PHIL TAYLOR’s final appearance at the Circus Tavern – the scene of some of his greatest and most exhilarating darting triumphs – has ended in defeat.
The Power, 63, is the best player to grace the oche and the famous Essex venue in Purfleet is where he lifted 11 of his record 16 world championships.
Yet his swansong year on the seniors circuit – he is hanging up his competitive equipment in November – began in a frustrating fashion against an unheralded rival.
Seventeen years after that final with Raymond van Barneveld, which was settled by a sudden-death leg, Taylor was humbled 3-2 by Manfred Bilderl in the first round of the Jennings Bet World Seniors Darts Championship.
The German, 56, who barely speaks a word of English, might be a soft tip world champion but he is not exactly a member of the arrows aristocracy.
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And let’s be honest, he is not somebody who would have been good enough to lace the boots of Taylor over two decades ago.
The manner of this loss – he averaged just 68.98 after the opening two sets – will have hurt the GOAT big time.
Especially as he had come from two sets down, thus avoiding a straight-sets whitewash, to force the fifth-set decider.
The former world No.1 came out to a hero’s reception for his 9pm walk-on and fans sang: ‘There’s only one Phil Taylor…”
It was just like the old days, minus the smoky haze that was a permanent fixture here before the 2007 smoking ban was introduced.
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The crowd were respectable throughout and the noise level was many, many decibels lower than the drunken behaviour seen throughout the PDC stage events.
Yet that was as good as it got because OAP thrower Taylor failed to recapture the glory days when he would average more than 100 on a regular basis and struck fear across the sporting landscape.
The Elton John-style Farewell Tour, which will end in November, has started on a downer but he will hope to improve his form and averages throughout the year.
After this, he will play next month’s Jennings Bet WSDT Champion of Champions in Blackpool.
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Then it is the World Matchplay in York in October before the finale, the World Masters in Sunderland, in nine months’ time.
Taylor will not hang up his arrows for good as he plans to take part in lucrative exhibitions from 2025.
Yet competitive-wise, he is running out of time to remind everyone how brilliant he used to be.