Phil Taylor launched another stinging attack on his darting rivals after cruising into the Grand Slam of Darts semi-finals with a thumping 16-4 victory over World Grand Prix champion Daryl Gurney on Saturday evening.

The 16-time world champion rejected claims that Gurney was the future of darts in the lead-up to their quarter-final clash, and ‘The Power’ produced a vintage display to dismantle the Northern Irishman. He averaged 103.97, landed seven 180’s and converted 67% of his attempts at double as he reeled off 12 straight legs to triumph emphatically.

Nevertheless, Taylor’s ruthless performance was matched by his brutal post-match interview with Sky Sports’ Laura Woods, where he likened some of his rivals to ‘zombies’ and criticised their lack of personality.

Taylor was highly critical of Gurney in particular, slamming his body language and accusing him of a lack of respect, before claiming that without him, there wouldn’t even be a Professional Darts Corporation.

Taylor said: “His head’s down all the time. He just walks down all the time with his head down. Why I don’t know? He’s a fantastic dart player he really is, but not good to watch. I wanted to teach him a lesson, course I did; he’s a youngster.

“You know what he did wrong? He poured himself a glass of water and left me out and I thought you cheeky cheeky young so and so. Respect. It’s called respect. Without me there wouldn’t be a PDC. Have a little bit of respect, come on, you know what I mean.

“I knew the crowd would get behind me which they did, god bless them. But I knew if I could put him under pressure, the normal what Daryl Gurney does is drops his head. He is one of the best players I’ve ever seen.

“When you asked me if he’s one of the future of darts, not the way he is, but he could be. But not the way he is now. He needs to cheer up and entertain. Watch now, Michael {Van Gerwen} is going to throw his arms about.”

Taylor, who turned 57 in August, also admitted that he wished he was 20 years younger, as he quipped that he would be fighting every week. The Stoke-on-Trent star insisted: “I wish I was 20 years younger because I would give these lot, trust me. I’d be fighting every week, I’d probably get my head kicked in but I’d be fighting every week.

“But it doesn’t matter, because this is what the game’s about, this is what Barry Hearn has created. He’s created this little bit of a monster. You’ve got personalities up there who are not personalities. They are like zombies. I mean I’m playing a young lad there who is number four in the world and it’s like playing a zombie.

“Come on; you’ve got the whole future; the whole world’s with you. Enjoy yourself and enjoy your life, do you know what I mean. Enjoy the game, enjoy what you’re doing. Don’t walk down looking at your shoes because they need polishing. Enjoy a game!”

However, ‘The Power’ wasn’t finished there, adding: “I am a little sausage, trust me, because I get fined, and I’ll be honest with all the viewers, everything that I do wrong I get fined, but when these people do things wrong, I make sure that they don’t do it again. Does that make sense?”

Taylor will now take on world number one Michael van Gerwen in the semi-finals, in what could potentially be their final competitive meeting before ‘The Power’ hangs up the arrows after the World Championship. However, the 57-year-old has won six of their last eight meetings and is looking forward to renewing his rivalry with ‘Mighty Mike’.

Taylor claimed: “Me and Michael had words before; he said listen you’re taking the mickey. I said course I’m going to do it back, no it’s not taking the mickey, I’m giving you back what you give me, because he does it on me, he throws his arms about and all that business, he doesn’t like it when they give it you back. Tough!”

Photo Credit: Lawrence Lustig/PDC

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