Millionaire Phil Taylor allowed himself just £200 a week during heyday: "A hungry lion will fight harder"

On Friday, December 15, the PDC World Darts Championship gets underway at the Alexandra Palace in London. Phil Taylor still remains the all-time record holder with an incredible haul of 14 PDC world titles.

Taylor, who also captured two BDO world titles, ended his career with the PDC in 2018. Since then, he is still in action on the World Seniors Darts Tour, although he revealed recently that next year will be his last. The now 63-year-old Englishman cited how whilst the fire still burns, his body no longer wants to play matches at the top level.

'The Power' ruled the PDC for many years and has numerous other records to his name in addition to his record number of world titles. For example, he also won the World Matchplay no less than sixteen times. That success was not to be taken for granted, however, as Taylor was particularly strict with himself and led a very sober life, he revealed at the PDC's unique event, where all the PDC World Darts Championship winners were on stage together for the first time.

"I paid myself £200 a week wages so I was always skint, always on the breadline," he explains. "I could have had £1million, £2m, £3m in the bank, but a hungry lion will fight harder than a lion that has eaten. You have got to keep yourself hungry. I had 30 houses, I was worth millions, but in my opinion that basic wage was all I was worth."

That this method also inspires other top athletes was recently shown in an interview Luca Brecel gave to The Nieuwblad. The current world snooker champion bought several cars in recent months. "I went from being a millionaire to not being a millionaire," the 28-year-old said. "It was a conscious decision to buy the cars and maybe feel that bit of pressure again, to recreate the feeling I had when I was just starting my career."