PHIL TAYLOR has revealed how Barry Hearn became his manager without the darts legend even knowing.
The Power is arguably the greatest player in darts history, winning 87 major titles during three decades of domination.
Phil Taylor had no idea he was being managed by sports supremo Barry Hearn
Hearn has had his say on Taylor’s impact for darts
Taylor’s record 16 World Championships may never be broken, despite the presence of aces like Luke Littler on the current-day scene.
He ended up being managed by sports supremo Hearn, who became PDC chairman in 2001 for nearly two decades.
During that time, Hearn was also in charge of representing Taylor.
However, the darts ace knew little about it.
And he was left stunned when Hearn informed him of the new role, revealing he had paid Taylor’s previous manager to take over responsibility.
Taylor told Stephen Hendry’s Cue Tips: “I got a phone call, a strange number.
“I went ‘Hello?’. He went, ‘Phil, Barry Hearn’.
“I went, ‘Are you? When?’ He says, ‘Now.’ I said, ‘What do you mean? I’ve already got a manager.’
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“He said, ‘No, I’ve given him some money, he’s gone. I’m your manager now.’
“He asked if I wanted a contract and I said not really. I’ll be dead straight with him. If I did an exhibition for 50 quid down the road I’d tell him that I owe him a tenner.
“He was good as gold for me. He likes his penny’s worth out of you and he’s a workaholic.”
As for Hearn, he looks back at his time manager Taylor with great fondness — hailing the icon for making darts a global game.
Hearn said: “1981 Steve Davis winning the World Snooker Championship, without doubt, changed my life.
“There’s been a few that have come close. [Nigel] Benn vs [Chris] Eubank in 1990, when I had Eubank as my first real world champion and changed my leverage in the boxing world.
“Managing Phil Taylor in the darts and changing darts from a pub game to a global sport has been one of the most rewarding things in my life and Phil Taylor deserves credit for that because he was a legend.”
List of all-time Darts World Champions
BELOW is a list of darts world champions by year.
The list does not include winners from the pre-Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) era or BDO world champions.
That means Raymond van Barneveld, for example, is only listed once – Barney also won four BDO titles – and none of Eric Bristow’s five BDO titles are included.
1994 – Dennis Priestley
1995 – Phil Taylor
1996 – Phil Taylor (2)
1997 – Phil Taylor (3)
1998 – Phil Taylor (4)
1999 – Phil Taylor (5)
2000 – Phil Taylor (6)
2001 – Phil Taylor (7)
2002 – Phil Taylor (8)
2003 – John Part
2004 – Phil Taylor (9)
2005 – Phil Taylor (10)
2006 – Phil Taylor (11)
2007 – Raymond van Barneveld
2008 – John Part (2)
2009 – Phil Taylor (12)
2010 – Phil Taylor (13)
2011 – Adrian Lewis
2012 – Adrian Lewis (2)
2013 – Phil Taylor (14)
2014 – Michael van Gerwen
2015 – Gary Anderson
2016 – Gary Anderson (2)
2017 – Michael van Gerwen (2)
2018 – Rob Cross
2019 – Michael van Gerwen (3)
2020 – Peter Wright
2021 – Gerwyn Price
2022 – Peter Wright (2)
2023 – Michael Smith
2024 – Luke Humphries
2025 – Luke Littler
Most World Titles
14 – Phil Taylor
3 – Michael van Gerwen
2 – John Part, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright
1 – Dennis Priestley, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Luke Humphries, Luke Littler
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