A look at reason why Anderson had a gripe with Nicholson: "Not the only player who has wanted to give me a filling in"

Gary Anderson sparked headlines as ever after his first title in three years not for winning but for his comments surrounding Paul Nicholson post match with 'The Flying Scotsman' taking umbrage with being called a 'bad loser' by 'The Asset'.

Nicholson made the comments during his weekly Sporting Life column where he made reference to darts' main sore losers and Anderson was one of the names picked out including after a personal incident between the pair in the past.

"Sorry Gary Anderson fans but he’s got to be in this list. Generally he handles defeat well but if you cast your mind back, there have been incidents where he’s come across as a bad loser. Even if some of these gripes may be justified in some people’s eyes," he said to Sporting Life.

"He’s not been happy about squeaking floorboards, noises behind him, things players have supposedly said and various other antics he believes are bad sportsmanship or etiquette. You’ve got to remember that old school players were brought up with strict etiquette that the younger generation don’t necessarily subscribe to as religiously.

"He doesn’t shy away from making his feelings known – on stage or during interviews. He’s even been in bad moods after victories, such as table-gate with Mensur Suljovic at the World Championship one year, where he said he’d be ‘offski’ if gamesmanship became rife in the sport. And after his next win, he called Wayne Mardle a 'numpty'.

"At the 2009 UK Open, he was ready to fill me in! I beat him fair and square on his tournament debut and although my celebration was a bit aggressive, it wasn’t towards him. It was to the camera.

"One of my old friends from Northumberland was there holding Gary back because he had a desire to take me outside! To be fair, he’s not the only player who has wanted to give me a filling in, but this altercation meant we didn’t talk for about two years. We shook hands if we ever we played each other but we’d never speak. I stayed clear of him because let’s face it, if he got hold of me it wouldn’t end well for me. He’s made of very tough Scottish stuff. I was on notice.

"Gary is a very passionate individual and I really do admire him for that – it made him the exciting, legendary player he is, with such a huge fanbase. No matter how much he might act like he’s laid back about the game these days, don’t let that kid you about his hatred of losing.

"But he’s had issues with the likes of Gerwyn Price, Adrian Lewis, Joe Cullen, Chris Dobey and even Raymond van Barneveld in the past.

"When he was younger during his BDO days, he once threw his darts into the lake at Lakeside, although it was frozen at the time so they skidded across the surface. There will be lots of darts at the bottom of that water because there are many players who like to take their anger out on their tungsten.