On the eve of the World Championship, sportsboom.com spoke to Phil Taylor about his legacy, how to grow darts in the USA, and what he enjoys most about being retired from the PDC circuit.
On being considered the GOAT
"That’s what people say. I mean, I don't feel that though. It's lovely for people to big you up, obviously, You never feel like that. You look at players now, I'm watching them last week and you're thinking, how did I ever compete against these players?
"Well, young Luke, Luke Humphries, Luke Littler, he's a great little player, just won the junior one. Michael, I’ve always watched Michael Smith. I watch all the big names and I just wanna see how they compete now against the younger players. It's great to see it, and some of 'em are getting beat. It's all on the day."
On his earning potential in this era
"In my heyday, I was earning £300,000 a month. Could you imagine what I'd be earning now? If I could play like I did then, I'd probably be earning probably a million pounds a month, you know what I mean? My earnings would've been through the roof."
On growing the game in the USA
"One thing that’s always like brought a country on is a good player from that country. Like Barneveld did it for Holland. You've got Gabriel Clemens who's done it for Germany.
"So you need a good player to create interest for the TV companies. That gives Barry Hearn then a chance to sell TV to that country and promote the darts from that country. Sponsorship comes in, you know, that's the only way to do it is by having good players from your country.
"You need good players coming from their country. Darts is big in America, but not everywhere in America. I think a lot of Americans like the outdoors sports rather than the indoor sports. I think they class the darts as an indoor sport for winter."
On retirement and plans for 2024
"I'll be competitive next year and then the following year. And I should be working for the seniors. I'll be doing things with them, personal appearances, things like that. Over the years, I've got a lot of properties, rental properties, which I do work on myself. Not just me. I have plumbers and electricians and things like that. But I do like being hands on. I like getting my hands dirty.
"I've got a lot of grandkids, which I can see now, which I missed. You know, I missed my own kids being brought up, with me working all the time. Now I'm at home, so the grandkids come see me at the weekends and I do the dinners for 'em and teas for 'em and it's great. It's just nice. It's nice being at home."
"When I say to my wife, I'll say, do you wanna go on holiday? No, because we travel the world that many times. I say, shall we go to Greece? Shall we go to Italy? Shall we go to Malta? Now let's leave it now, let's go next year. And we keep putting it off. But we will do, we will go on holidays and enjoy them."
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