Darts without Taylor - A future or failure?

[devosteve]

When i 1st went 4 years ago i (and the mrs) were saying, "I hope they put taylor on Monday night."

And did they?!

No they didn't. But my 1st experience of PDC darts (live) was fantastic and i went back later in the week. I have been a darts fans from the 80's (TV fan, played it with mates etc), fell away from it (would watch parts of Lakeside for example but would never have bought a darts mag or searched for a darts forum) and then came back to it again when i was 'allowed' to have sky sports.

Point being Taylor was the big draw for me and is for many others. Now i am at the stage that if Sky dropped darts i would cancel my subscription (even though i watch the footie) - it's my major reason for paying that sub: not to watch taylor but to watch darts. So if Taylor withdrew from this years matchplay i wouldn't be that upset and would still have bought my tickets. But how many viewers are sports fans/footie fans/darts fans - in that order? Darts just being an add on for them.

But back to the title of this thread: i can't see darts actually being a FAILURE without Taylor. If it was, what a shallow sport we have been watching.

[STEVE M]

The interest would'nt decrease but i know there are lots of people out there my auntie included that don't follow darts but will tune in to watch Phil Taylor.
Put the mans attitude to one side,he is a one off and is the nearest to darting perfection as we will ever see.
What he achieved against Wade at wembley hitting the two 9 darters then hitting 7 out of 9 for a 3rd one was out of this world.
Would federer be a loss to tennis ? Would messi be a loss to football ? you have to ask the same of Taylor.

[mshaw2]

Decrease eventually, no doubt in my mind. Whether we like it or not, Taylor is why many people go to darts, watch darts, even play darts. Although I'd put good money on that when he retires, they'll shoe some sort of legends tour/comp onto TV to keep him in the frame.

[daraghj82]

there will be a drop off if phil retires in terms of excitement, quality of darts and overall interest. however iti will be mean the likes of lewis, mvg, huybrechts (hopefully) stepping up to the mark. the emergence of taylors dominance over the last 23 years and sky brilliant marketing of darts will ensure it will continue to be popular and do well

[andyc]

If darts were to fail without Taylor it would largely be the fault of Sky for promoting him to the near exclusion of others bar Barney.

Of course he's an incredible talent and close to a one-off in sport in terms of dominance etc. But I can't remember any other sport basing their TV coverage so much around one person.

Remarkable as Taylor's talent is, I suspect Sky's attitude towards him and treatment of him has had a detrimental effect on players who may otherwise have put up more of a challenge to breaking his domination.

[Hywel Morgan]

Failure's a bit strong but if it stops some of the 'fans' chanting "there's only one Phil Taylor" during matches likes Richie Burnett versus Gino Vos, then surely that's one positive to be taken?

[Irwin R Schyster]

The longer Taylor is the No.1 player the bigger the fall will be when he goes. It depends on what happens before he retires. If one or two players come along and knock him off his perch then things should be fine as there will be a proper end to the Taylor era. Van Gerwen beating him in this years World Final could have been that moment with a new young star becoming World Champion. That didn't happen and now Taylor is still far ahead of the rest. The way MVG messed up his match with Taylor this week is a worrying sign that he could slip down the same path as the likes of Whitlock & Anderson, players who briefly looked like a threat to Taylor but who get worse against him the more often they played. The fact is Lewis is the only one of Taylor's main rivals who actually beat him on TV. The likes of Wade, Anderson, Whitlock, Barney etc haven't had a win over him in years. It's mostly lower ranked or up and coming players that beat Taylor, usually early in a tournament. Taylor retiring as the dominant top man would leave a huge credibility gap afterwards, particularly if he is still heavily featured on Sky's coverage. Although it's unlikely he'll give up when there's so much money for him to win. It's possible he could dominate for a few more years and then possibly something like dartitis, health problems or a simple loss of interest will lead him to leave. I suspect the most likely scenario is that at some stage people get fed up watch a middle aged man hammering people up to 25-30 years younger then him and lose interest themselves.

[Paddy McGinty]

If darts were to fail without Taylor it would largely be the fault of Sky for promoting him to the near exclusion of others bar Barney.

Of course he's an incredible talent and close to a one-off in sport in terms of dominance etc. But I can't remember any other sport basing their TV coverage so much around one person.

Remarkable as Taylor's talent is, I suspect Sky's attitude towards him and treatment of him has had a detrimental effect on players who may otherwise have put up more of a challenge to breaking his domination.

The only reason that Phil is subject to all the hype and promotion by Sky is that he is still the best dart player around, when the time comes and a different player starts dominating their attentions will no doubt switch to them.

paDDy

[STEVE M]

The longer Taylor is the No.1 player the bigger the fall will be when he goes. It depends on what happens before he retires. If one or two players come along and knock him off his perch then things should be fine as there will be a proper end to the Taylor era. Van Gerwen beating him in this years World Final could have been that moment with a new young star becoming World Champion. That didn't happen and now Taylor is still far ahead of the rest. The way MVG messed up his match with Taylor this week is a worrying sign that he could slip down the same path as the likes of Whitlock & Anderson, players who briefly looked like a threat to Taylor but who get worse against him the more often they played. The fact is Lewis is the only one of Taylor's main rivals who actually beat him on TV. The likes of Wade, Anderson, Whitlock, Barney etc haven't had a win over him in years. It's mostly lower ranked or up and coming players that beat Taylor, usually early in a tournament. Taylor retiring as the dominant top man would leave a huge credibility gap afterwards, particularly if he is still heavily featured on Sky's coverage. Although it's unlikely he'll give up when there's so much money for him to win. It's possible he could dominate for a few more years and then possibly something like dartitis, health problems or a simple loss of interest will lead him to leave. I suspect the most likely scenario is that at some stage people get fed up watch a middle aged man hammering people up to 25-30 years younger then him and lose interest themselves.

Lewis is the only one of taylors main rivals,are you sure ?
Did'nt MVG beat Taylor in Wolverhampton on tv in november ?
Did you watch the darts Thursday night ?
Wasn't Taylor very lucky to scrape a draw ?
Agreed Taylor is still the best but far ahead he is not,if MVG scores like he can for the duration of a match and hits his doubles first visit Taylor won't get near him FACT.

[GtotheF]

I think MvG is a key man.

He could/should be Sky's next marquee name and if Lewis can up his game a bit, and Barney remains competitive then I think the future is OK.

[Sandie]

I like Taylor, but I like most of the other players too, different types of play and personalities is what makes the game.

Darts will be fine when Taylor retires, maybe the younger generation playing will encourage more interest from the public?

[Chunksoutofthewalls]

I think there would be less interest in the game.No one can argue that he is the ultimate champion in sport noone else has dominated something for so long.
However if there was someone to pass the baton on to which may be looking like MvG.Someone who isn't really into darts would think is amazing just to watch as a spectacle,as with Taylor.The he could retire and the game would be as popular.Everyone loves a winner!

[oche balboa]

Well?

[devosteve]

Well?

Obvious. The answer has proven to be future.

its actually getter better in many ways. I mean foes anyone actually miss Taylor? And more importantly has anyone stopped following dates since Taylor stepped retired?

[thelad1985]

taylor is one of the best ever - but hes overated - was he really better than lowe wolfie bristow and duzza- yeah probably but not by much - the pdc didnt put out a championship field until 2008 - and then part won it - he won 2 lakeys - great acheivemnt - and won some pdc cups when they got proper players from the bdo - instead of pub players - in a unifed field he would have only won 8 or 9 cups -

robson

[Ginge]

Sparky why are you approving this shit? Have you been eating placenta or something?

[thelad1985]

Sparky why are you approving this shit? Have you been eating placenta or something?

your not in charge on this forum - let ssja do what he likes -

robson

[1205]

Well?

Obvious. The answer has proven to be future.

its actually getter better in many ways. I mean foes anyone actually miss Taylor? And more importantly has anyone stopped following dates since Taylor stepped retired?

Darts overall is more competitive, but at the top there's van Gerwen v Anderson. If Anderson were to announce that he's retiring due to his back injury, there'd be a big hole to fill.

[Deleted User]

Well?

Obvious. The answer has proven to be future.

its actually getter better in many ways. I mean foes anyone actually miss Taylor? And more importantly has anyone stopped following dates since Taylor stepped retired?

Darts overall is more competitive, but at the top there's van Gerwen v Anderson. If Anderson were to announce that he's retiring due to his back injury, there'd be a big hole to fill.

Is it Mrs James Wade?

[Kaneda]

I actually believe Sky will lose interest should Taylor retire, he is the biggest name in the game and the one they build their whole coverage around

How is this going ?