TAYLOR TELLS HILARIOUS STORY OF HOW HEARN BECAME HIS MANAGER
22/09/2025 By Aaron Nijjar
PHIL TAYLOR has revealed the outrageous way Barry Hearn became his manager.
‘The Power’ says the sports promoter simply bought out his old manager and took charge.
Former world No.1 Taylor racked up 87 major titles from the 1990s through to 2017, cementing his status as a darts legend.
Taylor explained how his working relationship with Hearn began in truly bizarre fashion.
He said: “I got a phone call, a strange number I went, ‘Hello?’ He went, ‘Phil. Barry Hearn.’
“I said, ‘How are you Bazza? Alright, mate?’ He said, ‘Yeah, I’m going to be your manager.’
“I went, ‘Are you? When?’ He says, ‘Now.’ I said, ‘What do you mean? I’ve already got a manager.’
“He said, ‘No, I’ve given him some money, he’s gone. I’m your manager now.’
“He asked if I wanted a contract and I said not really. I’ll be dead straight with him. If I did an exhibition for 50 quid down the road I’d tell him that I owe him a tenner.
“He was good as gold for me. He likes his penny’s worth out of you and he’s a workaholic.”
Hearn went on to become PDC chairman in 2001, leading the organisation for nearly 20 years while he also acted as Taylor’s manager.
The Matchroom founder says guiding Taylor ranks among the proudest moments of his glittering career, alongside his success in snooker and boxing, with the 77-year-old still going strong today.
He added: “1981 Steve Davis winning the World Snooker Championship, without doubt, changed my life.
“There’s been a few that have come close. [Nigel] Benn vs [Chris] Eubank in 1990, when I had Eubank as my first real world champion and changed my leverage in the boxing world.
“Managing Phil Taylor in the darts and changing darts from a pub game to a global sport has been one of the most rewarding things in my life and Phil Taylor deserves credit for that because he was a legend.”
Image by Taylor Lanning.
