Taylor looks back on Nicholson rivalry: "I felt like strangling him"

Phil Taylor recently took part in The Darts Show podcast and discussed mind games and his rivalries including battling Peter Manley who he admitted he wanted to hit with a shovel.

“I could wind people up dead easy. Peter Manley was good, I enjoyed the banter with Peter. Now we get on really well, he makes me laugh," he said on The Darts Show podcast.

“But at the time I didn’t like him at all. As soon as he walked into a room I wanted to hit him with a shovel. It was horrible.

“He made me practice. He beat me at Blackpool and took the board down to sign for somebody.

“After that I won about near enough everything. I won one and a half million. And I always called it Manley’s millions. I went thank you very much for that. The other players were having a go at Peter about it.”

As well as Paul Nicholson who infamously waved off Taylor after beating him at the 2011 UK Open and 'The Power' said he wanted to strangle him and that he was wound up by 'The Asset'.

“The only one who got really under my skin was Paul Nicholson. I felt like strangling him. He was winding people up, especially me. They were coming over from the BDO and I was always the target, I was the main man.

“I thought that was funny, I thought ‘you’re an idiot’ because the crowd are going to go mental at you now and he wasn’t the person to take it. How brash he was, he’s actually very sensitive and he’d break his heart about it.

“I said to him ‘Paul don’t do it because you’ll only make a rod for your own back’.

“You will get labelled with that every time you play. You’ll get booed. Like Gerwyn (Price) now.”

For Taylor, he believes that on the topic of Price that he does need to calm it down but only slightly. “Calm it down a little bit. Do it at the right times. He did a lovely 170 at the weekend. The young German lad was sitting on double top. Then, yes, let it go. But not if you hit a ton.”

He also spoke on his battles with Raymond van Barneveld and Michael van Gerwen and said that the latter always showed himself to be a winner in his mentality first and foremost.

As well as speaking about banter with Gary Anderson and Adrian Lewis with the next generation coming through.

“Michael is winner definitely a winner mentality. Apart from Barney, who was a terrible loser. Hating losing with a passion. I’ve seen him grab his arm and pull all the drinks on the floor.

“Michael, I’ve seen him break his heart. That to me says a lot about Michael. He really is trying 100 per cent.

“It’s different now. I always got on with Barney but then I always wanted to beat him. But I still enjoyed it.

“Then the youngsters coming through, you don’t it because they’re a different generation, different conversations. They’re in there with iPads, things in their ears. We used to have a laugh and a joke, especially me and Adie and Gary Anderson. We were always taking the mickey out of each other. It’s all changed so it was time for me to go now.”