ANDERSON EYES THIRD WORLD TITLE

By Phil Lanning

GARY ANDERSON says he wants to win the £1million Worlds along with all the “greedy b*****s”.

The Flying Scotsman admits that he’d love to complete a hat-trick of world crowns and land the first-ever seven-figure jackpot.

Ando, 55, returns to the limelight tonight (Monday) with an old school legendary clash with Raymond van Barneveld at the World Grand Prix in Leicester.

But he’s also got an eye ahead on the £1m prize at the Ally Pally in early January.

He said: “Oh, yeah, you’ll see all the greedy b*****s come out! Try like hell! But, hey, a million pound? Fantastic.

“Even when it was half a million, that’s still a fair lump of money. But a million pounds, listen, it’s great for the game. Just think very shortly there’s going to be a player there that’s won a million pounds playing a game of darts.

“It’s a tournament everyone wants to win. They always say it’s not about the money, it’s about the World Championships. So lifting that trophy means everything to these boys. I’ll still try. But then if it doesn’t, I won’t lose any sleep over it.

“I’m enjoying playing darts. Win, fantastic. Get beat? I’m home early, see the kids.”

The double world champ still shows flashes of brilliance but admits that he struggles to find the time for the sport.

He added: “I’m finding it long, hard days now. I do need to get myself a bit fitter for these long days.

“Listen, I still want to play, but I need to be in three different places all at the same time. It’s driving me mad.

“I’ve got a lot going on away from darts, so it’s trying to just squeeze everything in. I’ve had to miss the last two because I’ve had other commitments. but hopefully it’ll calm down at one stage and I can just concentrate back on the darts for a bit.”

Anderson is also adamant that the World Championship should stay at the Alexandra Palace.

He continued: “It’s like Blackpool Matchplay. That’s tied in with that tournament. The Grand Slam. I still miss the Civic Hall and then you’ve got Ally Pally, haven’t you? It’s driving up that hill. You see all the crowd walking up the hill.

“All fancy dressed, the lot. It gets all ticker going.”

Ando also admits he gets emotional that his son Tai is now taking a bigger interest in being a star on the oche.

He added: “He’s left-handed. I’ve said it before, he’s always played darts. Just after he walked, we were up to Scotland to my mum’s and my brother bought him a Velcro dartboard.

“He had them set it up. He took the three darts, turned around and he had the perfect stance and the perfect throw. And that was it, a year-and-a-half. But I’ve not pushed him with darts.

“I think if I keep moaning at him not to do it, he’s going to do it, you know? Like they say, they’ll always do the opposite of what their dad tells them! But he loves it. He swaps his darts. He’s worse than Peter Wright. He’s absolutely terrible. Next week, he’ll be on to somebody else’s.

“It did bring a little tear to my eye seeing him walk on. He takes everything in his stride. He’s mad on it just now. He always wants me to practice and sometimes I don’t do it and his attitude needs to change a little bit. He needs to work on a few bits.

“If he misses something, he gets right narky about it. I went: Look, you’re going to miss things. This is part of the game. If it was too easy, it’d be boring. That’s why we play darts. It’s a cracking game to play.”

Image by Taylor Lanning.