Taylor reveals he wanted to hit rival with “a shovel”

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