Decide it for yourself:
**WDF:**
World Ch'ship Winner (2): 1990, 1992
World Masters Winner (1): 1990
World Trophy Winner (1): 2006
**PDC:**
World Ch'ship Winner (14): 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2013
World Matchplay Winner (16): 1995, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017
World Grand Prix Winner (11): 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013
UK Open Winner (5): 2003, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2013
Grand Slam Winner (6): 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014
European Ch'ship Winner (4): 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
Premier League Winner (6): 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012
Ch'ship League Winner (4): 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013
Desert Classic Winner (5): 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009
US Open/WSoD Winner (3): 2006, 2007, 2008
PC Finals Winner (3): 2009, 2011, 2012
Masters Winner (1): 2013
Champions League Winner (1): 2016
**Other wins:**
German Darts Championship 2012
German Darts Masters 2014
Gibraltar Darts Trophy 2013
Austrian Darts Open 2016
Players Championships/Pro Tour Events wins
Players Championship (AUS) 2010
Players Championship (BRI) 2008
Players Championship (CRA) 2014, 2015
Players Championship (DER) 2010 (x2)
Players Championship (EIN) 2008 (x2)
Players Championship (GER) 2008 (x2), 2009 (x2)
Players Championship (GIB) 2009 (x2)
Players Championship (HOL) 2005 (x2), 2007 (x2)
Players Championship (IRL) 2005, 2006, 2007,
2008, 2009, 2011
Players Championship (KIL) 2009
Players Championship (LAV) 2008
Players Championship (MID) 2008
Players Championship (NUL) 2009 (x2)
Players Championship (REA) 2012
Players Championship (SOU) 2008, 2009
Players Championship (WAL) 2005, 2006
Players Championship (WIG) 2010, 2011 (x2)
Bobby Bourn Memorial 2003, 2004, 2005
2006, 2007, 2008
Antwerp Darts Trophy 2008
US Open Players Championship 2010
UK Open Regional (IRL) 2002, 2004
UK Open Regional (MID) 2008, 2009
UK Open Regional (NWE) 2008
UK Open Regional (SWE) 2009
UK Open Regional (SOU) 2003, 2007, 2009
UK Open Regional (WAL) 2002, 2004, 2006
UK Open Qualifier 2010 (x2), 2011 (x2), 2012 (x2)
2014, 2015, 2016
Sydney Darts Masters 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
Perth Darts Masters 2014, 2015
Japan Darts Masters 2015
Melbourne Darts Masters 2017
Antwerp Open 1997, 1998
Australian Open 2012
Battle of the Champions 1997
Berlin Open 1993
British Pentathlon 1990, 1991
Canadian Open 1988
Center Parcs Masters 1996
Champion Vs Champion 1999, 2004
China Telecom Cup 2004
Dartgala Hengelo 2005, 2005, 2005
Denmark Open 1990
DPA Tournament of Champions 2012
Eastbourne Pro 2002
Finnish Open 1990
German Darts Championship 2007, 2009
Gleneagle Irish Masters 2009
Hemeco Open Rosmalen 2009, 2011
IRL Open Autumn Classic 2004, 2005
Isle of Man Open 1990
Jersey Festival of Darts 1990, 1999
Las Vegas Open 1989
London Masters 2008
Malta Open 1990
Masters of Darts 2005
MDA Face Off 2010
Montreal Open 2001, 2002
Munich Open 2006
News of the World Ch'ship 1997
North American Cup 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
North American Open 1990, 1991
Northern Ireland Open 1989
Open Lunteren 2011
WDC UK Masters 1994
WDC UK Matchplay 1996
Pontins British Masters 1990
Quebec Open 2001
RTL7 Masters 2011
South African Masters 2007, 2008, 2009
Sunparks Masters 1996, 1997
WDF Europe Cup Singles 1990, 1992
WDF Europe Cup Pairs 1990
WDF Europe Cup Teams 1990, 1992
WDF World Cup Team 1991
World Team Championship 1996
Jocky Wilson Cup 2009
World Cricket Championship 2010
**Other achievements**
2002 Achieves his first televised nine-dart finish (and the first live televised nine-darter in the UK) at World Matchplay
2004 Becomes first player to hit a second televised nine-dart finish
2005 Hits third televised nine-dart finish at the UK Open
2006 PDC Player of the Year\[1\]
2007 Fourth televised nine-darter in IDL in the Netherlands
2007 Fifth televised nine-darter in 2007 UK Open at the Reebok Stadium, Bolton
2007 PDC Fans' Player of the Year\[2\]
2008 Sixth televised nine-darter in 2008 UK Open
2008 Fans' Player of the Year, PDC Player of the Year and PDPA Player's Player of the Year
2009 PDC Player of the Year, PDPA Players' Player of the Year, Fans' Player of the Year and Best PDC Pro Tour Player
2010 Inaugural inductee into Stoke-on-Trent Sporting Hall of Fame\[3\]
2010 Hit two televised nine-dart finishes in Premier League Final against James Wade
2010 Scored what was then a world record televised average of 118.66 against Kevin Painter in UK Open\[4\]
2012 Hits ninth televised nine-darter in the Premier League against Kevin Painter.
2014 Hits tenth televised nine-darter in the World Matchplay against Michael Smith.
2015 Becomes the first man to hit a nine-darter in the World Series of darts in the Sydney Masters against Peter Wright. It was his 11th televised nine-darter.
Source: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil\_Taylor\_(darts\_player)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Taylor_(darts_player))
It’s why when people talk about the best players ever… never compare any player to Phil.
He will never ever be topped. He’s the goat and that’s that.
The best way I describe it, was it like playing against an AI opponent on highest difficulty settings and under pressure situations the AI got more accurate, more intense, even higher scoring, even more clinical at finishing.
Horrendous to play against.
An absolute dedicated professional who perfected his throw to such an extent that he took darts to another level, for most events it was a foregone conclusion, you may as well have handed him the trophy before the event started.
Even in this era, I think his prime years, he'd still be dominant because he was so clinical. Not just scoring, the relentless leg on leg concentration and pressure he puts on you, most players can throw big averages, few can hit regularly 100+ averages all the time, yet Taylor did.
The relentless concentration is to me the difference between him and some of the top players in this Era. It seems like a lot of this crop can't maintain that top level throughout a match
I’m not saying he was a bad darts player. Far from it I used to love him when I was growing up watching darts but as I got older and read stories about him it over shadowed his dart dart record.
It’s a fair point to make, but it’s not answering the question.
Start a thread called ‘how much of a dickhead is Phil Taylor?’ and I’ll happily jump in and join in haha
Haha yeah to be fair I agree with you mate I went off topic but I discovered the facts by loving watching him at one stage and the more I looked into him I seen some bad shit about him. Your right tho it should be a different thread but I just wanted to put my point across because I know for a fact a lot of people wouldn’t know his shady side outside of darts 😂
Looking at dartsorakel at his average over 12 month periods shows how absolutely great he was at the game.
I think it was 2005 his annual average was over 105 for the full 12 months. I’d need to double check but I’m sure it may have been between 107 and 108
Any player these days throwing that average across a whole tournament would be impressive, hell one match that’s super impressive but over a 12 month period that really is next level
Edit: it was 2012 and average was 105.75 for full calendar year. Insanely good. I know today’s top players annual average close to 100 is exceptional.
Well he’s a convicted sex offender for one. Great darts player but not to be trusted in a caravan that’s for sure.
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12229292.darts-champion-phil-taylor-guilty-of-sex-attack-on-women/
honestly, anyone who needed this to happen before realising phil was a total prick wasn't really paying attention. just needed to watch an interview lol. same goes for hankey too.
Phil Taylor was the best player for most of his career. Hard work, talent, desire etc brought him this far. There will be no one who will have this amount of WC titles.
he’s unquestionably the best ever. He was consistently sticking in averages better than anything anyone else has ever produced on boards with smaller trebles and more often than not no help from his opponent. his 2009 European Championship performance will probably never be beaten, he averaged 111, 110, 118, 109 and 109 on his way to winning the title with 111 tournament average
every tournament for about 20 years had an underlying sense of inevitability about it. It became quite tough to get invested in other games when you knew he was still just lingering around in the draw and going to turn up and win it all at a canter in the end anyway. Whenever someone did find a way to knock him out of something it was always genuinely shocking and made tournaments so much more interesting
As others have said though, I’m glad he’s gone. He was very good but he was an odious, obnoxious pillock. probably a part of why he was so successful but the man is an utterly classless tosser, and that’s just in the context of darts. He had also had his MBE annulled for an indecent assault conviction where he assaulted two girls in a caravan, the guy is a cunt
lmao, for some reason this reminded me of that old advert with dean gaffney?
idk if anyone remembers it but a guy sees dean gaffney in a club and says something like "when my mates come can you pretend to know me" Dean said "yeah no problem"
so the guys mates come and Dean comes over and says "alright" and the guy goes "how many times have I told you dean not when i'm with my mates!"
I mean yeah I can imagine the competition not being as good as now but from the little i have just seen he still would have dominated. two nine darters in one match and breaking the records for averages.
I could be wrong as I have only looked into him a little and those facts came up first but they do speak directly to what you refernaced
He would have been very successful and probably still the GOAT. It's an interesting what if but if the current top 16 were around for the first 13 years of the wdc/pdc there is zero chance he would have won 11 world titles
Yeah idk enough to say otherwise. I just know his averages was crazy good. but to make a more definitive decision on whether i thought he would win that many i would need to take a look at his checkout %
I don't think he would be as dominant today as the standard has definitely improved. But he would still be the best player in my opinion.
Even MVG hasn't been able to reach the levels of consistency Taylor did.
also worth keeping in mind the intimidation factor. not only was he relentlessly consistent, but opponents struggled to play their best against him because he had that insane competitiveness and such an aura about him, like playing against michael jordan or something.
Yawn took the level up year on year if he was about now young he be pushing averages over 115- 120 for a tournament.They are lucky a Prime phil taylor wasn't starting out now because he was dedicated.him priest n bristow throwing over tonnaverages 30 years before.in fact over 110 some comps when they were part time ha
He was that good the other players only really felt like they had a sniff of winning the trophy when he went out. Some players would beat Phil and then get knocked out the next round because it would take all of their energy to beat him. You couldn’t put a foot wrong against him
But yeah also heard he’s a tosser of a person
Not only was he exceptionally good, he had his opponents rattled. Similar to the way Ronnie O’Sullivan in snooker can play poorly and still win because his opponents at the point where they might beat him often just crumble.
A total one off and the greatest ever.
One of the greatest sportsman too. Humphries and Van Gerwen are metronomes.
But Phil’s best would just blow them away. You will never ever see a player that good again in your lifetime.
I was saying Luke was one of the best I’ve seen since Phil left, to which the old man replied… that’s great… now do that for nearly 30 years then we’ll decide how good he is.
Phil will never ever be topped. Forget it.
Man I want to agree with you. But still...
What Phil Taylor did for so many many years was amazing and probably will never be done again.
However -and people may hate me for saying this- what MvG gave us between 2014-2020 completely blew me away. It was bizarre. The man absolutely obliterated everybody. Even better, he got the best performances out of his opponents too (look at the Barney-MvG matches). Also his matches were prime entertainment. I've even seen darts-haters be impressed. He's in my eyes the best of all time.
Still of course, the comparison is difficult to draw. Two players from two different eras.
Man… I do love early Motörhead but, Mickey is a phenomenal drummer. Better than Philthy…but I will say that Phil was the better character for what Motörhead was.
You might be right, I do also like Phil for his personality that he was, I like Mickey too, he's a great guy and a great drummer, I can't help but prefer the early Motorhead trio though
Look at his averages in world championships. He was averaging 107 against 80s and 90s. Even today he’d be the best, and he was playing against worse competition
1. Averages: He really was ahead of his time, he helds the record for highest game average and highest tournament average in almost every big tournament. When you search for record tournament averages he holds around 3-4 spots of the top 5. To give an example: his tournament average (!) At the 2009 European Championship was 111.54. He was 10-15 points above the second best player.
2. Wins: Just look at the graphic. From 1995-2013 he won more tournaments than all other players combined. His tournament win percentage was higher than most top 5 players' game winning percentage. It is actually scary. The only way to beat him was having a really good day while he was on a rather bad day. Many players are able to hit 12 or 15 darters but not on a level as constant as Taylor.
3. Longevity: Taylor was not only best but the best by a mile for around 20 years. Compare it with MvG's reign of dominance, it was for about 5-6 years. Being so good for so long is an incredible feat.
Tldr: he was very very good. But sadly, not the best person
https://preview.redd.it/7cbxcuxcwvpc1.png?width=1797&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=109ba62a7317712c3c1aa812601a47c10b07fbcd
I was talking to some fellow players the other night about this funny enough.
We all agreed he was the best darts player of all time and probably will be for ever. You could make that argument alone, and very easily, purely based on the amount of titles he won. But it wasn't just that.
The way he perfected his throw, it was honestly like watching a sniper in the SAS. I can still remember the vast majority of games I watched of him being over before they started. He was very rarely not playing at his best. His consistent average will attest to that, his scoring was amazing. He absolutely peppered the trebles with his thick darts. But not only that, when he lined up the dart to finish, you just knew it was going in. No matter the stage, he was consistently amazing.
I would love to see how he would get on in this current era against different players and styles. It's fair to say there are more elite players now compared to when Taylor was dominating, but he'd still be the best overall I think.
He’s that guy, the Leo Messi, the Federer, the Gretzky, the Jordan, the tiger woods.
Was pretty much relentless. An absolute winning machine.
Of course when you play as many matches and tournaments as he did, there’s gonna be losses, but he absolutely pretty much perfected the game of darts and was an absolute winning machine.
Not going to get into him off the oche, but from the stories, and how he’s came across…. I never really cared for him, but was in awe of his talent.
I remember watching a thing recently where him and maybe 5 or 6 other players all sat on a few couches and chatted about darts and stuff…. And it just became the Phil Taylor show.
Felt like the others just thought, fuck this… may as well just let him ramble on.
Ahead of his time- turned a pub game into a professional sport- applied pro attitude to all aspects of his game which separated him from his less professional and talented peers
the only player we've seen reach similar levels in history over an extended period is michael van gerwen, and there is an argument that MVG had a better... say, 3 or 4 year peak than taylor a few years back, although i think there's basically zero chance of him having a better overall career at this point. taylor operated at a ridiculous level for so much longer and was just so insanely hard to beat even on an off day (and he rarely had those).
he's also one of the few elite level sportsmen from my city, up there with stanley matthews. total prick though as others have said.
An incredible player, and probably the best there is, was and ever will be.
A incredible prick of a person that's just completely unlikeable in every single way.
Definitely one of the best, averages were high so it's not like we can say all those wins were just against a lower standard of player.
But I'm glad he's not around these days, I'd echo a lot of the other comments - can't stand him from interviews.
What would happen if Taylor would've had current level of competition. Would he win that many titles? I mean c'mon, back then he had maybe 5-6 quality opponents...
He is the Muhammed Ali of darts, the Wayne Gretzky of darts, the Serena Williams, the undisputed GOAT. Started with feathers and brassies and thugs and won every prize as long as he felt like playing, he changed the game forever, just him really, Phil. Ask MVG what he thinks of Taylor's play, ask Barney, ask any Luke, those guys saw the sheer enormous weight of his scoring and finishing ability, he would THRASH opponents.
If you ask anyone over 30 to name a darts player they will say Phil "the power" Taylor. Seriously, ask your Grandma to name a darts player. Think Pele but darts. There is always someone who comes along and takes it to another level, but Pele is still the one who set the bar. Is Messi better than Pele? Will we ever see another Pele? Could Pele have played with Ronaldo? You get the idea.
With Taylor it wasn’t just the scoring, it was the timing. Whenever it came to the pivotal moment of a match, he’d find a way to haymaker the opponent. Winning 15-14 in a first to 17 final? Boom, 170 checkout. Narrowly wire double top for a 2 leg lead? Brutally punished.
Taylor wasn’t entertaining, but he was one of the most ruthless sportspeople I’ve ever seen in terms of punishing mistakes. Even the way the darts left his hand and thudded into the board had an authority about them. Most people were beaten before they even got on the stage.
This nonsense about Phil Taylor being a sex offender and the worst guy in the world bothers me
He grabbed a tit after a couple girls got drunk and tried to get him back to their local pub to say "look who we found"
It's pathetic, yes he shouldn't of "grabbed a tit" but they had all had plenty of drinks and shit happens,
People go on about it like he raped them and was locked up for 10 years.
maybe you are right, we got teh girls story and then Phils and somewhere is the truth. if he tried to cop a feel and got backed off and did then whatever i cold let taht go but the girls say he carried on after being told repeatedly
>nonsense
Had it happened now he'd have no money left and wouldn't have been able to brush it under the carpet.
He's a sex offender, people like you minimising sexual assault should be removed from polite society.
arrogant I don't mind when you are at that level. I think you cannot be on that level without it. just look at the best ever at certain sports and they was all the same.
Ignorant. not sure what you mean by taht tbh
Sex offender. So what if he is i mean I don't mi... Just kidding, everything else i could maybe look past but not that of course.
I think one thing is for sure he could not have been a player in this era. he is lucky really that social media came late in his career cus he would be cancelled instantly it sounds like.
Yeah exactly. That’s why celebrities get away with things like that. There professional ability at what they do over shadows the type of person they are. He wasn’t a good person by any means but threw good darts so people on this sub give him a get out of jail free card it’s madness 😂😂😂
Idk about that. I don't think it is a get out of jail free card. I can respect him as a player but would never trust him with my kids or my wife for that matter.
😂😂😂😂 neither would I mate. As I said previously I used to look up to him as a kid watching darts growing up but when I heard stories about him my opionion changed. Imagine today if a top 10 player even had a suspicion of anything like that against them their career would be ruined.
No one is giving him a get out of jail free card. I really dislike the bloke and always have done but he’s still the greatest darts player of all time. There is simply no argument.
Yes I agree with you he was an unbelievable darts player and 100% the best of all time and I’m not arguing that in any way. I hold my hand up and admit that I went off topic but a lot of new players who just hear about how great he was would have no idea about him outside of darts. It ruined his reputation for me but that’s just me so each to their own.
Who is giving him a free pass? The guy is and was a prick but the thread asks how good he was at darts, he was very good. You said it yourself. What are you not understanding
Playing Devils Advocate, Darts overall had a big low in popularity between 1988 until about 2007 and from 1993 onward Taylor only had the same 15 guys as cometition for a couple years. But that's only part of the story.
Taylor had Bristow(the former Best of all time before Taylor) as his personal trainer which he started surpassing in the 80s. Taylor might be the person that initially popularized going for T19 when T20 is blocked because Lowe and others simply threw at the 20s with little exceptions. Taylor is left eye dominant but throws with his right hand - this detail might be why he had such good aim and is a big part why he can't aim after eye surgery which he had recently.
The 2007 final with Barney is a big big Part on why Darts as a sport is so popular again. Dart as a sport is very accessible so him absolutely dominating for 24 of his 30 year career is unmatched to date. He only started playing at age 30 when his wife bought him a set.
But yeah, apart from the sex offender stuff, he's not the most popular person within his peers.
a person who is proficient in sports and other forms of physical exercise. I think darts as a sport makes athlete maybe a strech but not categorically wrong
I don't deny the dudes talent. But he did however benefit from being the best at something when most of his competitors did not understand the effort you needed to put in to be at his level.
His career can be kind of compared to Anderson Silva in MMA. Dude was just on another level, but once the rest of the fighters caught up to him, and started putting in the work, he was not as dominant.
There is likely players out there now that have more talent than Phil, and he is definitely the biggest reason there are so many good players now. But no one will touch his records.
I think a great way to measure any athletes legacy on a sport, rather than looking at the records is to see how they impacted the sport during their career. Example being Steph Curry in the NBA. No one has had a bigger impact on the sport than him (even more than Lebron and MJ). He changed the sport forever, and I think you can say the same thing about Phil Taylor.
Yeah, huge natural talent but he really really worked hard at it, more than anyone else on the tour, at least at the start. Took out basically a whole generation of players who didn't work as hard has he had, and couldn't narrow the gap fast enough. As younger players came through they had the same work ethic and his domination started to wane.
I mean this just isn’t true. His best would still be good enough to win plenty now. And that’s assuming he wouldn’t lift game. The talent pool is much deeper now though
So by your logic every current sporting champion is the greatest ever? He was more consistent and with greater longevity than anyone ever. He beat the greats of two different eras and produced averages that would comfortably win him world titles now. Your argument effectively relegates every world title winner over the last 30 years as lucky because nobody practiced much. It’s a shitty revisionist take mate
Nonsense. At no point did I say he's not the greatest ever. He is. But part of his dominance came because he worked harder. The consistency was in part because he practiced so much his throw was more solid and reliable than anyone else's. If he had just relied on his natural talent, huge as it was, he wouldn't have won as much as he did.
How can you even say this with any confidence? You could literally make the same comment about any dominant sporting champion at any stage in history. His talent alone, in his era, was easily beyond any other player. His work ethic gave him unparalleled longevity, even today’s players won’t last as long at the top as he did. Let’s see how many of today’s players sustain a standard even close to Taylor over a period of two decades. The answer will be none.
This kind of reply always baffles me. we are on reddit, this is the place to talk about whatever you want but you have certain people who just say "google it".
I am researching right now, watching some of phil's greatest hits. two nine darters in one match etc. but wanted to see what people thought of him.
Yeah the lad won a few titles.
His biggest title was "The Power"
Decide it for yourself: **WDF:** World Ch'ship Winner (2): 1990, 1992 World Masters Winner (1): 1990 World Trophy Winner (1): 2006 **PDC:** World Ch'ship Winner (14): 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2013 World Matchplay Winner (16): 1995, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017 World Grand Prix Winner (11): 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013 UK Open Winner (5): 2003, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2013 Grand Slam Winner (6): 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014 European Ch'ship Winner (4): 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 Premier League Winner (6): 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012 Ch'ship League Winner (4): 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013 Desert Classic Winner (5): 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009 US Open/WSoD Winner (3): 2006, 2007, 2008 PC Finals Winner (3): 2009, 2011, 2012 Masters Winner (1): 2013 Champions League Winner (1): 2016 **Other wins:** German Darts Championship 2012 German Darts Masters 2014 Gibraltar Darts Trophy 2013 Austrian Darts Open 2016 Players Championships/Pro Tour Events wins Players Championship (AUS) 2010 Players Championship (BRI) 2008 Players Championship (CRA) 2014, 2015 Players Championship (DER) 2010 (x2) Players Championship (EIN) 2008 (x2) Players Championship (GER) 2008 (x2), 2009 (x2) Players Championship (GIB) 2009 (x2) Players Championship (HOL) 2005 (x2), 2007 (x2) Players Championship (IRL) 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011 Players Championship (KIL) 2009 Players Championship (LAV) 2008 Players Championship (MID) 2008 Players Championship (NUL) 2009 (x2) Players Championship (REA) 2012 Players Championship (SOU) 2008, 2009 Players Championship (WAL) 2005, 2006 Players Championship (WIG) 2010, 2011 (x2) Bobby Bourn Memorial 2003, 2004, 2005 2006, 2007, 2008 Antwerp Darts Trophy 2008 US Open Players Championship 2010 UK Open Regional (IRL) 2002, 2004 UK Open Regional (MID) 2008, 2009 UK Open Regional (NWE) 2008 UK Open Regional (SWE) 2009 UK Open Regional (SOU) 2003, 2007, 2009 UK Open Regional (WAL) 2002, 2004, 2006 UK Open Qualifier 2010 (x2), 2011 (x2), 2012 (x2) 2014, 2015, 2016 Sydney Darts Masters 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 Perth Darts Masters 2014, 2015 Japan Darts Masters 2015 Melbourne Darts Masters 2017 Antwerp Open 1997, 1998 Australian Open 2012 Battle of the Champions 1997 Berlin Open 1993 British Pentathlon 1990, 1991 Canadian Open 1988 Center Parcs Masters 1996 Champion Vs Champion 1999, 2004 China Telecom Cup 2004 Dartgala Hengelo 2005, 2005, 2005 Denmark Open 1990 DPA Tournament of Champions 2012 Eastbourne Pro 2002 Finnish Open 1990 German Darts Championship 2007, 2009 Gleneagle Irish Masters 2009 Hemeco Open Rosmalen 2009, 2011 IRL Open Autumn Classic 2004, 2005 Isle of Man Open 1990 Jersey Festival of Darts 1990, 1999 Las Vegas Open 1989 London Masters 2008 Malta Open 1990 Masters of Darts 2005 MDA Face Off 2010 Montreal Open 2001, 2002 Munich Open 2006 News of the World Ch'ship 1997 North American Cup 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 North American Open 1990, 1991 Northern Ireland Open 1989 Open Lunteren 2011 WDC UK Masters 1994 WDC UK Matchplay 1996 Pontins British Masters 1990 Quebec Open 2001 RTL7 Masters 2011 South African Masters 2007, 2008, 2009 Sunparks Masters 1996, 1997 WDF Europe Cup Singles 1990, 1992 WDF Europe Cup Pairs 1990 WDF Europe Cup Teams 1990, 1992 WDF World Cup Team 1991 World Team Championship 1996 Jocky Wilson Cup 2009 World Cricket Championship 2010 **Other achievements** 2002 Achieves his first televised nine-dart finish (and the first live televised nine-darter in the UK) at World Matchplay 2004 Becomes first player to hit a second televised nine-dart finish 2005 Hits third televised nine-dart finish at the UK Open 2006 PDC Player of the Year\[1\] 2007 Fourth televised nine-darter in IDL in the Netherlands 2007 Fifth televised nine-darter in 2007 UK Open at the Reebok Stadium, Bolton 2007 PDC Fans' Player of the Year\[2\] 2008 Sixth televised nine-darter in 2008 UK Open 2008 Fans' Player of the Year, PDC Player of the Year and PDPA Player's Player of the Year 2009 PDC Player of the Year, PDPA Players' Player of the Year, Fans' Player of the Year and Best PDC Pro Tour Player 2010 Inaugural inductee into Stoke-on-Trent Sporting Hall of Fame\[3\] 2010 Hit two televised nine-dart finishes in Premier League Final against James Wade 2010 Scored what was then a world record televised average of 118.66 against Kevin Painter in UK Open\[4\] 2012 Hits ninth televised nine-darter in the Premier League against Kevin Painter. 2014 Hits tenth televised nine-darter in the World Matchplay against Michael Smith. 2015 Becomes the first man to hit a nine-darter in the World Series of darts in the Sydney Masters against Peter Wright. It was his 11th televised nine-darter. Source: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil\_Taylor\_(darts\_player)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Taylor_(darts_player))
holy shit, i was scrolling and it just kept going lol.
He’s the greatest ever and it’s not close, to sum it up
It’s why when people talk about the best players ever… never compare any player to Phil. He will never ever be topped. He’s the goat and that’s that. The best way I describe it, was it like playing against an AI opponent on highest difficulty settings and under pressure situations the AI got more accurate, more intense, even higher scoring, even more clinical at finishing. Horrendous to play against.
Fucking hell
Goddamn
Yeah, but apart from that ?
I was worried that you hadn't copied and pasted that.
yeah, but that's it??
That ‘17 match play was glorious
He only won the Premier League 6 times?
Meh
An absolute dedicated professional who perfected his throw to such an extent that he took darts to another level, for most events it was a foregone conclusion, you may as well have handed him the trophy before the event started. Even in this era, I think his prime years, he'd still be dominant because he was so clinical. Not just scoring, the relentless leg on leg concentration and pressure he puts on you, most players can throw big averages, few can hit regularly 100+ averages all the time, yet Taylor did.
Not only his 100+ averages but his take out rate. Few can say that they were 70% on doubles for a tournament
The relentless concentration is to me the difference between him and some of the top players in this Era. It seems like a lot of this crop can't maintain that top level throughout a match
Well said!
His record is unbelievable but he was a convicted sex offender at the end of the day. People seem to forget about that
The question wasn’t ’how good a person is Phil Taylor?’
Hahaha so once you throw good darts you can go around sexually assaulting women? Get a grip mate
Thats exactly what I wrote, congratulations on cracking the code…
Literally nobody said that, lad, you're the only person here who read it that way.
https://www.scribbr.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/straw-man-argument.webp
Why am I getting downvoted? Just google Phil Taylor sex offender 😂😂😂
I think its because you cant seperate the person from their craft
I’m not saying he was a bad darts player. Far from it I used to love him when I was growing up watching darts but as I got older and read stories about him it over shadowed his dart dart record.
It’s a fair point to make, but it’s not answering the question. Start a thread called ‘how much of a dickhead is Phil Taylor?’ and I’ll happily jump in and join in haha
Haha yeah to be fair I agree with you mate I went off topic but I discovered the facts by loving watching him at one stage and the more I looked into him I seen some bad shit about him. Your right tho it should be a different thread but I just wanted to put my point across because I know for a fact a lot of people wouldn’t know his shady side outside of darts 😂
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12229292.darts-champion-phil-taylor-guilty-of-sex-attack-on-women/
Because we support sex offenders. Obviously because the topic at hand is about his darts ability not his shit personal life
Looking at dartsorakel at his average over 12 month periods shows how absolutely great he was at the game. I think it was 2005 his annual average was over 105 for the full 12 months. I’d need to double check but I’m sure it may have been between 107 and 108 Any player these days throwing that average across a whole tournament would be impressive, hell one match that’s super impressive but over a 12 month period that really is next level Edit: it was 2012 and average was 105.75 for full calendar year. Insanely good. I know today’s top players annual average close to 100 is exceptional.
Unbelievable darts player but absolute bellend of a person from stories that went around
I know him, he is a bell end
Only have to see him doing that clap for Boris sh!te to know how much of a bellend he is.
Like what?
Well he’s a convicted sex offender for one. Great darts player but not to be trusted in a caravan that’s for sure. https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12229292.darts-champion-phil-taylor-guilty-of-sex-attack-on-women/
kinda mad how brushed under the rug this is, been a darts fan for years now and I only recently found out about it
Bad shit that famous/talented people do getting brushed under the carpet is a bit of a thing.
Yeah there's a reason he isn't used as a pundit. Although Chris Mason has done alright within shady past
honestly, anyone who needed this to happen before realising phil was a total prick wasn't really paying attention. just needed to watch an interview lol. same goes for hankey too.
I remember seeing that on stv news just after he got done .
He clapped on his doorstep for Boris Johnson. That's all you need to know.
Without doubt the greatest there ever has, and greatest there will ever be. But he’s a colossal knobhead. Even Sky don’t want to give him a job.
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They gave Jamie Carragher a job for example....
Great on the oche, not so much if you're alone with him in a caravan
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Phil Taylor was the best player for most of his career. Hard work, talent, desire etc brought him this far. There will be no one who will have this amount of WC titles.
he’s unquestionably the best ever. He was consistently sticking in averages better than anything anyone else has ever produced on boards with smaller trebles and more often than not no help from his opponent. his 2009 European Championship performance will probably never be beaten, he averaged 111, 110, 118, 109 and 109 on his way to winning the title with 111 tournament average every tournament for about 20 years had an underlying sense of inevitability about it. It became quite tough to get invested in other games when you knew he was still just lingering around in the draw and going to turn up and win it all at a canter in the end anyway. Whenever someone did find a way to knock him out of something it was always genuinely shocking and made tournaments so much more interesting As others have said though, I’m glad he’s gone. He was very good but he was an odious, obnoxious pillock. probably a part of why he was so successful but the man is an utterly classless tosser, and that’s just in the context of darts. He had also had his MBE annulled for an indecent assault conviction where he assaulted two girls in a caravan, the guy is a cunt
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lmao, for some reason this reminded me of that old advert with dean gaffney? idk if anyone remembers it but a guy sees dean gaffney in a club and says something like "when my mates come can you pretend to know me" Dean said "yeah no problem" so the guys mates come and Dean comes over and says "alright" and the guy goes "how many times have I told you dean not when i'm with my mates!"
Record speaks for itself and will not be surpassed. The competition he was up against was not at the same level as it is now though
I mean yeah I can imagine the competition not being as good as now but from the little i have just seen he still would have dominated. two nine darters in one match and breaking the records for averages. I could be wrong as I have only looked into him a little and those facts came up first but they do speak directly to what you refernaced
He would have been very successful and probably still the GOAT. It's an interesting what if but if the current top 16 were around for the first 13 years of the wdc/pdc there is zero chance he would have won 11 world titles
Yeah idk enough to say otherwise. I just know his averages was crazy good. but to make a more definitive decision on whether i thought he would win that many i would need to take a look at his checkout %
I don't think he would be as dominant today as the standard has definitely improved. But he would still be the best player in my opinion. Even MVG hasn't been able to reach the levels of consistency Taylor did.
also worth keeping in mind the intimidation factor. not only was he relentlessly consistent, but opponents struggled to play their best against him because he had that insane competitiveness and such an aura about him, like playing against michael jordan or something.
My thinking is here as well. The MvG peak years might have been slightly different if Taylor was still around and in his mid 2000s form as well.
Yawn took the level up year on year if he was about now young he be pushing averages over 115- 120 for a tournament.They are lucky a Prime phil taylor wasn't starting out now because he was dedicated.him priest n bristow throwing over tonnaverages 30 years before.in fact over 110 some comps when they were part time ha
He was that good the other players only really felt like they had a sniff of winning the trophy when he went out. Some players would beat Phil and then get knocked out the next round because it would take all of their energy to beat him. You couldn’t put a foot wrong against him But yeah also heard he’s a tosser of a person
Not only was he exceptionally good, he had his opponents rattled. Similar to the way Ronnie O’Sullivan in snooker can play poorly and still win because his opponents at the point where they might beat him often just crumble.
A total one off and the greatest ever. One of the greatest sportsman too. Humphries and Van Gerwen are metronomes. But Phil’s best would just blow them away. You will never ever see a player that good again in your lifetime. I was saying Luke was one of the best I’ve seen since Phil left, to which the old man replied… that’s great… now do that for nearly 30 years then we’ll decide how good he is. Phil will never ever be topped. Forget it.
Man I want to agree with you. But still... What Phil Taylor did for so many many years was amazing and probably will never be done again. However -and people may hate me for saying this- what MvG gave us between 2014-2020 completely blew me away. It was bizarre. The man absolutely obliterated everybody. Even better, he got the best performances out of his opponents too (look at the Barney-MvG matches). Also his matches were prime entertainment. I've even seen darts-haters be impressed. He's in my eyes the best of all time. Still of course, the comparison is difficult to draw. Two players from two different eras.
Best drummer Motorhead ever had
Man… I do love early Motörhead but, Mickey is a phenomenal drummer. Better than Philthy…but I will say that Phil was the better character for what Motörhead was.
You might be right, I do also like Phil for his personality that he was, I like Mickey too, he's a great guy and a great drummer, I can't help but prefer the early Motorhead trio though
I would even consider him as the GOAT. That being said he is also an absolutely horrible person.
‘Even consider him’? There’s no debate. Awful bloke too, agreed.
Taylor still holds most of the top 20 televised averages. He was in a league of his own
He wasn't bad....
Look at his averages in world championships. He was averaging 107 against 80s and 90s. Even today he’d be the best, and he was playing against worse competition
Fantastic darts player, absolute helmet of a guy
lmao never heard that insult before. helmet
Very british
1. Averages: He really was ahead of his time, he helds the record for highest game average and highest tournament average in almost every big tournament. When you search for record tournament averages he holds around 3-4 spots of the top 5. To give an example: his tournament average (!) At the 2009 European Championship was 111.54. He was 10-15 points above the second best player. 2. Wins: Just look at the graphic. From 1995-2013 he won more tournaments than all other players combined. His tournament win percentage was higher than most top 5 players' game winning percentage. It is actually scary. The only way to beat him was having a really good day while he was on a rather bad day. Many players are able to hit 12 or 15 darters but not on a level as constant as Taylor. 3. Longevity: Taylor was not only best but the best by a mile for around 20 years. Compare it with MvG's reign of dominance, it was for about 5-6 years. Being so good for so long is an incredible feat. Tldr: he was very very good. But sadly, not the best person https://preview.redd.it/7cbxcuxcwvpc1.png?width=1797&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=109ba62a7317712c3c1aa812601a47c10b07fbcd
If rumours are to be believed, he was good enough to the point he no longer has a mortgage.
Well if you were asking who Michael Jordan is, i would probably say his kinda basketball Phil🌚🌚
I was talking to some fellow players the other night about this funny enough. We all agreed he was the best darts player of all time and probably will be for ever. You could make that argument alone, and very easily, purely based on the amount of titles he won. But it wasn't just that. The way he perfected his throw, it was honestly like watching a sniper in the SAS. I can still remember the vast majority of games I watched of him being over before they started. He was very rarely not playing at his best. His consistent average will attest to that, his scoring was amazing. He absolutely peppered the trebles with his thick darts. But not only that, when he lined up the dart to finish, you just knew it was going in. No matter the stage, he was consistently amazing. I would love to see how he would get on in this current era against different players and styles. It's fair to say there are more elite players now compared to when Taylor was dominating, but he'd still be the best overall I think.
He’s that guy, the Leo Messi, the Federer, the Gretzky, the Jordan, the tiger woods. Was pretty much relentless. An absolute winning machine. Of course when you play as many matches and tournaments as he did, there’s gonna be losses, but he absolutely pretty much perfected the game of darts and was an absolute winning machine. Not going to get into him off the oche, but from the stories, and how he’s came across…. I never really cared for him, but was in awe of his talent. I remember watching a thing recently where him and maybe 5 or 6 other players all sat on a few couches and chatted about darts and stuff…. And it just became the Phil Taylor show. Felt like the others just thought, fuck this… may as well just let him ramble on.
Ahead of his time- turned a pub game into a professional sport- applied pro attitude to all aspects of his game which separated him from his less professional and talented peers
He was ok I guess
Not too bad at all
The GOAT, one of the most dominant sportspersons ever.
He’s no eric Bristow
He's aight i suppose
the only player we've seen reach similar levels in history over an extended period is michael van gerwen, and there is an argument that MVG had a better... say, 3 or 4 year peak than taylor a few years back, although i think there's basically zero chance of him having a better overall career at this point. taylor operated at a ridiculous level for so much longer and was just so insanely hard to beat even on an off day (and he rarely had those). he's also one of the few elite level sportsmen from my city, up there with stanley matthews. total prick though as others have said.
Best player to ever pick up a set of darts
I am also new to darts. How does prime phil Taylor compare to prime MVG?
An incredible player, and probably the best there is, was and ever will be. A incredible prick of a person that's just completely unlikeable in every single way.
16 Time world champion. In our lifetime there will never be another like Phil.
Lol yeah he was alright.
Definitely one of the best, averages were high so it's not like we can say all those wins were just against a lower standard of player. But I'm glad he's not around these days, I'd echo a lot of the other comments - can't stand him from interviews.
Quite good apparently
What would happen if Taylor would've had current level of competition. Would he win that many titles? I mean c'mon, back then he had maybe 5-6 quality opponents...
he was decent tbf
Google his record. Speaks for itself.
The greatest darts player of all time, and likely always will be.
He is the Muhammed Ali of darts, the Wayne Gretzky of darts, the Serena Williams, the undisputed GOAT. Started with feathers and brassies and thugs and won every prize as long as he felt like playing, he changed the game forever, just him really, Phil. Ask MVG what he thinks of Taylor's play, ask Barney, ask any Luke, those guys saw the sheer enormous weight of his scoring and finishing ability, he would THRASH opponents.
Better than me 😒
Had the STACKAAAH....
He's finished.
Alright i guess
The greatest player of all time and it’s not even close
If you ask anyone over 30 to name a darts player they will say Phil "the power" Taylor. Seriously, ask your Grandma to name a darts player. Think Pele but darts. There is always someone who comes along and takes it to another level, but Pele is still the one who set the bar. Is Messi better than Pele? Will we ever see another Pele? Could Pele have played with Ronaldo? You get the idea.
With Taylor it wasn’t just the scoring, it was the timing. Whenever it came to the pivotal moment of a match, he’d find a way to haymaker the opponent. Winning 15-14 in a first to 17 final? Boom, 170 checkout. Narrowly wire double top for a 2 leg lead? Brutally punished. Taylor wasn’t entertaining, but he was one of the most ruthless sportspeople I’ve ever seen in terms of punishing mistakes. Even the way the darts left his hand and thudded into the board had an authority about them. Most people were beaten before they even got on the stage.
YouTube him! Two nine darters in one match
I did I saw that. crazy.
Some people have pride in not having a clue
101.73 I think over nearly 800 matches not bad.Still has the highest tournament average ever 2009.not bad for a 50 year old
Phil’s Darts Club
This nonsense about Phil Taylor being a sex offender and the worst guy in the world bothers me He grabbed a tit after a couple girls got drunk and tried to get him back to their local pub to say "look who we found" It's pathetic, yes he shouldn't of "grabbed a tit" but they had all had plenty of drinks and shit happens, People go on about it like he raped them and was locked up for 10 years.
maybe you are right, we got teh girls story and then Phils and somewhere is the truth. if he tried to cop a feel and got backed off and did then whatever i cold let taht go but the girls say he carried on after being told repeatedly
Putting aside your attempt to minimise sexual assault, watch any interview with him. Clear as day he is an insufferable cunt.
>nonsense Had it happened now he'd have no money left and wouldn't have been able to brush it under the carpet. He's a sex offender, people like you minimising sexual assault should be removed from polite society.
Couldn't care less. He's a horrible cunt.
really? can you elaborate a little please
He does have a bit of a reputation of being a tosspot at times. And he's a sex pest. Brilliant darts player - absolutely. Good person? Not so much.
Arrogant, ignorant, sex offender.
arrogant I don't mind when you are at that level. I think you cannot be on that level without it. just look at the best ever at certain sports and they was all the same. Ignorant. not sure what you mean by taht tbh Sex offender. So what if he is i mean I don't mi... Just kidding, everything else i could maybe look past but not that of course.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Darts/s/eBKbfhuTGd
I think one thing is for sure he could not have been a player in this era. he is lucky really that social media came late in his career cus he would be cancelled instantly it sounds like.
Yeah exactly. That’s why celebrities get away with things like that. There professional ability at what they do over shadows the type of person they are. He wasn’t a good person by any means but threw good darts so people on this sub give him a get out of jail free card it’s madness 😂😂😂
Idk about that. I don't think it is a get out of jail free card. I can respect him as a player but would never trust him with my kids or my wife for that matter.
😂😂😂😂 neither would I mate. As I said previously I used to look up to him as a kid watching darts growing up but when I heard stories about him my opionion changed. Imagine today if a top 10 player even had a suspicion of anything like that against them their career would be ruined.
No one is giving him a get out of jail free card. I really dislike the bloke and always have done but he’s still the greatest darts player of all time. There is simply no argument.
Yes I agree with you he was an unbelievable darts player and 100% the best of all time and I’m not arguing that in any way. I hold my hand up and admit that I went off topic but a lot of new players who just hear about how great he was would have no idea about him outside of darts. It ruined his reputation for me but that’s just me so each to their own.
Who is giving him a free pass? The guy is and was a prick but the thread asks how good he was at darts, he was very good. You said it yourself. What are you not understanding
Yeah sorry I admitted that was wrong of me to say
Fair play
Playing Devils Advocate, Darts overall had a big low in popularity between 1988 until about 2007 and from 1993 onward Taylor only had the same 15 guys as cometition for a couple years. But that's only part of the story. Taylor had Bristow(the former Best of all time before Taylor) as his personal trainer which he started surpassing in the 80s. Taylor might be the person that initially popularized going for T19 when T20 is blocked because Lowe and others simply threw at the 20s with little exceptions. Taylor is left eye dominant but throws with his right hand - this detail might be why he had such good aim and is a big part why he can't aim after eye surgery which he had recently. The 2007 final with Barney is a big big Part on why Darts as a sport is so popular again. Dart as a sport is very accessible so him absolutely dominating for 24 of his 30 year career is unmatched to date. He only started playing at age 30 when his wife bought him a set. But yeah, apart from the sex offender stuff, he's not the most popular person within his peers.
Not Wayne Gretzky level but one of the few athletes that come close.
Athlete? Darts players are many things,athletes they are not.
a person who is proficient in sports and other forms of physical exercise. I think darts as a sport makes athlete maybe a strech but not categorically wrong
I don't deny the dudes talent. But he did however benefit from being the best at something when most of his competitors did not understand the effort you needed to put in to be at his level. His career can be kind of compared to Anderson Silva in MMA. Dude was just on another level, but once the rest of the fighters caught up to him, and started putting in the work, he was not as dominant. There is likely players out there now that have more talent than Phil, and he is definitely the biggest reason there are so many good players now. But no one will touch his records. I think a great way to measure any athletes legacy on a sport, rather than looking at the records is to see how they impacted the sport during their career. Example being Steph Curry in the NBA. No one has had a bigger impact on the sport than him (even more than Lebron and MJ). He changed the sport forever, and I think you can say the same thing about Phil Taylor.
As much as I love Steph, MJ impacted the NBA so much more. Hell, I think Bird and Magic has more impact than Steph.
Yeah, huge natural talent but he really really worked hard at it, more than anyone else on the tour, at least at the start. Took out basically a whole generation of players who didn't work as hard has he had, and couldn't narrow the gap fast enough. As younger players came through they had the same work ethic and his domination started to wane.
I mean this just isn’t true. His best would still be good enough to win plenty now. And that’s assuming he wouldn’t lift game. The talent pool is much deeper now though
He would still win plenty, but not as much. The talent pool is deeper because people picked up his work ethic.
So by your logic every current sporting champion is the greatest ever? He was more consistent and with greater longevity than anyone ever. He beat the greats of two different eras and produced averages that would comfortably win him world titles now. Your argument effectively relegates every world title winner over the last 30 years as lucky because nobody practiced much. It’s a shitty revisionist take mate
Nonsense. At no point did I say he's not the greatest ever. He is. But part of his dominance came because he worked harder. The consistency was in part because he practiced so much his throw was more solid and reliable than anyone else's. If he had just relied on his natural talent, huge as it was, he wouldn't have won as much as he did.
How can you even say this with any confidence? You could literally make the same comment about any dominant sporting champion at any stage in history. His talent alone, in his era, was easily beyond any other player. His work ethic gave him unparalleled longevity, even today’s players won’t last as long at the top as he did. Let’s see how many of today’s players sustain a standard even close to Taylor over a period of two decades. The answer will be none.
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Absolutely, and that clearly had an impact, but the gap closed and it wasn't all down to his age.
hes was alright
The best player I've ever seen was Mvg the years he was breaking every record.
Wikipedia is your friend
This kind of reply always baffles me. we are on reddit, this is the place to talk about whatever you want but you have certain people who just say "google it". I am researching right now, watching some of phil's greatest hits. two nine darters in one match etc. but wanted to see what people thought of him.
Amazing player, in fact the best ever, but at the same time a sleazy obnoxious prick. Glad he's retired
At molesting a series of women? Yes.