Phil Taylor aims to win his 17th world title tonight when he takes on Rob Cross in the PDC World Championship final. It will be Taylor's final match at Alexandra Palace before he retires from the sport.
Speaking on Talksport's breakfast show with Danny Kelly and Micky Quinn ahead of tonight's decider, former professional darts player Paul Nicholson said that Taylor has played well during this tournament and deserves to be in the final on merit.
However, he also suggested that there have been some underhand tactics utilised by 57-year-old during the tournament.
"He has, in some of his games, played some rather dirty darts by using a few old tips and tricks," said Nicholson.
Nicholson said that he had been speaking to two of Taylor's opponents, Keegan Brown who he defeated in the last-16 and Gary Anderson who Taylor beat in the quarter-final. Both disclosed that there had been some old school tricks used by Taylor.
I've been speaking to some of his opponents like Keegan Brown and Gary Anderson. They both were hearing a lot of sniffles when he was walking back. He was talking to the players when they were trying to compose themselves.
They're all mind games. Phil and other players from the previous generation have been doing this for years. It's not so much a prevalent thing now but I'll tell you what, he's used it really, really well: he's upset his opponents.
He's in the final but I think he's up against it.
