Ronnie O’Sullivan claimed darts is not the same without Phil Taylor. The darts maestro won a record 14 PDC world titles in an iconic career that spanned over 20 years.
He captured the hearts and minds of thousands of fans across the world with his truly dominant run in the sport. Nobody has mastered darts quite like ‘The Power’ and O’Sullivan, a legend of his own sport with seven snooker world titles to his name, has had a similar impact and is no doubt its biggest draw.
But in hailing Taylor, 62, who came back at the Worlds Darts Seniors this year, O’Sullivan – who still packs out venues like no one else - was full of praise. O’Sullivan said: “Tell Phil to get his darts back out, we miss him! I don’t watch it now that Phil is not playing, I used to watch it all the time when he was there. “Some people like watching anyone throw darts – and I suppose some people like to watch certain players. Phil Taylor was one of those who even if you weren’t a darts fan, you would want to watch him.
“In snooker there is a lot of good talent about, the sport is exciting, and you have a lot of young players around, who play the game in the right way. Crowds want to watch.” Snooker colleague Mark Allen claimed O’Sullivan would leave the same void when he decides to hang up his cue.
The world No 5 said: “When Ronnie leaves snooker it will leave a big hole, there’s no doubt about that. “Some of the things he does on the table are just pure genius and you will maybe never see the likes of him again. So from that angle alone the game will be left with a big hole when he goes – but he will leave eventually whether that is next year, or five years, 10 years down the line. And when that happens snooker as a sport needs to be in a position where they are not struggling because one player leaves.
“They need to be working behind the scenes to keep things good behind the scenes and promoting other players a bit more maybe, not always focusing on Ronnie. I know he is the leading light and deserves what he gets, but concentrate on the others too and like that it won’t be quite as big a hole as it might be.”
These positive comments come after O’Sullivan warned Allen of the target now on his back after winning the UK championship last month. Finding himself 6-1 down, Allen produced a sensational comeback to defeat the spirited Ding Junhui 10-7 in York.
After clinching one of the biggest titles on the snooker circuit, O’Sullivan, who’s won the event a record seven times, highlighted the pressure Allen will now be under moving forward. “It gives you great confidence, winning. Definitely you can start to win tournaments not playing great, it’s weird how that sort of thing happens,” the snooker legend told Eurosport.
"But naturally it becomes a bit of a target on his back now. They’ll all be revved up for him. A lot of players will be sitting at home thinking, alright I want to get into him. So it’s going to be different now, how he handles that. All dynamics change when you start winning a lot.”
