Originally Posted by Darren Lethem:
“No, I have had many arguments on here with people regards Taylor.”
I think we've had one or two, which I must admit led me to think that you were as much pro-Taylor as I am anti-Taylor - but you were probably solely referring to his darts qualities.
Quote:
“I have often said I think he is the greatest player ever but as a person he is thoroughly unlikeable. He has had so much smoke blown up his arse over the years that he believes his own hype now. Remember the Barney business a few years ago ? Just because Barney said "I'm not scared of him". Why should he be ?”
I think this situation is the inevitable consequence of the way Taylor has dominated the sport for the last 20 years and the resulting way that Sky and the PDC have built the sport around him in the last 20 years.
I don't think any sportsman in the world would be able to stop their arrogance and ego inflating to skyscraper-like proportions if the whole focus of the sport is on you for such a long time.
Trouble is, though, that doesn't last forever - and it's not easy to put your feet back on the ground when you've had all that attention and all that adulation over so many years.
A few people have asked why Sky brushed off Taylor's antics tonight - as they have done so often in the past - and I believe that the answer is that they do it to keep him onside in the fear that he might retire and lose them and the PDC so many casual viewers and followers.
I don't know who Taylor has advising him but if they have any sense of pragmatism, they'd tell him what a fool he acted tonight - and is acting with alarming regularity - and tell him that the time has come to make an exit before he irreversibly loses his dignity and irreversibly spoils his legacy.