Gary Anderson had his hat-trick bid chopped after suffering shoulder damage cutting down trees.
And manager Tommy Gilmour says talk of him being finished as a top-level force are “b******s.” The two-time king of the Ally Pally turned in his worst-ever show in the World Championships when crashing out to Jeffrey De Graaf.
Anderson suffered a disastrous exit at the hands of the Swede having simply failed to perform. However, it can now be revealed that the 54-year-old was on painkillers as he played after an incident at home leading into the event. Anderson sustained the issue working at the grounds of his fishing lakes and toiled to overcome it against De Graaf.
The Scot made no fuss, but Gilmour confirmed: “For the last week he’s been suffering problems with his shoulder. He was cutting trees at the lake. That’s what happens when you have another job and you have to keep everything going.
“He admitted his shoulder was killing him and he was on the painkillers. That’s why he was just 15 percent on his doubles. He’s not been able to reach up to the doubles. On the way to the venue he seemed to be okay, but, obviously, it wasn’t right.
“A player of Gary’s calibre doesn’t only hit 15 percent on the doubles, I knew something was bothering him. He was really looking forward to the world championships.
“It’s a disaster in a way because he was looking forward to it and had put in some of the work. He’s got a proper job and that’s keeping him going. He enjoys the balance of his life at his lakes, the family and darts.”
Anderson’s defeat was a savage blow and put a halt to the excellent run of form in 2024 which had thrust him back amongst the elite. Immediately afterwards, Ally Pally fans murmured about him being done.
Defeat will see him lose ranking points and drop down the standings again after the recent resurgence, but Gilmour slapped back any notion the Flying Scotsman was pulling into the buffers.
He retorted: “Gary finished? What a load of b******s, he’s No.12 in the world! It was a bad night in the office. It’s not an excuse because he should be able to win these games.”
Anderson is already planning to get straight onto the horse once the Worlds is over as his manager revealed a Monday morning message of defiance.
Gilmour admitted: “I got a text from him this morning saying: I’ll make it up to you at the Masters. I’m going in for a heart operation at some stage over the next couple of weeks.
“I told him after last night: Nae wonder I’ve got heart problems. He responded and said he didn’t know I had a heart! That’s why I wasn’t down in London for his match, but [daughter] Stephanie was there to represent Dunvegan and look after him.”
Anderson is now eyeing the biggest events in the rankings in 2025 as he looks to keep up the form from before the Worlds that made him third-favourite to win the title behind Luke Humphries and Luke Littler.
However, the Scot is adamant he will not be making a return to the Premier League. Anderson was being touted for a place in the 16-week competition next year as PDC chiefs look to spice up the field.
The Musselburgh man stepped away from the gruelling event in the past season as he looked to stay fresh and avoid the endless week-to-week travelling through the opening half of the calendar year. Gilmour insists that stance will not be changing and has hit back at critics who believe he should make himself available to feature.
He said: “Gary is still very positive about having a good season. People are criticising him for not wanting to do the Premier League. There is not a chance in this world he would survive another year in darts if he did the Premier League.
“That would mean 17 weeks away constantly, he couldn’t do that. If they changed the set-up of the Premier League into two sections, so he could play every fortnight, he would probably look forward to it.
“We promised he could get back to playing Euro tournaments he could get to quite easily. He’s a great player and we’re trying to have him going for as long as he can enjoy it. I don’t want to take that enjoyment out of it for him. He’s now more interested in ranking tournaments so he can keep going and not fall away down the order of merit.”