Think of Barry Hearn as a schoolteacher – Mr Hearn, if you will. In one class, he has his darts boys: willing to learn, always open to new ideas, you might call them Mr Hearn’s swots. In the other class, he has his snooker boys: every bit as bright as the other lot, but a bit of a pain in the Crucibles.

And so, on day three of the World Championship in Sheffield, Mr Hearn was forced to read his snooker boys the riot act. First, he had one of his star pupils – two-time winner Mark Williams – bad-mouthing his hosts; second, he had the naughtiest boy in class – Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen – accusing one of the new kids of cheating, before suggesting some of his mates were at it as well.

While Hearn has too much front about him to ever look hurt, some of his language betrayed his true feelings.

“I want everyone to understand it is a very good time to be a snooker player,” said Hearn. “Not a good time to be an idiot."

“Everything is going our way. We’re doing everything we can to make this game great again and then the ground gets taken from under us. Prize money has more than doubled in two years [Hearn took over as chairman of World Snooker in 2010] and that comes at a price, and that price is professionalism.”