GARY Anderson is Scotland's reluctant world champion. Christened the Flying Scotsman, a nickname he was personally granted on licence from his idol Jocky Wilson, the 45-year-old's proficiency at throwing darts at a board has provided him with a jet-setting lifestyle and made him a millionaire.

But that doesn't mean he wouldn't rather stay on terra firma with his feet up from time to time. Originally from Musselburgh but now resident in Somerset, Anderson admits there are days when his first waking thought is simply to pack it all in and lead a more quiet life. The new life this builder by trade has constructed for himself in the last few years is made even more remarkable by the fact that his world collapsed within a couple of months back in late 2011 when he lost his younger brother Stuart - who had wrestled with heroin addiction - to heart failure then his father Gordon within a matter of months. Anderson embraces his personal anxieties as part of life and has no plans to use any of his millions to seek professional help.

"Trust me, there are days when I wake up and say 'actually I can't be doing this anymore'," says Anderson. "I guess it is like every job. Who doesn't wake up and say they have had enough? Darts players, football players, they are all the same. You get your good days and your bad days and you just have to keep pushing on. It is the travelling that I struggle with. You get to the stage where you wake up in a hotel and you don't know where you are.

"People talk about sports psychologists and the like and I say what a load of guff," he adds. "It is my life, my head. I am not going to have someone putting some crap into it. Sometimes you wake up and can't be bothered. It isn't all roses and sunshine."

A few of those insecurities are on show as Anderson arrives in Glasgow to contest the World Series of Darts finals at the Braehead Arena this weekend. He is chiding himself for the recent standard of his play, which has seen Dutch phenomenon Michael van Gerwen take the whip hand above him at the summit of the PDC rankings, and complaining of pre-match nerves before playing in front of his home crowd. He isn't exactly the preening, showboating sort; at an event at the SSE Hydro in March, he publicly took a member of the Glaswegian crowd to task for heckling his English opponent Adrian Lewis.

"Am I looking forward to it?" said Anderson, a Hibs fan who was too busy even to see his team win the Scottish Cup. "Yes and no. It is always good to be back playing but the way my darts is going just now I can't be happy.

"My first time playing back in Scotland after winning my first world title I had never felt so nervous in my life," he added. "There is so much extra pressure on you. It is a bit like what the Scotland football team must feel like in front of a full house at Hampden. You want to play well and get the win for them but I can't guarantee that right now with the way I have been playing. There have been some good days and some rubbish days so we will just see how it goes."

At least, after complaining of a similar run of form this time 12 months previously, things clicked rather spectacularly in time for Alexandra Palace at the turn of the year. Soon, Anderson, a victor against the legendary Phil Taylor in the 2015 final, was pulling off a nine-dart leg in the semi-final then throwing an 170-finish as he claiming his second title against Lewis.

"It was the same last year - I was kind of struggling at this time," he said. "Then come the end of November, December and I started to play well again. Fingers crossed and touching wood it is going to be the same this year. Darts is funny, you can struggle, then turn up and everything is fine. You are back to 800, 900 averages and nothing bothers you. It is just lack of practice - we are travelling all over the place and it has been a very hectic two years."

With such riches up for grabs in the age of Barry Hearn, the suggestion that darts is he preserve of the beer-swilling amateur could not be wider of the mark. Anderson, and Taylor, are in their mid-forties, still attempting to show these young upstarts a thing or two. These days, like most other sports, young players are leaving school, determined to practice nine-hour days with the goal of becoming a darts professional. Anderson gives himself a good half a dozen years at the top, and plans to undergo laser surgery to cure his short-sightedness as soon as he can find the time.

"The eyes are becoming a bit of a struggle," he says. "I would have got them done but I have not got the time. Phil is 44, 45 now and I am on 46 and we are both just plugging away. If you told us five years ago that we would be across in Dubai, Japan, Shanghai, New Zealand, Australia, I would probably have been like 'aye right'. But it just shows you the job they have done. People are begging to get darts on the networks. We must be doing something right."

Anderson is a man of simple pleasures, top of the list being spending time with his partner Rachel and his three sons, the two eldest of which are from his former marriage. His youngest, called Tai, is two-and-a-half and not only shows his daddy's remarkable prowess from the oche with his velcro darts set but can rhyme off the names and nicknames of all his father's friends on the tour in a manner reminiscent of Sid Waddell.

"He was on the darts board the now, and is still absolutely darts daft," said Anderson. "The boys are all great with him, he knows all the boys. If you meet any darts player and ask him 'who is that?' he will tell you who it is, nickname and real name. He is a very clever boy, too clever for me. I am happy in the practice room and happy when I get home. It is nice just to sit my own house, watch my own telly.."

The 27-year-old Dutchman comes into Braehead as the pre-eminent player in the world rankings but like most Scotsmen, Anderson is also happiest playing with a chip on his shoulder. "He [Van Gerwen] is something else just now," said Anderson, who has won eight, and lost nine, of his meetings with Van Gerwen. But is he beatable? Yes he is. Being the underdog, that is the best way to be. As soon as I hear people saying they are going to beat Anderson, it flicks a wee switch. I start putting them under pressure and as soon as I see them quivering a bit I get a wee smile on my face."

While darts players have become global celebrities under the reign of Hearn, Anderson is not one for gimmicks and don't expect him to buy into the showbiz lifestyle any time soon. " I meet some folk and don't have a clue who they are," he says. "It is embarrassing at times. I have always said that I am a darts player, not a dancer or a clown. I put my show on the dartboard. I am not a one for dancing about and giving it big licks. Certain matches you get involved with and you get a bit excited by. Then you can gie it a bit of laldy."