Robert Milkins provided a brutally honest assessment of his relegation from the World Snooker Tour, branding himself as “lazy”.
The Englishman spent the best part of 31 years as a professional player before dropping off the main tour at the end of the 2025/26 campaign.
Milkins had matched his career-high world ranking of 12 as recently as 2023 but suffered a rapid demise amid a sudden but prolonged spell out of form.
After finishing last season outside the world’s top 64, Milkins headed to Q School in an attempt to retain his professional status.
But a brace of 4-3 defeats to Duane Jones and Gong Chenzhi ended his aspirations and consigned him to at least one year of amateur status.
“I couldn’t really handle Q School this year,” Milkins said on Pluto TV at the Snooker 900 recently. “It was something different.”
“Although I did play well in it, I just didn’t really handle it when it came down to the crunch.
“Not very good,” Milkins then admitted when asked about how he handled losing his tour card. “But it’s all my fault anyway.”
“I’ll be honest with you, without going too much into it, but I just lost my head completely. I upset a lot of people.
“I disrespected the game. I’ve done it before, and I just fell out of love with the game.
“I’ll get it back, because I’ve done it before. But I’m one of these players who, when I get myself up there, I don’t push on.
“I’m just too lazy, you know? I’ve done it this time, and things have got out of hand. I’m going to try and get it back.
“I’m going to really concentrate now for the Q Tour. I’m going to give that my best, and I will start playing well.”
Remarkably, it is only a few years ago when Milkins had seemingly turned his career around in a positive manner.
The Gloucester player, who credited counselling as an inspiration for his better consistency at the time, captured his maiden ranking event trophy at the Gibraltar Open in 2022.
A year later, Milkins’ memorable triumph at the Welsh Open earned him his biggest career title and a European Series bonus worth £150,000.
“That’s one thing that nobody can take away from me. You know, I showed my bottle there,” Milkins said. “But it seems so long ago now.”
“The things that have happen recently have sort of…well, not belittled it…but I’ve sort of forgotten about it.
“I haven’t got any love for the game at the moment,” he later added. “I really haven’t got it, and I need to get it back. I don’t know how I’m going to get it back.”
“What normally happens is when you run out of money, you start working again. Like I said, I rested on my laurels when I got in the top 16.”
Milkins has played several times this season as a top-up player on the World Snooker Tour, winning a match at the China Open qualifiers.
The 50 year-old’s primary focus this term will be Q Tour, however, as he attempts to rediscover his passion for the sport.
A 4-0 loss to Stuart Watson represented a disappointing start at Q Tour Event 1, but Milkins will be back in action on Tuesday when he participates in Q Tour Event 2 in Bulgaria.
Featured photo credit: WST
