GILDING CONFESSES WHY HE CAN’T HANG UP HIS DARTS
03/03/2026 By Aaron Nijjar
ANDREW GILDING admits a “MISSPENT YOUTH” is why he’s still battling on the oche at 55.
‘Goldfinger’ reached the third round at this year’s World Championship before suffering a 3-1 defeat to Luke Woodhouse, banking £35,000 for his Ally Pally efforts.
World No.31 Gilding had previously joked he would buy the bungalow next door to his if he won the Sid Waddell Trophy.
But Gilding insists he would have saved the cash even if he had gone all the way and confesses his need to secure his future is the reason he is still playing.
He said: “No not at all I didn’t get far enough in the worlds to afford that. I probably wouldn’t have done it anyway.
“I would have put it in a pension. I ain’t that silly.
“A misspent youth has a lot to do with it. I haven’t really saved any money so I have to do it now.”
Gilding has had a strong start to the year after reaching the final of the Players Championship Six in Leicester before falling to Gerwyn Price.
The former UK Open champion is targeting qualification for every Euro Tour event this season as he looks to strengthen his chances of featuring in all the major tournaments.
He added: “The aim for me this year is to get into the qualifying spots for the Euros. That is where the money is and how you get into the TV tournaments.
“I am right on the cusp of qualifying for these and, a couple of days ago, I had to enter a qualifier.
“I didn’t have any luck. It’s been a while since I have had to enter a qualifier and I had forgotten how rough they are. It is a long day.
“I will just try to keep the automatic qualification going.”
Image by Taylor Lanning.
