Robert Milkins, his mental health battle and a gutsy 'life-changing' lesson in power of positive thinking beyond snooker

Updated 20/02/2023 at 16:12 GMT

Robert Milkins described his career-defining victory at the Welsh Open as the "biggest week of my life" after claiming the Ray Reardon trophy with a glorious 9-7 win over Shaun Murphy in the final. His success story set against the backdrop of some harrowing personal tragedy could be worth close to £300,000 with qualification for the Tour Championship, World Championship and Champion of Champions.

'He's come good!' - Milkins celebrates with Welsh Open trophy after beating Murphy in final

Not all superheroes wear capes. Some brandish snooker cues.

The wonderfully uplifting story of Robert Milkins in north Wales over the past few days is one of those glorious feel-good tales that remind you that professional sport is not merely about emerging victorious from combat.

It is about something entirely different, a sense of purpose hewn from a higher plane.

World Championship

'Declare your loyalty' - Murphy issues warning to potential breakaway snooker players

28/04/2024 at 20:36

The significance of sporting success continues to carry greater weight set against the ongoing personal hardship of everyday life.

It would be simple to say Milkins deserved his career-defining moment in lifting the Welsh Open – checking out of his lodgings in Llandudno with a veritable suitcase stuffed full of the folding stuff after a career-defining 9-7 win over Shaun Murphy – but that would be doing him a disservice.

Most people in life do not get what they deserve as Milkins has discovered in searingly painful fashion away from the table, but if you stay upright, you give yourself a chance of the momentum changing. Like it did dramatically against Murphy.

In the cut-throat environs of potting balls for prize money, you only get what you earn. In some respects, the Welsh Open was a microcosm of Milkins, the final resembling his life and times as he recovered strongly from 3-1 behind to claim eight of the closing 12 frames.

After a journeyman career mired in various but rather trivial moments over the past four decades – arguably highlighted by losing 1-0 to Nigel Bond in the 2011 Shoot Out final and reaching No. 14 in the world in 2014 – it all crystallized for Milkins on the cusp of turning 47 as he clutched the Waterford Crystal Ray Reardon trophy alongside proud kids Charlie, Elisha and Mia.

It is a remarkable success story, but one tinged with genuine personal tragedy after Milkins suffered the death of both his parents – his mum to cancer when he was only 19 – and his sister less than two years ago.

These are crushing blows that saw the Gloucester man battle depression and booze – most infamously when he needed his stomach pumped after overdoing it at the Turkish Masters last year – but he has emerged on the other side to showcase his rather unique cue sport skills, attacking, fluent and fabulously uninhibited, at the very highest level.

In the aftermath of his greatest day, he reflected on the time he was evicted from a flat amid the financial woes of trying to maintain an elite snooker career before a run to the quarter-finals of the Bahrain Championship in 2008.

Milkins continues to seek wise counsel and thanked his close friends Mandy and Dean, godparents to his kids, for helping him maintain the energy to keep getting out of bed in the morning.

“This has opened a lot of doors for me, I have got a lot of snooker to play now," said Milkins, who will face Tom Ford in the Players Championship on Tuesday evening in Wolverhampton.

“I have dedicated this to my friends Dean and Mandy. They are like family to me, they are godparents to all my children. When I have had problems in the past, like being evicted, they have taken me in and always been there. They are very important people for me.”

An unheralded win at the Gibraltar Open in March 2022 began a road to redemption that saw him enjoy a miraculous green baize rebirth over a startling 12-month period of potting, while he sought professional counselling after the death of his sister.

“I was in such a bad place, I can’t even explain it. I’ve never been like it before. Financially and my mental state was so bad," said Milkins after becoming a rock in Gilbraltar with 4-2 final win against Kyren Wilson.

"I was struggling. I was practising, but not as much as I wanted to. I couldn’t be bothered to do anything. I was struggling to be able to put food down for the kids. I didn’t really want to play.

"I couldn’t afford to get my table recovered, and at times I couldn’t even afford to pay £30 for petrol to go and play against somebody else. I’m moving on now and this win is so big for me."

How times change. His victory in Wales could be worth a minimum of £292,500 after 28 years of coming up short if he can secure qualification to the Tour Championship next month and retain his spot in the top 16 ahead of the World Championship in April.

He is guaranteed a place in the Champion of Champions later in the year. A late starter in life, who is to say how far he can go amid the feeling that he has been liberated from a sense of overwhelming underachievement?

Watch emotional moment Milkins wins Welsh Open in final against Murphy

Milkman in money – potential earnings

Welsh Open – £80,000
European Order of Merit Series bonus – £150,000
Tour Championship – £20,000
World Championship last 16 – £30,000
Champion of Champions last 16 – £12,500

This is a bloke who admitted he was "skint" a year ago as he battled to retain his professional tour card, having won only three matches all season before Gibraltar, two of those coming against Bond before 00147's impending retirement.

The second coming of Bob has been more dramatic than Milkins emerging to the rabid scrumpy-inspired sounds of I Am A Cider Drinker by The Wurzels before his matches.

He defeated Mark Selby (4-2), Hossein Vafaei (4-1), Mark Allen (5-1) and Tian Pengfei (6-2) on the path well trodden. A man dubbed 'The Milkman' had to stand up to a gruelling test of his bottle against Shaun Murphy in the final, but was magnificent under intense heat.

After Murphy moonwalked before the match, Milkins touched the stars after it.

This wasn't like sticking a few bob on down the greyhounds.

Like the old Noel Edmonds game show Deal or No Deal, Bob was faced with two boxes. One with £35,000 for finishing runner-up, the other with £230,000 up front. That is a whopping drop-off of 195 grand.

There was no hiding place for him with £150,000 heading to Ali Carter in deepest Essex if he lost.

World champion Ronnie O'Sullivan even joked on Eurosport he might want to give 'The Captain' a ring to split the bonus cash and ease the tension, but Milkins stood up to the moment, displaying a level of bravery that has shaped his personal outlook amid the indescribable pain of loss, one that renders the run of the old green baize irrelevant.

'Playing the final is hard enough!' - Milkins suggests BetVictor bonus will make him more nervous

"Delighted for @robmilkins147 and I mean that from the bottom of my heart! What a man," said Carter on Twitter.

The compliments came quickly from Selby and Allen too, working-class figures who appreciate the value of being left without a pocket to pot in.

Money is far from everything in life, but it certainly helps. The poignancy of the plot has not been lost on Milkins, one of the most genuine, affable and honest blokes you could wish to come across in any sporting sphere.

He is only too happy to chat snooker and life with anybody with his willingness to be open about his travels and travails appearing to provide a real cathartic experience for his own sense of well-being.

"Just one week is life changing, it’s unreal," he said. "Gibraltar last year kicked it all off for me, but this week is the biggest of my life on the table and I’ll probably never get another one like it."

Never say never. After wading through a mire of personal mental torture, turbulence and trauma, he has emerged from the darkness with his talent intact, self-belief sustained and earning capacity flourishing.

Bob Milkins is a man who climbed a mountain higher than Snowdon in Wales over the weekend, but ambled down a sunny hillside greater than the Great Orme on Sunday night at the peak of his powers. The power of positive thinking should not be lost among the plaudits.

He has earned every penny of it.