REIGNING darts World Champion Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor is ‘over the moon’ that the Professional Darts Corporation’s £2m takeover bid has been rejected by the British Darts Organisation.

The world number one, who is a founding member of the larger PDC, believes the buy-out attempt by PDC chief Barry Hearn would have been counter productive for both parties.

Taylor said: “Barry rang me and said ‘Good news, I’ve just saved us £2m quid’, and I thought ‘Thank God for that’.

“What a load of trouble he’d have bought himself, as they’d have just worked against him.

“The stumbling block was that Barry wanted to look at their books, but they obviously didn’t want that to happen.”

Crewe resident Taylor is the star attraction for the PDC, having amassed a unprecedented 15 World Championship titles and 10 World Match-play titles among many other accolades in his glittering 22-year career.

But the 49-year-old is not totally infallible, as proven by the semi-final loss to eventual winner Paul Nicholson in the Players Championship last week.

Taylor lost 10-9 in a tense match that went down to the final leg, the first time he had been beaten in a PDC ranking event since the UK Open in Bolton in June 2008.

The ‘Stoke Hall of Fame’ member believes he lost because he went into the tournament unprepared.

“I didn’t practice enough and I did not prepare properly for it,” he said.

“I know I can step up another 10 points on my averages and then the others can’t catch me.

“I’d normally practice three hours a day leading up to a tournament but after winning the World Championship you get very busy and it’s difficult to do so properly. I must have only had a day’s practice in three weeks.”

But the surprise loss to the Austrailian has galvanised Taylor to produce a strong performance at the Premier League event at the O2 Arena on London on February 11.

He said: “It’s done me good as I’m looking forward to practising again now; If someone hits me I’ll get right back up again.”

The 49-year-old has also started doing his bit to promote the sport at the grassroots, by becoming the new ambassador for Rileys, who are opening hundreds of ‘Dart Zones’ in their clubs.

As thousands of pubs shut down nationwide, the implications for darts are grim and Taylor wants to encourage the new generation of player to step up to the oche elsewhere.

He said: “What Riley’s are doing is great, they’re putting quality dart boards and lighting up and they’ve invested the money to make it lovely.

“Darts is a great social event, that’s why I love it.

“You can walk into a pub on your own and within minutes you can be at the board and making friends.

“We’re putting lots of tournaments on and Riley’s cater for everybody. With pubs all over the country closing every day this is a real shot in the arm for my game.”

You can follow progress of ‘The Power’ on at creweguardian.co.uk or if you are a member of twitter get updates from twitter.com/cterristaylor.

POWER PROFILE:

Name: Philip Douglas Taylor

Nickname: The Power

DOB: 13/08/1960

Hometown: Crewe

Place of birth: Burslem

Marital status: Married to Yvonne

Stats: 5ft 8ins, right-handed

Walk-on music: (I’ve Got) The Power

Darts used: 26g Unicorn Phil Taylor ‘Phase Five’ World ranking: No1

DARTS TITLES WON

BDO World Championships: 1990, 1992

PDC World Championships: 1995 to 2002, 2004 to 2006, 2009, 2010

World Matchplay: 1995, 1997, 2000 to 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009

World Grand Prix: 1998 to 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009

Las Vegas Desert Classic: 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009

PDC Premier League: 2005 to 2008

UK Open: 2003, 2005, 2009

Grand Slam of Darts: 2007 to 2009

World Series of Darts/PDC US Open: 2006 to 2008 Players Championship Finals: 2009

PDC Player of the Year: 2007, 2009, 2010

PDC Fans’ Player of the Year: 2007, 2008, 2010

BBC Sports Personality of the Year nominee: 2006 BBC Midlands Sports Personality of the Year: 2005 BBC Midlands Sportsman of the Year: 2006

PDPA Player’s Player of the Year: 2009, 2010

Best PDC Pro Tour Player: 2009, 2010