“I’ve had so many ups and downs,” he says. “After that first Sporting Chance session, I knew it was the best thing I could do. I thought it was all to do with my sister but it was a lot to do with my mum. I didn’t realise how much I was struggling mentally.”
By the end of six sessions, Milkins and his counsellor decided help was no longer needed, although the option for further counselling is there if required.
World Snooker clearly think that he is going in the right direction. In the aftermath of the Turkey low, his walk-in song I Am a Cider Drink by the Wurzels was replaced by another of their records, I’ve Got a Brand New Combine Harvester.
Milkins has never made it past the second round at the Crucible, but going into this year’s tournament his belief is completely different. “I’m going in as a seed with a bit more pressure,” he says. “But what’s the pressure really? If I lose, the worst that can happen is I walk away for a couple of months and reflect on a great season. But I’m feeling sharp, I’m hoping for a half-decent run.”
That attitude is helped by him having been able to pay off his mortgage this year and bank some money.
He cannot entirely explain quite how the turnaround has come so late in his career. “When I won Gibraltar, it was like somebody was looking down on me — actually a few of them!” he says.
“It was like fate, like it was meant to happen. I’d been to six ranking semi-finals before but never behind that. Now I know I don’t bottle it at the business end of tournaments.”
