fireman

On-fire Soutar thanks backing from Scotland captain Robbo

On-fire Soutar thanks backing from Scotland captain Robbo

By Phil Lanning

ALAN SOUTAR admits that backing from Scotland captain Andy Robertson has fired him up for more Worlds glory.

The Arbroath fireman produced another red-hot display to beat World No.7 Jose De Sousa with an epic 136 finish to win 4-3 at the Ally Pally.

It now means Soots, 43, is into the last 16 of the Championship and will face Callan Rydz on Thursday for a place in the quarter-finals.

He revealed: “Scotland captain Andy Robertson has just tweeted me. The hysteria behind all that is just incredible. 

“The backing on social media from Scotland is incredible. I’m on my own on that stage in a cauldron of English fans. It’s a daunting place to be. 

“But when you can go home from a win and go on social media and look at all the nice comments, it’s really pleasing. 

“When you go up there you have got to be focused. If you start thinking about interviews and your hometown, that’s when the wheels fall off.

“But when you win the elation, the feeling that you get for Scotland for me is amazing. 

“It’s amazing to feel the backing from my hometown. My football club are all sending me messages of good luck, congratulations and keep it going. The Arbroath spirit. 

“At the same time I’ve been at work for the last two days so I don’t get caught up in all that. So it’s worked so far.

“When I was at 3-3 in sets I thought I’ve got to swap anyway on the 31st so I might as well win and swap tomorrow. It’s cool, the swaps are covered until the 1st of January.

“I’m not worried about who I face next at all. I don’t fear any of the top players. They’ve got to beat me. End of the story.”

Soutar missed 11 darts at doubles in the first set and lost it to the Portuguese star but fought back to force a last set decider, despite surviving match darts. 

He added: “My hands are absolutely soaking with sweat. People back home don’t understand how nerve-wracking that is and it’s so horrible.

“My emotions are the same, it was kind of the same game as before and a tight finish.

“But in my head I should have been in more control of that. He didn’t turn up at all.

“It’s a fire brigade pun, would hose A or hose B turn up and it was the latter. He didn’t turn up and I’ll take that all day long. 

“After the first set I was beating myself up. I felt that when I came back up on stage for a couple of throws. I needed to get it out of my system, it’s so hard to forget blowing a great chance to go one set up.

“Mensur Suljovic and Jose’s mentality seemed to be exactly the same. You could see him posting a 59, 58 or 57 and he was struggling. 

“I felt in the first set that he was terrible. I kind of felt it when we went backstage. He snatched the first set off me. In the room where you go back to he couldn’t deal with the crowd either, the noise, the atmosphere and the heat. He was struggling and I kind of picked up on that. I thought: ‘Take your chance’.

“Even though he’s World No.7, he’s struggling up there. It is a fairytale. I think someone is looking down on me, especially when they miss match darts. I think maybe it’s just my time.”

Fireman Soutar ready to blaze trail like pal Cross

Fireman Soutar ready to blaze trail like pal Cross

By Phil Lanning

FIREMAN Alan Soutar is ready to blaze a trail at the Ally Pally like his pal Rob Cross.

The Arbroath ace takes on Jose De Sousa tomorrow (Weds) as he bids to continue his debut dream run in the World Championship.

Soutar, 43, has already beaten Diogo Portela and won an epic tie-breaker with Mensur Suljovic with a 144 finish, arguably the match of the tournament so far.

Now he hopes he can emulate practice buddy Cross who won on his debut in 2018.

He revealed: “I’m looking at it and seeing who I can get if I do this and then do this.

“I know everything that is in front of me and it is Carpe Diem isn’t it?

“For the last eight months, I have been friends with Rob on the Pro Tour.

“I had never met the guy before apart from exhibitions, but we have struck up a friendship straight away.

“His manager Rab Bain is Scottish as well, so it is sort of linked with me and him.

“Rob is just a great guy and I had about 12 hours practice in four of five days with him when I was down in London before Christmas.

“I knew I was ready to go out on stage after that. It didn’t all come out on the stage, but his level of darts is the next level above me.

“So if I can battle with him and push him and make him do what he does best, it is great practice.

“I know what you are saying about Rob walking in here for the first time and then walking out with the trophy.

“Let’s see. Let’s just say that 2022 is the year of the Soutar. Let’s go for it.”  

The former Royal Marines commando turned firefighter, worked a whopping 30 hours night shifts on Christmas Eve and Day in Dundee before returning to London to prepare to face De Sousa. 

The Portuguese star is another stern test having won the Grand Slam in 2020 and reached the Premier League final earlier this year.

But Soutar remains confident, adding: “Of course. I’m a good dart player and I know I am.

“I just want to try and produce good stuff in front of the TV cameras and crowds. I can do it on the floor and I’ve shown it.

“It’s a different animal on the stage, but I’m 43 years of age and I am still learning how to deal with it because nothing compares to it.

“It’s experience all the way, but let’s go and win it. Why not?

“In my head this year, I wanted to just go and win games on the Pro Tour.

“Then all of a sudden I’m in the Top 64 in the world, I’m pushing. The guys that came from Q School with me were a couple of big stars like Barney.

“But I think I came out and hit the ground running. I don’t know how to explain it. I think that’s me into the Top 56 in the world.

“Of course you look ahead. If anyone says they don’t, they are talking rubbish.”

Soutar has enjoyed an incredible year after winning his PDC Tour Card then going on to beat the likes of Raymond van Barneveld, Peter Wright, Dave Chisnall in big events – raking in almost £50k in prize money.

He added: “It has probably changed my life already. Just getting my Tour card changed my life.

“It changed my home life, it changed my work/life balance. I know from the interviews that came after the Mensur match it was a cracking game.

“It was nice to see what everyone was saying about it.”

Images by Lawrence Lustig.

DARTSDRIVE_24

Soutar admits: No sir, he won’t boogie for walk-on

By Phil Lanning
EXCLUSIVE

SIZZLING Alan Soutar will be cheering on Scotland in England but won’t be changing his walk-on tune to new Tartan Army anthem Yes Sir, I Can Boogie!

The red-hot fireman has been one of the biggest stories of the PDC this year after reaching the UK Open quarter-finals and qualifying for the World Championship after winning almost £20k in ranking money.

Now Arbroath ace Soots, 43, embarks on the latest ProTour Super Series in Milton Keynes on Monday with one eye on Steve Clarke’s men.

He said: “I’m especially passionate about the national team. I think Monday is massive for us. That’s the two lesser favoured teams if you like, if we can get something from the Czech Republic, then you never know next Friday!

“We are massive underdogs against England and Croatia. But a win on Monday and then a draw out of one of the other two games and we’ll get through.

“I’m toeing the oche on Monday at 2pm when the game starts. I have to switch off from football and focus on darts, but I’ll check as soon as I can.

“On Friday I’m actually travelling from Milton Keynes to London for one of my sponsors. I have packed my tartan trousers and my Scotland top. I don’t know if I’ll make my flight home!

“The buzz around Scotland and the social media, everything feels amazing. Everyone is coming into work with the retro football shirts on. I just bought the 1982 yellow strip. I love the patriotic nature of Scotland and the fans during a major championship. 

“Obviously the Tartan Army have adopted Yes Sir I Can Boogie as their theme. But I can’t have it as my walk-on for the World Championship because it’s too slow. Also the Ally Pally won’t be full of Scots in London in December. I’m probably changing my walk-on song to fire-related for my job like Disco Inferno by The Trammps.”

Soutar admits that he has the right mentality to deal with his leap into the PDC big time after serving in the military in some of the toughest conditions. 

He added: “I was a commando with the Royal Marines. I was more in the peace-keeping forces in the 90s and early 2000s, that was in Bosnia, Kosovo and Northern Ireland. But we saw quite a lot of horrible stuff, especially in Kosovo.

“But I feel that the fire brigade is a worse scenario because I deal with death a lot more. You are with people, trying to save them.

“A lot of things don’t bother me, I have perspective about what is important in life. I have the right temperament to deal with darts.

“It’s a state of mind. My wife Amanda always says to me that I’m maybe cold and have a stone heart, emotionally. 

“I can just switch off and just play darts, it doesn’t really bother me that it’s Peter Wright or Dave Chisnall, they’re just the same as me. I know they have got higher profiles but I know I can play at a 100 average level. I just need to do it at the right time against these players.”

Soutar remains super-cool about his progress and it will be new era for him in Milton Keynes with his own Mission Darts.

He added: “My management have crunched the numbers and looked at the FDI Index and they talked about 10 grand being the qualifying mark for the World Championship in years gone by and obviously past that.

“To be honest I like to play things down but in the back of your mind you want to push yourself as far as you can.

“Now that I’ve had a taste of it and I’ve been in the room and seen everyone, I’m now quite confident going down to these events.

“It will be different this week. I have just changed to my new Mission Darts. This is a new thing for me. For 25 or 30 years I’ve played with Steve Beaton’s darts. I’ve changed two or three times when Steve has changed.

“But these are my new darts designed for me. I’ve been practising really well, so I’m happy and there’s nothing negative in my head for Monday.

“I obviously am looking for a top 64 place, that’s the first milestone if you like. 

“But the World Matchplay is the next major. I would need a monumental effort to get into that, win a ProTour and get £10,000 on my rankings to close the gap. I’m not a million miles away but it would take something very special. 

“My modest goal is to catch Lisa Ashton. I’m 79th in the rankings, she is 78th. It’s one place above and £2,000. Obviously you want to be as high as you can, but I will take one place at a time.”

Images by Taylor Lanning.