RANKING THE BEST DARTS PLAYERS OF ALL TIME!

This isn’t just a list of who has won the most World Championship titles and other major crowns, but nor can we rank players who spanned different era purely on what averages and performance statistics they achieved.

For example, the playing conditions, equipment, board quality, wire thickness and professionalism – just to name five factors – have all changed dramatically since the likes of Eric Bristow, John Lowe and Jockey Wilson were battling for honours so we must try and judge how well their natural ability and mental strength would have coped and adapted alongside modern-day greats.

It may well be an impossible question to compare eras and come up with a universally agreed list, while the decision on who should take number one spot out of Phil Taylor and Michael van Gerwen is also up for hot debate.

Our panel of Sky Sports darts presenter Abigail Davies, former major winner Paul Nicholson and Sporting Life writer Chris Hammer haven’t considered Premier League champion Luke Littler for inclusion yet purely because this is still his debut season and he’s yet to win one of the big ranked majors but where would you rank him now?

Watch our verdict unfold during this thought-provoking show while below you’ll find a list of the big major winners to help you come up with your own top 10 and let us know in the comments.

RANKED MAJOR WINNERS

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP (PDC)
14 – Phil Taylor
3 – Michael van Gerwen
2 – Gary Anderson, Adrian Lewis, John Part, Peter Wright
1 – Dennis Priestley, Michael Smith, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Luke Humphries, Gerwyn Price

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP (BDO)
5 – Eric Bristow
4 – Raymond van Barneveld
3 – John Lowe, Martin Adams, Glen Durrant
2 – Scott Waites, Ted Hankey, Phil Taylor, Jocky Wilson
1- Richie Burnett, Leighton Rees, Wayne Warren, Stephen Bunting, Scott Mitchell, Christian Kist, Mark Webster, Keith Deller, Jelle Klaasen, Andy Fordham, Tony David, John Walton, Les Wallace, Steve Beaton, John Part, Dennis Priestley, Bob Anderson

WORLD MATCHPLAY
16 – Phil Taylor
3 – Michael van Gerwen
2 – Rod Harrington
1 – James Wade, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright, Dimitri Van den Bergh, Larry Butler, Peter Evison, Colin Lloyd, Rob Cross, Nathan Aspinall

WORLD GRAND PRIX
11 – Phil Taylor
6 – Michael van Gerwen
2 – James Wade
1 – Gerwyn Price, Colin Lloyd, Alan Warriner, Daryl Gurney, Robert Thornton, Jonny Clayton, Luke Humphries

GRAND SLAM OF DARTS
6 – Phil Taylor
3 – Michael van Gerwen, Gerwyn Price
1 – Scott Waites, Raymond van Barneveld, Luke Humphries, Michael Smith, José de Sousa

UK OPEN
5 – Phil Taylor
3 – Michael van Gerwen, James Wade
2 – Raymond van Barneveld
1 – Peter Wright, Gary Anderson, Nathan Aspinall, Dimitri Van den Bergh, Andrew Gilding, Adrian Lewis, Danny Noppert, Roland Scholten, Robert Thornton

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP
4 – Michael van Gerwen, Phil Taylor
2 – Rob Cross, Peter Wright
1 – Adrian Lewis, Simon Whitlock, James Wade, Ross Smith

PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS
7 – Michael van Gerwen
3 – Phil Taylor
1 – Gary Anderson, Kevin Painter, Paul Nicholson, Daryl Gurney, Peter Wright, Luke Humphries

BIG UNRANKED MAJORS

PREMIER LEAGUE
7 – Michael van Gerwen
6 – Phil Taylor
2 – Gary Anderson
1 – James Wade, Raymond van Barneveld, Glen Durrant, Jonny Clayton, Luke Littler

MASTERS
5 – Michael van Gerwen
1 – Phil Taylor, James Wade, Peter Wright,Jonny Clayton, Joe Cullen, Chris Dobey, Stephen Bunting

0:00 Intro
1:10 Rob Cross
2:54 Gary Anderson
6:36 Eric Bristow
11:03 James Wade
15:31 Alan Warriner-Little
18:13 Peter Wright
22:36 Adrian Lewis
25:09 Gerwyn Price
29:48 Raymond van Barneveld
33:25 Luke Humphries
37:42 Michael van Gerwen
39:31 Phil Taylor

hello and welcome along to another darting discussion now we so often see people questioning would Prime Phil Taylor get the better of mvg in his prime would 1980s Eric Bristo beat Gary Anderson when he’s in full flow well I’ve got two people alongside me and between us we are going to be picking our top 10 players if they were all at the peak of their powers so Chris just explain to us a little bit more how this is going to work yeah so I’ve gone looked back through time looked at all the major winners and I’ve picked 12 who realistically can get in this top 10 um so we had to not use the liks of Andrew gilding Larry Butler and your good self you’re not in consideration I’m not insulted he gets the final vote he may put himself first I’m not going to be in there but Paul doesn’t know the names who come up with you probably could have a good guess we’re going to throw them at you you’re going to position them on the rankings and you can shuffle them it’s not like a blind ranking if you put someone in at five you can move them if you want to later on when more names get revealed to you sure okay okay so we’re going to start with Rob cross the 2018 World Champion of course we don’t need to remind you how immense he was then in the followup year 2019 and I would say five years on he’s probably back up at that level again where does he rank for you give this some thought based on the names that are going to come over the next 10 minutes or so I’m going to position Rob quite low at this point I think you look at some of the games that he’s played and the level he can attain so he can get to that 110 plus level comically it’s amazing how many times he’s lost with 111 112 average especially to Chris dby but about the level and what he has achieved at this point I’m going to have to stick him in at nine so a world champion a two time European champion ion and a match play champion of course great accolades his career is nowh near near finished I’ll stick him in at nine because I know what’s about to come yeah and of course if it wasn’t for an obscene performance from Luke humph we’d also probably be talking about him as a grand slam Champion as well at the moment yeah and Luke ller as well stopped him from making another world final who knows what could have happened against Humphrey’s had that final happened but that’s that’s yes is the thing about Rob cross is I mean that amazing average in the final of the worlds when he beat Phil still the second highest ever in the final and you mentioned how he might be getting back to that it’s a fighting Spirit as well with Rob the world match play semi-final against darl gurny of course and then against Chris Doby recently shows he’s he’s getting that the fighting Spirit the guts is there it’s not just about average and this list isn’t just about averages we must point out right Chris next name to throw at niiko I’m going to throw Gary Anderson at you okay so in 2024 he’s attained the personal best of over over 117 that tells you something about Gary doesn’t it because you may think that his Peak is behind him and let’s face it it might be but his level that he can attain is still there think about some of the games that he’s been involved in some of the exhibition matches he’s played against the likes of Taylor and bonal and others the numbers of 180s the big finishes the complete package of a player and the fact that he’s been the one to take Scotland forward from around 2007 to around about 2017 until Peter Wright started to win uh World titles he shouldered that pressure of an entire nation for a decade if not longer but we all know the level that Gary can attain especially when playing the right people when he was given the right canvas a Barneveld a vanan a Taylor he would switch into a different mode and based on what he’s achieved over more than 20 years he’s got to be high on this list I’ve got to put him at it’s going to be three or four so where’s he going to be at this point I’ll start with him at four okay but that might change yeah I mean it’s which is his best year do you think for Pete performance performance 2018 remember that world match play when he’s just on fire so when you take that Peak Anderson full flow it’s insane and when he played menel suich who wasn’t the right opponent for him it was the best world match play final ever y and he brought out a level that he probably summoned another level against a player who’s awkward for him I know some Gary Anderson fans are not going to like what I’m about to see but he does have some similarities with gin price the ability to get things right in something that you don’t like so price didn’t like playing in Grand Grand Prix figured it out won it Gary Anderson hated playing suich he once quoted suich as his worst opponent and to be able to play him in that 40le game to that level shows you about his tenacity and his resilience and that’s something that every great player needs on that he might want to start trying to dislike the Grand Slam just so he can finally get over the line you and I both no he wants to win the Grand Slam at the Civic Hall but I’m not sure that’s ever going to happen which is kind of sad but I know that’s the Golden Goose for him he’s won the world title he’d love to get a third yeah be great for his legacy but he’d love to have a grand slam the other thing about Anderson just very quickly beat Phil Taylor in the world final and the back-to-back World titles is amazing isn’t it that’s why he has to be as you say at the moment as high as four yeah you talk about some of the things that you do in your career the ability to beat the greatest in a final that just makes it a little sweeter with the 180 on the floor yeah in in a set that he won and let’s not forget as well that did Go the Distance at final it was 13 sets not many PDC finals have gone the distance and do you remember what the score was in the last set imagine what the pressure is like it’s 66 only only a handful of people have been in that situation where it’s six sets all what did Gary do from that point against the greatest player of all time annihilate just just won the set and moved on and won the world title and found that trophy very heavy yeah it is it is it’s not light I can I can assure you me and my Riva arms didn’t didn’t really have a good time with that but I think he could be moved up to third person personally I think there is definitely scope for Gary Anderson to be number three on that list next name for you Eric Bristo of course five time world champion five-time World Masters champion there is no doubt that he was the best player of his era where on Earth does he come in your list it’s so hard to try and categorize Eric based on the standard that we know of now it’s like trying to compare Mike Tyson with Lennox Lewis at different periods of their career Jack Nicholas and Tiger Woods don’t get me started on that subject that could be here for 25 minutes talking about that alone however the one thing we know is that if Eric had the benefit of modern equipment modern dart boards modern scheduling I think he would attain new average levels now if you look back at his career and his highs his personal best average is from a one leg game that’s symptomatic of what the game was like in the 1980s you played a lot of short format stuff nowadays we play a lot more long format stuff that’s why these players are finally tuned and and better tuned in for World Championship semis finals and best of 31 legs they didn’t play this yeah back in those days it was very few tournaments that would give them the opportunity to do that so in a game that Eric won his personal best is 103 it was only a couple of legs yeah so it’s very hard to judge him based on those performance so we have to somewhat anecdotally speak to people who have seen him throughout his career and say how good was he we know that Eric was astonishingly good stick him on a win more blade six triple Core board now give him modern equipment with his talent from around 83 84 85 my word everyone would be in trouble would he still attain the 115s and above I’m not sure but he would definitely get to 110 in my opinion and that’s why in my personal list that I’ve got here I’m going to stick him at six but that might change and this is the interesting thing as well isn’t it as I just fall off the chair there trying to style it out didn’t at all so just thought I’d tell you all about it um it’s the interesting thing we’ve got to factor in ability natural ability what was being thrown back at them at the time the equipment they had like you said there are so many different things to to base this on so tell me like you know are you prioritizing one over the other do you think natural Ability Counts for more or their ability in general because we will come on to it of course no surprises here mvg and Phil Taylor are going to be in that discussion and that ability might sway your opinion more than titles one it might be the other way around what do you think should be emphasized more in this debate with Eric especially it should be mental strength think about the mental strength that he showed between 1987 and 1997 he was in the final against John L in 87 he lost it then you go to 1989 he lost uh in the final at jockey Wilson but this is around a time where things were starting to get a little bit Dar TI to see and the mental struggle that he was about to go through but still he made a really good Battle of that 89 final after being miles behind against Jo then he’s in the final with Taylor in 1990 the final against puley in 1991 my word he wasn’t even the player he was five years previous to that how mentally strong is he got to be to be able to make that final give him the credit for that I I love getting in the heads of the softer sort of Primadonna players of today wouldn’t he seen what he was like with Bobby George um the gamesmanship he would have Lov getting involved with some of he would have had some of these younger D players for brunch honestly I I’ve been around some great mental players whove tried to uh just try these little tricks pregame on the oy it it’s very visible very audible sometimes you’ve just got to be able to ignore it but some players can’t and Eric was just the absolute master of this I didn’t suffer at the hands of Eric uh in that department because I didn’t play against Eric but I’ve heard great stories about it and he would do things that you would be thinking about for weeks afterwards that was that was his genius and if he was put that into the modern game some of these top players will be a knot I think as well when we talk about mental strength someone who so often doesn’t come into this discussion because they’ve never won a World title James Wade for me when I was looking through this list he is in my top 10 of all time and I think there are a number of factors for this of course longevity comes into it just his ability as we all often talk about to finish a game off his finishing in general but also I don’t think there were many people let alone darts players who could go through what he’s had to away from darts off the oy and still achieve what he has on it so that is another aspect of James Wade’s game which for me means that he would be in there where would you rank him is he in your top 10 yeah definitely no question about it for me I’ve already talked to you you guys uh before about how he’s in the top five of the alltime earnings list and this is not a case of him grabbing 5 million pound in ranking money or indeed earnings through PDC and early BD or doarts uh just by winning a couple of world titles and and and being great in big events he’s been tremendous in all events and different disciplines as well we’re talking about a multiple time Grand Prix Champion a three-time UK open champion and done this over the course of three well three different decades um with those UK open titles he’s had his struggles he’s had his Peaks and troughs but even when those troughs were there he was still a top 10 player exactly I was in the top 10 for about two months I count that as my best achievement in Dart he’s done it for 20 years and he’s done it with mental illness we can’t even Shake to the side he has done it with adversity and sometimes you need to be just a little bit different to be extra special which is exactly what James has been and his career has not finished yet but he’s definitely a top 10 player for me the only reason I would have him right near the bottom of the 10 maybe struggling to get in the 10 is that his loing Chev is amazing but if we’re looking at all we’re putting all these people at the peak of their Peak and does he have the numbers power to beat them on their day when he’s at his Peak I mean he he beat Phil Taylor in one of his major finals the other two really really big names Luke humph who wasn’t the player he is today and Adrien Lewis and you know beat Jenkins a couple of times I just wonder could he cope if all these greats are at their Peak at the same time this is where I start looking at personal bests James is 114 plus some of the other players that we’ll mention they’re above that I do now talk about some of the greatest of all time as to whether they have a te 120 James hasn’t attained 115 yet I wouldn’t be surprised if he does over the next couple of years because I think you have to at some point in your career to be in this list but James has not really attained the Monstrous numbers but think about the amount of times he’s won games with lesser averages that’s his legacy I was going to say James in my opinion can’t be pitted against these in a numbers game but that’s not his game is it you know his numbers his finishing stats if you pick those against those top players he’s going to come out pretty highly so I think it’s difficult in the numbers game and that’s why I think before discussing him it’s so important to mention the different elements of this discussion and that’s why for me he’s in the top 10 I feel like I’m pitching something to dragon’s 10 at the moment there me trying to drag him out of 10 to start calling you dead well let me let me put it to you this way if you were going to have a Ryder Cup Style Match of England versus is the rest of Europe for example James is in your team where do you put him you put him last because he’ll finish the job yeah that’s that’s his legacy he would finish the job stick him in a precious situation and he wouldn’t be bothered he’d say give me anyone I’ll finish them off and that’s his biggest strength in the last 20 years so wa what number are you going to go for uh nine we had Rob cross at right yeah so Rob cross was at 9 I’m going to squeeze and put Rob cross at 10 now but weird at N I feel like yeah now I might I’m next name I’m going to throw at you I think is also battling for 10 it’s about Allan Warren a little who as we know one of the greatest world number ones of all time didn’t win a world title but when I look at all the other major winners there’s a got to make a case for a guy who’s 50 he’s been world number one for 55 months of his career yeah that definitely carries weight and if you speak to the right people who were around in Allen’s era so late 80s going into the early 90s where he made a world final against John Law in 93 arguably a final he probably should have won and he waited a long time for his big glorifying moment of winning a world Grand Prix you have to speak to some of his colleagues in broadcasting now who were in that era and of course the players that were around him they say you’ve got no idea how good he was I have no idea how good Alan War a little was in his prime but these stories coming from the sources that I know of they say he was astonishing well they average 106 for a world Grand Prix double start match which is a record to by two point over two points better than anyone else and that was in 2001 and all these greats have had multiple chances of breaking that in the uh best of three set first round no Come Close there is there is an argument to say that record may never be broken cuz if it is it’s going to have to be some performance and we talk about how equipment has changed to help players as we’ve gone on and still that record stands the test of time it does and it it will always be regarded as one of the Premier Dart performances of all time and without the evidence of World Championships and other tournament successes I am selfishly putting alamore in a little at number 10 so he’s gone goodbye Rob Rob cross is out I think Rob cross in the next few years will bulldo his weight into the top 10 list but for now I I’ve put Alan a n’s the one that needs to watch out I have put Alan a little at 10 yeah and that will Grand Prix prowess that he had and the ability to stick around and to be an astonishingly great player over a long period of time bridging two different eras is one of the reason reasons why he just squeezes in my 10 at this time but he will be on The Chopping Block in the next few years I’m sure Alan will be out in the next three or four years motivation for Rob if he’s watching he wants to get in our top 10 he doesn’t need it for a little might be out in the next 10 minutes you just don’t know right Peter Ron he’s not just getting a mention because when he won his first world championship title he celebrated with a pot noodle but to leave the SP Sport and come back the way he has to win major titles how do you even begin to describe what he’s done in this game also his charismatic approach to this game you know he’s got the personality he’s got the fan base he’s got everything and the thing I really love is that he’s this colorful character but away from the game he’s someone completely different he’s got that Persona hasn’t he he has and Peter Wright is a friend of mine has been for 15 years he’s still the same person away from dots as he was when I first met him in November of 2008 still the same guy and when he goes on stage that’s what’s changed think back to 2014 when he was playing in that first world final against Michael van when I was coming into the arena and I saw him in this outfit that made him look like something from Rubik’s and we all knew that if he didn’t have a good World Championship then he was going to walk away from the sport every time Jeopardy is involved with Peter he seems to be rebooted and he reboots himself differently to maybe anybody the world has ever seen in sport maybe not just doarts maybe with the exception of see Tiger Woods who uh goes through lifechanging surgeries and accidents and things like that and still manages to win the Tour Championship but when his career is on the line he found a way to do something extraordinary he didn’t win the title but look at what happened the next six years he was the nearly person of darts yes he won the 2017 UK open and he thought well maybe that’s going to be his crown in glory he wasn’t happy with that look at what he’s done he’s gone to a broadcast level of performance that nobody’s done before 123.5 he’s gone over 120 three times that’s something that Taylor and Van have not done so levels wise he’s right up there and don’t forget he’s averaged 119 in the Premier League as well almost 120 in the pl that year he did the um broadcast record same year he won the world match play and he was unplayable in that world match play he averaged over 100 in um four of his five matches and then against Dimitri in the final no one was beating him that day were they that’s why we keep saying that the D 11 against mvg in the semis that in that tournament if you’re wondering about the greatest of right go back to that semi-final against vagan he had mvg dizzy and it took something ridiculous to do that at that point Peter Wright is one of the best D players we’ve ever seen and if you think I’m wrong about that then just open your mind a little bit to the levels he’s attained what he’s won and what he’s had to go through to get there it’s a long long journey that someday will be a documentary series and he won he he’s won 10 Majors but in 201 17 he won 10 titles in the season you know in all comps and I think only four people have done that so in in that real P era of Peter right where where does he go well this is probably my biggest headache because when I was compiling my own personal list in my own mind I find real trouble putting Gary Anderson and Peter Wright apart I almost have them dead level because they have two World titles they have multiple other Majors Peter won stuff that Gary hasn’t won Gary’s won stuff that Peter hasn’t won their career length is not that different and I see them jostling for that potential first person from Scotland to get that third world title and I think that will be the separator at the end of their careers but at the minute and it’s purely because of the fact the that Peter Wright has been above 123 times I have him at three so you’re going three right and and four Gary Gary Anders at four but the margins are so small a lot of people out there will want this guy probably highest three Adrien Lewis on his remember on his pump his Peak Adrien Lewis I know he didn’t win as many Majors as a lot of the other people on this list but everyone says when he was on his day it was unbelievable to watch well I’ve done some digging on this and I was looking at the personal bests of all of the the potential players that would come up today and I was astounded to find out that Adrian’s personal best is only 115 now you talk about 115 I know only 115 but if you compare that to some other players and their highest levels Taylor’s gone over 115 multiple times uh vanan obviously has Wright has Anderson has price has we’re talking about a slightly different level of performance now Adrian as great as he has been for the game on the hall his top level isn’t as great as some of the other players that doesn’t detract away from Adrian’s greatness though he’s just done it in a more natural laxidasical style I mean he’s H nine daughters he might as well have been blindfolded at times five of them exactly but with two World titles a UK open and a European Championship he knows he could have won more he hasn’t won more we don’t know what’s going to happen from here which is why I put Adrian a little bit further down the list it’s just because he was he was a bit unfortunate to catch Taylor and mvg in Unstoppable but a lot of these players were yeah but um remember when he averaged 111 in the 2013 Grand Slam semi-final and lost quite soundly to Taylor and that kind of sums up Adrien Lewis’s career for me some of these guys have all had matches like that Anderson vanan in Dubai Rob cross against Chris dby pretty much every time these are high numbered matches we talk about that game between Adrian and Phil because it was so remarkable but they’ve had Grand Slam games like that before there have been other rivalries like this over the course of time and we have to fairly compare for this list Adrian’s achievements and top level with other players some others have got more titles more World titles potentially and higher levels of performance in single games he has to go a little bit further down the list and I’ve got him somewhere around eight Okay g i be throw another one at him so at the moment 8th 9th and 10th are already occupied so you’re going to have to think a little bit higher with the next ones and we’ve got gwin price up next for you so gazi’s won that again when you think about sports in general he could probably enter a number of different sports top 50 to 100 whatever but rugby player handy with a snooker que we saw what he did on soccer am as well but oh let’s just focus on the dart St a three-time grand slam Champion loves it in wolver Hampton his record there is absolutely ridiculous a world champion as well when he’s at his best only a few can compete with him yeah when he’s playing his best stuff when the desire is there when the practice has been done and his first start is planted right in the top millimeter of that treble 20 everyone’s got licensed to worry now anything that I see from this point about GUI price arguably about 67% of people are going to disagree with it even though it’s factually correct it’s just the world we live in he is one of the greatest players we’ve ever seen he’s got a higher level of performance in an individual game than a lot of the players in this list he’s not attained 118 yet or to that magical 120 level so he has to be in the bottom half he’s got one world title multiple other Majors I see him being better than Adrien Lewis at this point because he’s a 10 a higher level and has won more PDC majors and he’s got a ridiculous amount of European tour titles and players championship titles don’t forget about his European tour record he’s got eight of them I believe and he hit two n t on one night and in a year of getting four so that was his box office to might that was his box office Year sorry my worry for him is his temperament you know if you put all these people throwing fireworks at him like in this dream year where all these temp players are in their pump he gets a bit dispirited sometimes he gets rattled the crowd imagine him against Bristo yes please he I’d love to see that loses to brist before a d thr but imagine the other side of it then both going at each other that would be something else’s reaction to yeah to his 180s don’t want people’s personal opinion of someone to Cloud where they fairly stand standard wise in this list that’s my biggest point about gy price doesn’t matter whether you like him or not he is one of the best players we’ve ever seen that’s great for he’s great for the game I’m just thinking against everyone playing their best at him how’s he going to handle that think about some of the finals he’s had with vanu and cross and and he’s had with Lewis and had a couple with Gary a he yeah he’s had great games with all of them and stood up to them all he lost what 19 times in a row to mvg then he’s figured it out and he as a result of getting that first one has turned into a better player yeah I think it’s amazing that we see these different reactions from different players we see different things it makes them human but also Imagine everyone threw the same everyone reacted the same everyone had the same root for a checkout why why would we want that we’d get bored of that I love an Instagram meltdown I I just love everything you know we look at Luke ller and you know the U that it caused when he decides to go a different route how can you not be excited I know it’s probably not that exciting when it’s being thrown against you but it’s not disrespectful in this day and age it isn’t and if you think about one of the best qualities that price has it’s the ability to change attitude to something that he doesn’t like he didn’t like the crowds he still went out there and he still did it he threatened to walk away from the sport he came back he’s still successful but I think about two things and they can’t be refuted he didn’t like the world Grand Prix he figured it out he has won it and made another final on the back of that didn’t like the premier league has now made the final of that it’s the ability to adapt and to figure it out which is why he’s at number seven as you mentioned Luke ller I better just add if anyone’s watching this in a few months when he’s won major titles and wondering where he is we we’ve left him out because he hasn’t won a major yet just thought I’d clear yet yet um so yeah not one of the strongest threel words in the English language yes absolutely um next one on the list he definitely has won a major Raymond van baval yeah he’s won one PDC world championship and four LC sides and and I think we’ve got to be fair with the standard that Raymond has had throughout his career was he playing in his leg side days to the same level as the PDC guys at that time I think he was better than most of the PDC guys and when he came over in around 2006 he fit in so comfortably because he was already brilliant and that is fed through to the next 10 years hasn’t it hasn’t won another world title but has has been competitive pretty much the whole time with a few ups and downs and if you’re going to have a career that’s over 35 years you’re going to have ups and downs it’s not going to be an inclin playing like that the whole time very much like Lewis personal best of around 115 but his ability to win really good nitty-gritty matches like that 2007 final against Taylor at that 100 average level that’s the kind of game you could really be swept up in I think as well the interesting thing is that when he came over the scrutiny nobody thought he was going to be able to compete everyone thought no he’s not good enough to compete when he comes over from the boo nobody thinks he’s going to and he’s still doing it now he’s just won another play’s championship event so you know it was also people believing that he couldn’t do it and he showed quite convincingly yeah I can actually I think it’s more to do with whether he believes he can do it in 2006 2007 he he knew he could do it in his own mind in the coming years he was asking himself those questions do I still belong here can I still do it he talks about himself in the third person a lot which I think is very intriguing because he talks to himself come on Rond can I do this still he obviously can and he shed that in this large crop of brilliant players Al it with a few absentees in buhe you don’t necessarily have to have the 105 all day if you can have 96 to 97 you can do an awful lot of damage sometimes experience goes a long way I can’t not have him in this top 10 because of his ability to win in different eras he’s still won a premier league when people thought he was on his way out he won a grand slam when people thought he’s not going going to win now that MBG is about to dominate he managed to do that against Michael think about what he’s W and who he’s done it against that’s what I would see the thing is with Barney I think kind of like Anderson when in full flow both are obscenely good but Anderson always was more consistent there was more tournaments where he’d string it together and win the title Barney The Wheels could come off for Barney sometimes you felt there’s some fragility in his throw maybe that when it’s going right it’s amazing and then the rhythm’s got the next match yeah I think from the the point of view of a lot of of the the people watching this they’ll say Gary would be a stronger player in mind and maybe Peter Wright as well they wouldn’t show the ingame fragility to the camera not necessarily to the other player but to themselves and to the camera and that’s why I’d have Raymond at five right I’m going to throw a name at you now and when I was first thinking about this list I thought is it too soon no it’s not too soon and I had this internal battle myself but luk hum okay and there may be a few eye rolls at this because it is very early on but we can’t ignore again what he’s done on the Euro tour what he’s done on the floor the ridiculous end to 2023 but also the way that’s carried into 2024 I think as well as what he does on the dart board I think it’s important to acknowledge the wonderful Ambassador he is and how seriously he takes his role as world number one the way he speaks so eloquent I think he’s a wonderful figure to have for this sport I think the PDC are very lucky to have him as the world number one he’s a wonderful spokesperson but on the board Premier League 15 of his 18 averages in excess of a ton you know even at the start of the year when people were saying oh he’s not winning games he’s not doing this his performance levels were still there it was absolutely incredible and speaking to him about you know his journey as world number one okay it’s very early on but you know he’s still figuring that side of things out but I love the way he problem solves both on and off the board and one other thing before I throw it to you to determine whether he makes the top 10 the game against Dimitri vandenbberg at the UK open yes he went on to lose that but his ability to get himself back into that contest you see signs that you only see from mvg and Taylor the way he can haul himself back into a contest when you don’t think he’s going to be able to yeah I do think he’s getting mentally stronger by the season we’re talking about a player that dominated the European tour in 2022 then was given the opportunity to dominate again lost in a lot of finals seemed like yellow was not his color in 2023 because chisnell was getting the better of him most of the time but he’s someone who’s had his own adversity and has found a way to grow up within the trials of PDC darts he’s now our Top Dog as to whether he’s in the top 10 it’s entirely subjective but I categorize him like a a great song that’s just about to enter the charts it’s just not being released yet I think his sample size is just a little too small compared to some of the these other players he may have achieved more than some of the players that I’ve got around say a 9 or 10 but at this point in time I’d have him at 11 just knocking on the window with a very heavy hand saying you’re not going to be there for long I’m coming to get you because he will he’s got 119 average level in his game we’ve seen that in the last year and a bit that’s better than some of the players in the top 10 I’m not going to let re recency bias overtake me and put him straight in there but I guarantee this if we did this in a year’s time he’s going to be like Saturday night by wigfield he might go straight to the top Lulu comre eh mean in the year time we’ve got lit to we’ve got liter to talk about as well so it might be worth doing it again and see if he’s up there but I I would put him in the top 10 because of this this six months period of winning majors and obviously he was doing Lots before that but the major winning period an averaged 108 in a world championship semifinal for goodness sake like that’s up there with the likes what Taylor and mvg did if you have everyone in the pump and his coolness his resilience I think he could go toe-to-toe with look at how he dealt with Van go in the PLAYERS Championship Finals the game against Rob cross the cross it’s so strong I just think he could pick all these Peak players up against a peak humph that we see now and he go to Chris forget it he’s not budging Chris have you got another name for us um well I say if you got another name I think people can probably guess where we’re going and it’s Johnny Clayton we got three three left I know that obviously the big two is there one more I want to forget about or no we’ve got two it’s Johnny Clayton and one other I’ll let you take the other and I’ll Reese next you know John low no it’s not it’s sorry no um Michael V okay so that’s a bit of a let down isn’t it after the names we’ve just mentioned I’ve I’ve wrestled with the top two for the last week looking at all sorts of different uh key uh Mark as and it’s obviously easy to compare Michael to who could potentially top him at the top of this list and Michael’s even said recently himself that Phil is the best player of all time but I’m the best recently and he’s right but let’s look at some things that might surprise people I didn’t know that michaan has only reached 120 twice now we might say only twice but for his talent level and some of the games that we’ve seen from him that to me is a bit of a surprise but how many times has he gone 110 plus how many times has he gone into a tournament and ripped people to Pieces we know how good Michael is we don’t know how many more years he’s got in him it’s entirely up to him he’s one of the biggest earners this sport has ever had and will probably ever have are his best days behind him that’s for another time but what he’s done up to this very points he is one of the greatest players when on form that we’ve ever seen and will’ll ever see it’s just a question of whether he’s at number number one or number two what’s his Peak year 2017 I believe so yeah you look at what he did in the European T that year the way he was butchering the majors the way he played in the world championship against Gary in the final and he’s still the only person to win a PDC World Championship W the bullseye absolutely but we’ll make this more of a discuss then because these two have not allowed Johnny Clayton to come into the discussion so it is going to be between Phil Taylor and mvg before you give us your decision would it have been any different if you based it solely on ability without factoring in anything else would your decision have been any different yes yeah I think it would have because with one other person yet to come I think we got to talk about the stage craft and there is stagecraft involved you can put that however you want but there’s only one person in my opinion who can handle that other player better than anyone and that’s Michael and it’s a really really hard call it’s a bit like trying to decipher between Peter Wright and Gary Anderson I think that line is so fine it’s half half a micron but when it comes to Michael I I see him at number two at this point I think a lot of people will have him at number number one because of the standard he’s had but I was surprised to know that he was only over 120 twice would my decision be different had he got rid of Michael Smith and abedine quicker that was the thing that was cropping up a lot in my own mind and that might be something that our viewers might think about as well I think it’s a very subjective way of looking at it but I think most people would put Michael at two because when you think of his sort 201617 period he won uh was in the final of every major um and then you’ve got Taylor’s 20091 if you had that Taylor and vanen from 1617 who’s winning the World Championship final Phillip I’ve been around I’ve been very fortunate to be around Phil in those 2009 2010 years and Michael around 2016 to 2019 I’ve play them both and you stand behind them and you think I’m not that good was the aura any different around the two of them yeah how so how was it different it was different because uh when Phil was doing his stuff especially at the Europeans in 2009 I’m looking around the room I’m not just talking from my own mind I’m thinking I’m not going to beat that I look around and everybody’s saying it when I was looking at Michael around 2018 I played him at the Europeans there I look around the room and it was different there were people who said to themselves I think I can beat him there was not one person in huffor in the Netherlands in 2009 we thought we can’t beat that and that’s the difference so that is why Phillip Taylor is your number one yeah he’s been over 120 as well that’s that’s a key factor he’s had those enormous tournament averages especially that European Championship but that’s not an isolated incident you talk about match plays he talk about Grand Prix domination as well World Championship final attaining statistic he’s got the biggest final average against rayan van baral I mean is that ever going to be beaten I’m not sure it is I don’t think it is and that was one of those tournaments where you thought well Runners up is going to be pretty good I mean mg still got that unbreakable a World Champ average record 114 would that ever go I can see that going but only just not by a massive amount I can see somebody maybe TI it by a tenth of a point maybe 2/ ten of a point but 110 over eight sets in a final give me a break that’s ridiculous yeah I mean think about how many legs that is it’s a lot of legs the ability to attain that level over a certain period of time some people will perceive that the longer the game the weaker you could possibly be the two players that we mentioned in mvj and Taylor the longer the game they would improve that’s what makes them better than anybody else and their lulls don’t last as long do they no they don’t and Michael’s career is not even finished so again if we do this list in two more years there may be evidence to suggest that he goes to number one right then so let’s take a look at our top 10 confirmed no arguments we’re all happy with the top 10 yes okay I’m nervous yeah well you’ve done the hard part now your time to be nervous was 4 minutes ago you should yeah yeah just wait for the repercussions at this point I expect number 10 Alan Warren a little nine James Wade eight Adrien Lewis seven Gerwin price six Eric Bristo five Raymond van barnavelt four Gary Anderson three Peter Wright two Mighty Michael vanen and number one Phil Taylor make sure you get in touch with us let us know let us know if you thought we were talking absolute nonsense there and send us your top 10 because we would love to see it and maybe discuss it in a bit more detail make sure you’re following us on YouTube and head to sportinglife.com darts for more news