Darts without Taylor - A future or failure?

[Dannyboy]

Can the PDC survive without him?

Of course it can. Don't be silly.
They have nearly £5m in the bank at the last count and bring in £1m profit every season.

That's only going to get bigger and better around the world. I can easily see hard tip becoming more popular than soft tip in the next 10-15 years in the Far East.

In the UK, the sport is already at saturation point.

[Paddy McGinty]

Once Taylor retires we will soon find another to hate so I don't think it will make one iota of difference.

paDDy

[hang the dj]

Personally can't wait for the day he calls it quits

[Tristan]

There was darts before Taylor, there will be darts after.... everybody can be replaced.

[Welsh Wayne]

The sooner the better because when a player acts and believes hes bigger than the Sport,hes no champion imo.

And sky actively help him,with their continuous biased over hyped coverage.

Bring on the new Guns I say and put him in the pundits chair.

Good riddance

[biga]

When he does go lets hope hes remembered for his darts and not his attitude.

[Rudy]

I reckon just a temporary drop in public interest will follow Taylor's retirement.

[Basgooner]

Can the PDC survive without him?

Of course it can. Don't be silly.
They have nearly £5m in the bank at the last count and bring in £1m profit every season.

That's only going to get bigger and better around the world. I can easily see hard tip becoming more popular than soft tip in the next 10-15 years in the Far East.

In the UK, the sport is already at saturation point.

So surely you have just contradicted yourself

If the Sport is at Saturation Point in the UK, then the only way is downhill like what happened in the Late 80's

[AndyBarnes]

The future won't be as good initially, but as folk have said, there are enough stars to keep interest high. Darts is growing, and that will bring more quality in the future.

[The Cat]

The sooner the better because when a player acts and believes hes bigger than the Sport,hes no champion imo.

And sky actively help him,with their continuous biased over hyped coverage.

Bring on the new Guns I say and put him in the pundits chair.

Good riddance

Get off the fence Wayne

[Chizzyfan]

I will be most very sad when Taylor decides to retire. But stars like Chizzy will still keep Sky interested.

[matt41]

Never thought I'd say it but Taylor's retirement can't happen soon enough and even if this does lead to a tailing off of interest to begin with (which I expect it will) it won't be significant and it will make the PDC a more rounded organisation over the long term.

For too long the PDC's offer has been: come and watch one bloke destroy everyone else. More recently its something like: come and watch one bloke probably destroy everyone else, and act like a petulant child win or lose. The year Taylor held all the TV tournaments was the year he should have called it quits. There is something really unpleasant about his evolution over the past couple of years.

[AndyBarnes]

Never thought I'd say it but Taylor's retirement can't happen soon enough and even if this does lead to a tailing off of interest to begin with (which I expect it will) it won't be significant and it will make the PDC a more rounded organisation over the long term.

For too long the PDC's offer has been: come and watch one bloke destroy everyone else. More recently its something like: come and watch one bloke probably destroy everyone else, and act like a petulant child win or lose. The year Taylor held all the TV tournaments was the year he should have called it quits. There is something really unpleasant about his evolution over the past couple of years.

You are right, my wife simply can't stand him. From my perspective, he's an amazing talent, and if he's willing to carry on, I'm willing to watch. Yes, some of his antics are unsavoury - but that's just him. Similar makeup to O'Sullivan in snooker...

[Deleted User]

Not anymore. We aint talking 2008-2010. There was no easy Taylor win in 2012 and a bunch of loses.

2012 - TV Tournaments
World Cup of Darts
Premier League Darts (6th win in the 8 yrs of the tournament)
UK Open - R/Up to an inspired Thornton
German Darts Championship (Euro Event 2)
World Matchplay (5th in a row)
Championship League darts (3rd win plus 2xR/Up in the 5 yrs of the tournament)
Players Championship

Also entered 6 UK Open quals/Players Championships - Won 3, R/Up 3

(Also 5 of the top 15 averages ever on TV during the Premier League!)

2013 - TV
World Championship
World Cup of Darts

This is still utterly dominant in a head-to-head sport where the general standard of play is so high. Taylor rarely has an off day, or an off match, or even an off leg!

Darts will be refreshed when he goes, it really is boring, no matter how good he is it lacks excitement because of his dominance.

[devosteve]

As others have said i think there will be an initial drop off from some casual fans. i would guess all regular posters on here will continue to watch darts when Phil retires and a lot will actually enjoy it more with the increased competition and different players winning events. But the growth of PDC darts is actually with the 'sky' crowd (a generalisation here i know) and whatever we think of taylor he is the Star of the show. Couldn't believe in Germany that the mainly german crowd were chanting for Taylor well before he was due to appear.
I think though that after an initial dip it will pick up with more players being given a chance in the 'spotlight'.

Btw speaking as someone who likes taylor but has recently got a bit tired of his antics and attitude (and is sick of the ott Sky bias to him) when he has been on the card at Blackpool not only is there an increased crowd (it seems anyway) but you can sense the atmosphere is that little bit more 'electric' and exciting. I reckon when people buy 1st round tickets for just one night it is Taylor who they are hoping will be appearing on that night above any other player. When i 1st went 4 years ago i (and the mrs) were saying, "I hope they put taylor on Monday night."

[AndyBarnes]

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

And did they?!

[lowedc]

I think there'll be a drop-off in interest, to some extent. From my own experience, I got back into following darts in 2002 when I happened to just catch his 9 darter at the Matchplay on Sky. I hadn't followed darts since the 1980's heyday (other than watching Bullseye) - but from that moment I started to follow his matches and then the rest of the PDC. Even now, when he gets knocked out of a tournament, I'm less likely to watch the rest of it. Darts is such a "simple" sport that it took someone standing out far from the rest to get me into it and if I'm honest I'm not sure it will be the same once he retires. Obviously most of the people on this forum are more entrenched in darts (play in a league etc.), but I fear that a lot of casual fans like me will become less interested.

[avalon]

It`s a difficult question to answer. In my view unless another player or players step up their games then some interest will be lost. At the moment people tune in to see a dominant and classy display by Taylor or they tune in in the hope of seeing him beaten or to find some way of finding fault with either his demeanour on stage or to find a way of criticising his post match interview. Whatever the reason a lot of people watch because it is him.

Attendance at premier league matches will stay high because, let`s face it, most don`t give a monkeys about darts anyway, but those same people who show up for a boozy night out can quickly change their allegiance if something else comes along.

In recent times there have been players who have been threatening to challenge Taylor`s dominance and have had chances to beat him, not because Taylor was below his best but because their own game was better and that made for interesting viewing, but where are they now. All of them are falling by the wayside and have become just one of the pack. Anderson, Barney, Lewis, Wade and more recently MvG. The latter might just make it but having played the best darts of his career he still couldn`t beat Taylor in the worlds and in the world cup he and Barney didn`t perform at all.

At the moment if Taylor were to retire then yes the events will be more open but I believe the standard overall will drop. If that happens it will be interesting to read on here about how it`s the excitement of a match as opposed to the levels played at.

[Rudy]

To be quite honest, if Taylor gets knocked out of a tourney pretty early rounds I, too, sometimes catch myself kind of ignoring most of the rest of the matches, although it depends who's still in it. The Anderson-Lewis 2011 worlds final was breathtaking and made me forget Taylor 100%, the Lewis-Hamilton final, however, didn't.
Taylor in a tourney has something magical and mythical, it attracts both lovers and haters of the guy for different reasons.
If Taylor quits there will be a drop off in interest but as soon as there's a new kid on the block who manages to live up to the public's expectations on a structural basis, the fans will slowly start to embrace him. MVG could be that man, Barney back in form too, Lewis and Wade I doubt and Anderson and Whitlock are lacking the charisma and are too irregular in their performances to enforce dominance. Most likely there will not be one specific hero, liked or hated, anymore but 4 or 5 challengers each with their own fanbase, but Sky will have to ameliorate or change their image a bit.

[WCDPA]

The sooner the better because when a player acts and believes hes bigger than the Sport,hes no champion imo.

And sky actively help him,with their continuous biased over hyped coverage.

Bring on the new Guns I say and put him in the pundits chair.

Good riddance

Think the problem will be with Phil in the pundits chair that viewers will be constantly reminded that the pundit was probably still better than the players!