"I’m close to running out of money" - Paul Nicholson revealed he came close to working in a bar before his big commentary break

Paul Nicholson is now a well-recognised commentator in darts, voicing his trade on broadcasts such as PDCTV and talkSPORT. Before this, he was a very highly regarded darts player, and a former major winner. Despite a negative trajectory in his darts form, his change of career changed his life for the better.

The Asset burst on the scene in the 2009 World Championships, beating the likes of Adrian Lewis and Kevin Painter on the way to the quarter-finals, where he was stopped in his tracks by James Wade. He won his first major title a year later, narrowly getting the better of Phil Taylor in the semi-finals before overcoming Mervin King to claim the Players Championship title.

Between 2011 and 2012, Nicholson reached six major quarter-finals, which included a World Cup and a Champions League final. He would go on to win four titles on the floor in 2011. He went to a career high ranking of 10th in the world, and looked a firm fixture within the PDC. However, that was going to change.

In 2013, Nicholson's fortunes started to turn around. From then on, he failed to make it past the second round of any major tournament apart from the UK Open, and in 2016, he failed to qualify for the Worlds and would not feature for the first time since 2008.

All this would give a different feel to the tour for Nicholson, with his struggling form leading him to keep his eye out for different opportunities. When speaking to the Tops and Tales Podcast, he said: “I wouldn’t qualify for the Worlds for a while. The European Tour was very, very difficult to get on all of a sudden after being a seed for the first two, three seasons and tour life was different."

As the money stopped flowing in, Nicholson had to assess his options, which led him to sell his house and apply for a bar job. "I was earning a lot less money and around 2016, I’m close to losing my card. I’m close to running out of money. I had to sell my house and rented an accommodation with my girlfriend. She had to support me for a little bit of time.

“There was a time in the summer of 2016, where I swallowed my pride whole, like it was a five pound pill. I said ‘go and get a job then.’ I haven’t had a job since 2008. So, eight years, what do I do? I was one of the best 10 players in the world at one point. But this is a massive reality check. So I actually got a job to work at a golf club in the bar. I got the job and I thought, right, okay, we’re going to do this.”

Fortunately for Nicholson, his pint-pouring skills were never utilised as he received a phone call from his agent Dave Allen, which has changed his life, and The Asset has never looked back.

“That same week, my saviour called me, Dave Allen again. My saviour said, ‘Rod Harrington doesn’t want to do the Austrian darts event next week and you’ve had a bit of commentary experience. Would you like to go and work there with Chris Murphy and Dan Dawson?’

“I said, yes, please. I’ll take that. Yes. Thank you. I’ve done some commentary gigs, but that was my break. That was my big break. Vienna 2016. That tournament was brilliant and it coincided that was the last European tour event Phil Taylor would play. He won that one. It was his last one, but it was my first one. That was where things sort of tipped towards the media side.”