Shaking In Sheffield

Dennis told me later that regular two hour stints of hard practice is the secret of his Indian summer success. And you have to love Our Den, the man who is so happy at a good shot that he applauds himself!

Just what can you say about Phil Taylor? The weight is now right. Gone are the peaky chops and the wobbly balance. He said it would take time to find true form and was he ever right. He averaged 115 in the last eight legs against Barney to maintain his record of being unbeaten in THIRTY THREE PDL matches since February 2005. The next ten months could produce darting rivalry between The Power and The Plague from the Hague that will set new standards of skill, drama and superb entertainment.

And how about Phil’s combined Sheffield United/Wednesday shirt? He never misses a trick at getting the locals on his side.

JOINING THE BARNEY ARMY

We Z-list celebs sure know how to live… Last Wednesday I travelled to Northampton for a Ray Van Barneveld exhibition in a LORRY! It was driven by Speedie of Dick Allix’s stage crew and it contained the set for the show, which was for workers and management of Carlsberg, makers of Holsten Premier Lager. I was amazed at how quickly Speedie put up the set on his tod – no more than 20 minutes.

The gravel tonsils of Russ Bray started proceedings and we took the gentle Mickey out of every challenger, from the Geordie Managing Director to the typist who fluked a win against Barney with a double 19. Then I auctioned a Sid and a Barney T-shirt for charity and was amazed when a bloke pushed the bidding to 95 quid.

Driving back north to Sheffield with Dave Allen of the PDC, Barney and his pal Ed, I was given a crash course in Dutch. With all the young talent over there, I am trying to learn the lingo fast. At the moment I have only one phrase: Ich serlen mein clompendansen - I am practising my clog dancing. It might come in handy in commentary. You never know.

I’ll keep you posted on my progress.