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen has spoken frankly about the reasons which led him to declare himself bankrupt.
The 36-year-old says he hopes the worst of his personal and financial problems are now behind him but concedes that he made “some wrong moves” in the past.
“I just overspent in every aspect of my life,” said Allen, who declared himself bankrupt in January 2021.
“Bankruptcy was the only choice. It’s easy to read that I made £3.5m on the table, but I spent it as fast it was coming in.”
Speaking to BBC Sport Northern Ireland, Allen, who has also gone through a costly divorce, described how he got himself “into such a hole”.
“It was sad saying that given what I’ve made in the game and how well I’ve done. It’s embarrassing, but the priority now is to get my life in order,” he said.
“I didn’t put any aside for a rainy day and if I was having a bad season I was still spending as if I was having a good season.
“You don’t put enough away for tax and everything just snowballs. All the legal stuff with the divorce, if you have to pay for lawyers and barristers, it all mounts up.
“If I could go back I would be more sensible with money. If there was a car available at £50,000 I bought one at £80,000. If there was a house available at £1,500 per month, I’d spend one at £2,500.
“Everything just snowballed. I’m currently in rented accommodation. It’s a bit embarrassing to say as number 10 in the world.
“I’m on guaranteed earnings going forward now and that takes away the risk of having a good season or bad.”
Allen recently reached the British Open final in Milton Keynes, beating Judd Trump and Mark Selby in the process, before suffering an agonising 10-7 defeat to Welshman Ryan Day in the final at the Marshall Arena.
One of the main talking points of the ranking tournament was the former World Championship semi-finalist Allen’s huge weight loss, which saw him shed almost five stone in the four months from last season.
“I had conversations with my partner Aideen and just said that I wasn’t feeling good in myself,” said Allen. “I felt heavy, not healthy when I was playing snooker.
“One of my friends said he worried about me getting too big, too unhealthy, and said if you keep going the way you are going, then you’re not going to be able to walk your daughter down the aisle.
“It was harsh but exactly what I needed to hear. Literally two days later I started eating better and instantly changing everything.
“The first six to eight weeks were really hard as it involved a total change when it came to eating.
“There were times last year when given my size I was uncomfortable on some of my shots, I couldn’t reach certain shots and, because I play at a fast pace, I could feel it on my breathing. It should help my game.”
Belfast win ‘came out of the blue’
Allen will begin the defence of the Northern Ireland Open title he won last year at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast on Sunday, 12 months after he was crowned champion during the height of his personal difficulties.
“It will be different going there with a different kind of pressure,” he said.
“I am usually a bundle of nerves because I want to do well for other people rather than myself, as is the case at other tournaments,” said the former Masters and Champion of Champions winner.
“That pressure should be gone now and I should have nothing to prove to the people of Northern Ireland that I can play.
“I just want to go there and enjoy the experience of being defending champion, hopefully that will take the pressure off and I can do well.
“It [the tournament win] came out of the blue last year because I wasn’t in a good place. It wasn’t a nice time.
“I don’t know where Belfast came from as I was going through a dark time. It was just a really trying time.”
