phil taylor

PHIL TAYLOR has told Gerwyn Price to “calm it down” and admits that he wanted to “strangle” Paul Nicholson. 

The 16-times World Champion opened up on a legendary career of mind games and rivalries and revealed he misses the banter with Adrian Lewis and Gary Anderson. 

But Taylor, now 61, also said he wanted to hit out at foes Peter Manley and Nicholson. 

He told the Darts Show Podcast: “I could wind people up dead easy. Peter Manley was good, I enjoyed the banter with Peter. Now we get on really well, he makes me laugh. 

“But at the time I didn’t like him at all. As soon as he walked into a room I wanted to hit him with a shovel. It was horrible. 

“He made me practice. He beat me at Blackpool and took the board down to sign for somebody. 

“After that I won about near enough everything. I won one and a half million. And I always called it Manley’s millions. I went thank you very much for that. The other players were having a go at Peter about it.”

Nicholson famously waved Taylor off stage after beating him in the 2011 UK Open. 

Taylor added: “The only one who got really under my skin was Paul Nicholson. I felt like strangling him. He was winding people up, especially me. They were coming over from the BDO and I was always the target, I was the main man. 

“I thought that was funny, I thought ‘you’re an idiot’ because the crowd are going to go mental at you now and he wasn’t the person to take it. How brash he was, he’s actually very sensitive and he’d break his heart about it.

“I said to him ‘Paul don’t do it because you’ll only make a rod for your own back’.

“You will get labelled with that every time you play. You’ll get booed. Like Gerwyn (Price) now.”

Taylor also gave his advice to current boo-boy Price, adding: “Calm it down a little bit. Do it at the right times. He did a lovely 170 at the weekend. The young German lad was sitting on double top. Then, yes, let it go. But not if you hit a ton.”

The Power also revealed he loved his battles with Dutch giants Raymond van  Barneveld and Michael van Gerwen, plus the banter with Adrian Lewis and Scots star Anderson. 

He said: “Michael is winner definitely a winner mentality. Apart from Barney, who was a terrible loser. Hating losing with a passion. I’ve seen him grab his arm and pull all the drinks on the floor. 

“Michael, I’ve seen him break his heart. That to me says a lot about Michael. He really is trying 100 per cent. 

“It’s different now. I always got on with Barney but then I always wanted to beat him. But I still enjoyed it.

“Then the youngsters coming through, you don’t it because they’re a different generation, different conversations. They’re in there with iPads, things in their ears. We used to have a laugh and a joke, especially me and Adie and Gary Anderson. We were always taking the mickey out of each other. It’s all changed so it was time for me to go now.”

Image by Taylor Lanning

By Phil Lanning

KEVIN PAINTER “exploded” with anger after the controversial World Championship with Phil Taylor in 2005.

The fascinating off-stage verbals is told by ex-Soccer AM presenter Helen Chamberlain in Dave Clark’s excellent new ‘Stand Up If You Love The Darts’ podcast released today.

Hells Bells, who also did darts reporting for a few years, explained how it all kicked off with the fierce old rivals at the Circus Tavern.

She revealed: “My best memory of Kevin Painter is when him and Phil Taylor squared up on the board in the 2005 World Championship.

“It was at the Circus Tavern, behind the boards there wasn’t much room until you were outside near the Sky Sports trucks.

“I was sat in the Sky trucks just watching. Keith Deller was spotting so he was sitting next to me.

“Painter had missed quite a few bullseyes in that game. He was losing, it wasn’t a close match. He was on 262 so wasn’t on a checkout. Taylor was on a checkout and finished on the bull, like a massive p***take. 

“Painter had words with him and then they kind of bundled off stage. The honest truth is that Keith and I could see that something was brewing and we knew it was happening only a few yards away just outside the Sky trucks.

“We both knew there would be some windmills backstage. We ran for the door at the same time of the Sky trucks and got stuck together in the door. That’s the honest truth. Painter came out and he’d gone, he exploded.

“Painter looked like he was just going to knock someone out and I thought he’s not going to hit a girl so I grabbed him. He’s turned round and looked at me in the eyes and a ton of expletives came out. I actually said the words ‘leave it, it’s not worth it’. I’m dragging him away, dragging him away. Keith is pushing Phil back as well.” 

*Stand Up If You Love The Darts, sponsored by Target Darts, is available to listen now. Go to @daveclarkTV on Twitter.

By Phil Lanning

LEGEND Phil Taylor is aiming for a sensational return to the PDC in the 2022 UK Open.

The Power is making a comeback to the big stage in the first-ever World Seniors Darts event early next year, as reported on Oche yesterday.

But now the most successful player in darts history is planning to return to a major tournament at the UK Open.

Taylor would need to qualify via the Rileys Amateur Qualifiers in early 2022 and could then draw any of the big names in the tournament usually staged in Minehead.

Taylor, now 60, revealed: “I’ll be back on the practice board, taking it dead serious and taking them all on at the Seniors.

“And if it goes well, and I get back to anywhere near my old standard, I’ll probably enter the UK Open next year.

“It would be great to rattle a few cages again. I would love to see the look on a few people’s faces if they landed me in the draw.”

Taylor will return to competitive action for the Seniors event which will include legendary ex-World Champs John Lowe, Martin Adams, Andy Fordham, Bob Anderson, Richie Burnett, Keith Deller and Les Wallace.

He added: “This is the first project that really made me want to pick up my darts again.

“For the last few months, there has been a picture on my living room wall where there used to be a dartboard, and my oche has been stored underneath the sofa.

“But that’s all going to change now – the board and the oche are back, and I mean business.

“To be honest, when I retired, and then Covid put a stop to the exhibition nights, I thought that was it – Phil Taylor, darts career, the end.

“Most people probably start thinking about winding down when they reach 60, but the chance to become a world champion again has given me a new lease of life.

“I’m not saying I was becoming bored with life, because I’ve always kept myself busy. But this has given me a new reason to get up in the morning, something to aim for, a new focus.

“Jimmy White and Stephen Hendry are still playing competitive snooker, and Tom Watson and Ian Woosnam are still playing competitive golf on their senior tours – so why shouldn’t we have a senior darts circuit for old fogeys like me?

“Of course, there is a whole crop of younger players out there who are taking darts to a new level, but some of the world’s best players are over 50 and the field at the Seniors will be world-class.”

Images by Taylor Lanning.