SUPERWIN…Derry’s Daryl Gurney kissing his dart after beating Simon Whitlock to lift the World Grand Prix Darts championship last month
DARTS legend Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor got all precious at the weekend when Derry’s Daryl Gurney didn’t pour him a glass of water.
Taylor branded World Grand Prix champion ‘Superchin’ Gurney a ‘disrespectful little s**t’ after beating him 16-4 in an the Grand Slam event in Wolverhampton on Saturday night.
But darts fans have hit back at Taylor calling him a “grumpy old man” who was playing “mind games” fearing ‘Superchin’ was going beat him.
And Daryl also responded saying the reason why he is “so miserable” on stage is to keep his heart rate down otherwise his darts would go “haywire”.
“I thought, ‘you disrespectful little s***’. That’s my exact thought. I’ll get you, I’ll get you for that.”
In another interview with Sky, Taylor expanded on his viewpoint, saying that his issue with Gurney boils down to an alleged lack of respect shown to him.
“Vintage Taylor wanted to teach him a lesson,” he said.
“He’s a youngster. You know what he did wrong? He poured himself a glass of water and left me out. I thought, ‘you cheeky, cheeky, cheeky young so-and-so’.
“Little things. Respect. It’s called respect.
“Without me, there would be no PDC. Have a little bit of respect. Come on.”
But Gurney – now up to number four in the world rankings – later tweeted: ”I’ve said this on interviews a few times but the reason I look miserable on stage lol is because I need to keep my heart rate down or my darts go “haywire”.
“I celebrate if and when I win but thanks for all the messages see you in minehead.”
His twitter account – superchin180 – was bombarded with messages of support.
Alex Roddy tweeted: “You do you man! You got to where you are because of it. Don’t let him rattle you.
“He only said it cuz he was scared of you and needed an edge.
“He said himself his bags were packed as he thought he was going to lose to you!”
Laura Shepherd tweeted: “You don’t have to justify it Daryl you just concentrate it shows how much it means to you xx”
And Curt Smith posted: “Don’t listen to phil Taylor, he’s only bitter coz there’s more better players now than ever and he’s not one of them.
“And he’s a bad loser.”
Taylor eventually lost to Dutch darts maestro Michael Van Gerwen in the semi-final who went on to win the Grand Slam title.by beating Peter Wright 16-12.
