Phil Taylor

I know the darts crowds are obviously, like, yeah, like, it's pantomime, but it's getting to him on the stage, and it's just that it seems kind of a, a small bit with Littler.

Like, people like Phil Taylor are giving him advice, somebody who lived in a completely different era, telling him to get off his phone.

And people saying, "Well, it must be hard," but, like, Littler is the first real commodified darts star, you know? So every time he goes to play an event, he has sponsors that bring him to sponsor events, and he has to shake, do the hands and the selfies and all the rest of it, and he does look ill at ease with the entire thing, and he's 19 years of age.

Like, he's not even in his sort of sporting infancy.

I bet he thinks about that moment.

Y- you know, it's one of them, like, you think about what Michael's achieved, it's unbelievable, but if he hits that second back-to-back nine-darter, he almost goes above Taylor in something.

That's something Taylor never did.

Taylor had-

Yeah

... two nine-darters in a game.

Amazing stories.

But I guess this goes down to as well, people that translate skills.

Uh, Adrian Lewis making a comeback actually.

Did you see Phil Taylor make-

He is, yes.

[laughs]

[laughs] Adrian Lewis and Phil Taylor are coming back.

Um, so goodness knows what's gonna happen there.

They're gonna, they should be going off the sort of prices that Joshi's going off for this event, I think.

After that, it is the LPDF's darts competition at a flight club in Bloomsbury.

I will probably change into one of my Phil Taylor or Peter Wright shirts, depending on what mood I'm in.

Hopefully I'll see you at one of those.

It looks pretty quiet after that for a couple of weeks at least which will be nice.

Luke Littler getting knocked out isn't a shock in the first round of a Grand Prix.

It happened to Taylor, Phil Taylor many, many times.

How much do you think Luke Humphries needed that after plenty of near misses?

Uh, b- listen, did he need it? Uh, for his own self-esteem, possibly.

Hey.

But I walked in there early doors, I mean, really early doors, um, before even going to breakfast.

Phil Taylor had got beaten the night before.

Mm.

you will

beat Phil Taylor's record of world championships? I think I could.

Definitely could.

I've got probably say 30, 40 years to do it.

How

bad is it? Yeah, I think obviously as the time goes on, if I really won it.

Is it 16 Phil Taylor won? 16, yeah.

If I really want it, then I'm sure I'll go and get it, but I don't know what's around the corner.

A 16-time world champion, a giant of a sport.

And this was not just any Phil Taylor world championship.

It was Taylor's final world championship before retirement.

So there was Chris Dobie, a player who had never come through youth darts, a bloke who had spent years working long shifts in traffic management, standing on the Alexandra Palace stage against Phil Taylor.

Chris lost that match three sets to one, but sometimes a defeat can still tell you something.

Chris had been on that stage, he'd experienced that level of pressure, and he knew he wanted more of it.

Taylor himself later talked positively about Chris Dobie's future.

That sounded brilliant.

But no, I've had some fun out here in Adelaide before.

I mean, me and Phil Taylor, we've done Wolf Blast Winery years ago.

We've done an exhibition down in their cellars and that.

And yeah, it's a lovely part of the world.

It's incredible.

Lucky, lucky me.

Well, you mentioned Phil Taylor there.

Apparently you were the caller when he hit the first ever televised nine data.