PHIL 'THE POWER' TAYLOR INTERVIEW:The deceptively dedicated King of Darts tells Donald McRaethat he is driven by an unquenchable hunger for more world championships rather than money and possessions
‘I WAS chatting to David Beckham and I thought, ‘Isn’t he a lovely fella?’” Phil Taylor says cheerfully as he reflects on the surreal image of himself, the King of Darts, hob-nobbing with the stars after his unexpected second place at the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award last weekend. “David’s a bit like the Queen Mum now – we all love him. We got on great and I was just delighted I came second with Tony McCoy, who’s a friend of mine, being the deserved winner. Mind you, I think Gary Lineker’s got me down as a bit of a fruit and nut case.”
The sight of a jubilant 50-year-old grandad high-fiving his way to the podium was one of the more amusing moments in a long evening.
“I was that excited, I couldn’t help myself,” Taylor chuckles. “I was hoping I might sneak in third, but when Jessica Ennis’s name was announced, I thought, ‘Oh well, that’s that’. So I was shocked and thrilled. I honestly thought one of the golfers would come second.”
Taylor polled almost 20,000 votes more than Graeme McDowell, who won his first major and clinched the Ryder Cup for Europe this year. “Incredible,” says the man who calls himself “The Power”.
“I can hardly believe it. But I was so happy for Tony (McCoy). We were together afterwards and he knows how much I admire him. We’re very similar in a way, me and Tony. He’s another who was totally overdue some real acknowledgement. We’re very dedicated – and we both love to win. I’m chuffed for him – but it’s also a massive statement for me and for darts. We’re really hitting the big time now.”
Taylor is already anticipating the unveiling of his next honour as he lingers over the process of being turned into a waxwork at Madame Tussauds: “I’m a clay head now. They take lots of photographs, do plenty of measuring and then you go for a sitting. After that it’s more measuring and photographing and then they start chipping away at the clay, taking off a bit here and there. I’ve just seen the head so far, and it’s really good. It’s still in clay, but then it’ll be covered in wax and they’ll make a rubber mask of it. They’re going to unveil it next year. I’ll have to go and cut the ribbon, or whatever you do when standing next to yourself.”
Will the waxy copy be as good-looking as the original? “Hard to say,” Taylor muses. “You can’t tell yet because it’s in clay. But it’s very life-like, I’ll tell you that much.
“It’s a brilliant achievement for a little fella from Stoke, who came from a two-bedroomed council house. My parents had nothing – just basic wages for all their hard work. I was the same. Just a sheet-metal worker, and here I am, ending up second on the BBC and in Madame Tussauds. You have to be proud of that.”
It’s possible the deceptively dedicated Taylor, bearing down on a 16th world title amid the rush of plaudits, might have worn a replica rubber mask on Christmas Day. Rather than trying to give his grandchildren a cheerful scare, it would be one way to avoid festive gorging. The Power is clearly intent on refusing the stuffing and mince pies as he pursues his annual new year’s gift of yet another world championship. He has already won his first-round match, at London’s Alexandra Palace, and is back on the oche today as the tournament swings into serious action.
“Yeah,” he sighs, “I don’t have much Christmas. It’s practice, practice, practice at this time of year. The PDC World Championship is obviously the biggest tournament of them all, and so you have to make the sacrifice.”
Taylor used to earn £52 a week making ceramic toilet flush handles, before his life changed dramatically when he won his first world championship in 1990 – 14 more world titles are testament to his enduring skill and intense application.
“It comes at a price,” he says, dismissing those who question his place in the British sporting pantheon. “A lot of very hard work has gone into that. I’ve just been down to my cousin’s factory and it’s, ‘How’s the darts? When are you playing next?’ Darts, darts, darts.
“I love it, but I’m always working. I’m here, there, everywhere. That’s why I love being here, at home (in Crewe). I sometimes think I’m making a little nest. I’ve just had a sauna fitted. But I don’t get enough time off to enjoy it all.”
Barry Hearn, his manager, suggested that The Power’s earnings for 2010 could approach €2.4 million “Yeah, it’s about that,” Taylor says casually. But Taylor once told me his years as the dominant performer have been among his “unhappiest”. Does he still suffer from those bluesy feelings? “Well, when you’ve got nothing, you’re always looking forward to having something. Now I feel a little bit spoilt and disappointed in myself. Before, I was happy with a £50 car. If I’d had a £100 car I would’ve been over the moon. So, sometimes, I tell myself off because I can be driving a brand-new car and I don’t feel nothing. Possessions don’t mean anything now.”
Taylor is driven, instead, by his unquenchable hunger for more world championships. “As soon as I win one I move on to the next. It’s always the next one that matters.”
But The Power pauses to consider two decades of a darting life. “It’s a statement in itself – winning world titles for 20 years.”
Does he have vivid memories of his 1990 victory over his mentor, Eric Bristow?
“No,” Taylor says. “I can remember it like it was yesterday.”
He’s not joking, for Taylor is so wrapped up in his story that we lose ourselves in a blurring of meaning and memory.
“Playing Eric was the dream, for both of us,” Taylor says. “Eric used to say, ‘Oooo, I’d love to play you in the final’. And I’d say, ‘Oooo, me too’. He was my first sponsor, Eric, and that made it extra special. He was world number one and I only made it into the draw as the last qualifier. After I beat Eric he didn’t speak to me for six months. That was a blessing in disguise.”
Taylor laughs, as he does when asked how much he won that year: “Twenty-four.” – £24,000 must have seemed like a lot of money then?
“It still is,” Taylor says. “But it was a massive amount then. I bought my dad a car – and then I bought myself my first proper car and paid off some bills. The odds on me winning were 125 to 1 and an old lady in Burslem put a fiver on me. She felt like she’d won the lottery when I beat Eric. That was great. And my dad, my wife and my father-in-law each put £20 on me. They all made a few quid.”
As the tournament is now promoted so heavily on Sky, with the arrows flying in 3D, the next winner will pocket £200,000 (€235,000) – which Taylor won when he defeated Simon Whitlock in January 2010. “That was special. The three that stick in my memory are the first, against Eric, the one in 1992, when it went to the final leg against Mike Gregory, and the last against Simon. Everyone had written me off this time last year. They said my career was over. You start thinking it yourself and wondering if the bubble has burst. Once that happens, your game goes off because you’re thinking too much. But I went back to practice and worked harder. I came through, and it’s the same now. I had a little dip, but the form’s coming back.”
Taylor loses so rarely in a world championship final that his defeats stand out. Raymond van Barneveld’s 7-6 sudden-death victory in 2007 has been described as the greatest of all time. It was also marked by Taylor’s generosity in defeat. “They all hurt, the losses,” he winces, “but that was different. I knew we’d been in something special, me and Barney, and I could live with that. Sometimes getting beaten isn’t such a bad thing. It gives me a chance to look at myself in a new way.”
He enjoys his amiable rivalry with Van Barneveld. “Barney’s a lovely kid,” Taylor says of the 43-year-old Dutchman. “He’s a good friend as well. A lot of them say they’re your friend but they’re not really. Barney’s genuine and a lot like me. He’ll try anything to get better at darts.
“I’m the same. I can sit down and watch the Discovery channel and see something on nuclear submarines that gets me thinking about torpedoes and darts . Or I can see a documentary about someone preparing for a big challenge and I’ll use the same techniques. You always need to aim to get better.”
Taylor has been mocked when his excitable supporters have claimed him as darts’ “Tiger Woods or Roger Federer”. But the Tiger has fallen and Federer is reeling in his battle with Rafael Nadal.
“The Power’s still here,” Taylor jokes. “But Federer is up against a great fighter.” If he were a tennis player, who would he be? “Federer, definitely. Mind you, I like Nadal too. What a competitor.”
How much longer can Taylor play with such intensity? “My pension’s up when I’m 55 – so five more years.” Surely The Power won’t retire then?
“No, I won’t. I’ll never be able to stop working or playing darts. I eat, breathe and sleep darts . . . I used to have to go to the board and hit three 180s before I’d allow myself to go to bed. Sometimes, I’d do it in five minutes, but, on a bad night, it could take an hour. But I’m an old fogey now. I just go to bed.”
Could the relentless old fogey win the world championship when he’s 60?
“Of course. I probably will. Only John Lowe and me have won it in three different decades. I wouldn’t mind being the first to do it in four. That would be something to put alongside the Sports Personality and the clay head, wouldn’t it?”
Guardian Service
Factfile
Name: Phil Douglas Taylor
Nickname: The Power
Born: August 13th, 1960 (age 50), Stoke-on-Trent, England
Selected honours
World Championships – BDO: (2) 1990, 1992. PDC: (13) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010
World Matchplay: (11) 1995, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010
World Grand Prix: (9) 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009
Grand Slam: (3) 2007, 2008, 2009
Premier League: (5) 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010
Trivia
– On May 24th, 2010, became the first professional to hit two nine-dart finishes in a single match.
– His three-dart averages per match are the highest in the history of the game.
– No player has a winning head-to-head record against him. Taylor has a 79 per cent win rate against Raymond van Barneveld, the player with the most wins against him.
