The true story behind Cameron Menzies’ live TV breakdown and phone call darts star got from Rangers legend Ally McCoist
CAMERON MENZIES broke down in tears at the Ally Pally because he wanted to win for his ill day Ricky.
The drama at the Ally Pally came just hours after Ally McCoist had given support to the under pressure Scot ahead of his World Championship clash.
The Ayrshire star was distraught as his dreams were shattered in London as fans hounded him with chants and jibes.
His manager Tommy Gilmour has revealed the true story behind Menzies’ stage breakdown in the latter stages of his defeat to Leonard Gates on Monday night.
Just minutes after the harrowing scenes, Menzies posted a picture on social media next to his dad Ricky in a hospital bed saying “this is all”.
Gilmour opened up on what Menzies has needed to cope with in the lead up to the Ally Pally and why he sought the help of legend McCoist.
He admitted: “Ally McCoist is his greatest hero in sport. So I got Ally to phone him just a couple of days ago, once his old man had had the operation and just to try and cheer him up because he spent the last couple of weeks up here in Scotland, trying to do it.
“We were aware that he was going in under a lot of stress and this was the best way to try and shake him up because he’s never, for all his biggest heroes, he’s never actually spoken to or mentioned anything to do with Coisty.
“But I knew that that was his hero, so I got Coisty to speak to him, to do it. But it’s only now that his dad’s starting to make improvements.
“That’s it, but that’s obviously been at the back of his mind.
“I’ve been speaking to him and he’s not been feeling well the last few days anyway, but the main thing was, no matter what was going on, he knew that his dad, more than anything, would want him to play, rather than me saying: Cammy, don’t play in the World Championships.
“I don’t think that that would have been the right thing to do. It was a decent draw. I think, under normal circumstances, he had the beating of Leonard Gates.
“But with all the pressure that he’s had with dad and his family and everything else, it was great that Ally came in to try and do his wee bit to give him a wee pick-me-up.
“With somebody who’s an emotional person at the best of times, for somebody like Cammy to just forget about it while his dad’s still in the hospital, albeit that Cammy tells me that he’s on the mend and each day he’s getting better.
“But all those pressures all at the one time.”
Menzies has been seeing a sports psychologist to help with anxiety on stage and was clearly seen taking deep breaths as his Worlds dream unravelled.
Gilmour added: “He suffers from asthma, anyway. So that’s what he’s been doing. I spoke to him Sunday and he’d been slightly under the weather.
“He tries to make a joke of the man flu and everything else like that, but it’s obviously the pressure and the excitement of his dad being ill and also playing in the biggest stage in his sport.
“But he certainly shouldn’t beat himself up in any way because the progress that he’s made in the last 12 months has been absolutely superb and he’ll certainly be there for next year.”
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