Winning the Premier League remains a surreal memory for Glen Durrant.

Arguably the high point of the three-time Lakeside world champion’s career, it also marked the beginning of the end of his time at the top level as his game rapidly spiralled into decline. And unlike the fanfare when Luke Littler won the 2024 Premier League in front of 14,000 fans at the O2, Durrant had just runner-up Nathan Aspinall and a camera operator for company after nailing the winning double.

After starting, as usual, in early February, the 2020 tournament was shelved by the pandemic. It resumed in August with a succession of nights at Milton Keynes’ Marshall Arena, with the play-offs taking place at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena in October, all behind closed doors.

“It was a surreal moment because, when I won, I turned around and the only person looking at me was a cameraman,” recalls Durrant, who says the stars aligned for him to take his only major PDC title, having started to feel something wasn’t quite right with his game.

“At the same time, my game was going downhill. How I won the Premier League that night… Someone was looking down on me. I averaged 87 in the semi-final but Gary Anderson used these new, knobbly-ended darts. If he’d used standard darts, I’d have been dead and buried.

“But I found something for the final. It’s amazing what confidence does for you. Just by winning that game [against Anderson], I found a little bit of the old me.

“Added to that, Nathan Aspinall had been involved in a cracking semi-final [against Peter Wright] and was exhausted. Everything fell into place that night.”

Durrant didn’t think all was lost with his game, and initially he was able to remain upbeat. He adds: “I thought tomorrow was going to be a better day. I thought the next day was going to be better. But there were low moments after that.”

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While the Premier League is a tournament every player wants to be part of, its relentless format can be a career-wrecker. Durrant’s lows felt even deeper when he tried to defend his title in 2021, with Covid restrictions still in place and players confined to the hotel attached to the Milton Keynes venue.

“I was awful,” admits Durrant of that tortuous experience. “I was going back to the hotel crying. I was like, ‘jeez, I’m 51, have won everything I ever wanted to and here I am’. It was during Covid and the following night I was playing Van Gerwen having been slammed 6-0 by Dimi [Van den Bergh].

“It did me. Mark Webster [who endured a nightmare Premier League campaign in 2011] was another. It was a campaign that, in hindsight, I wished I hadn’t played.

“Over the last 18 months of my career, I was getting beaten 6-0, 6-1, and it destroyed me. Similar to a golfer who gets the yips, a boxer who is punch-shy, I just lost my rhythm.

“I forgot the fundamentals of the game and started overthinking things. I was just getting battered, and the love I had for the game disintegrated during that period.”

Durrant retired from professional darts in 2022 but remains busy as a commentator for Sky Sports and a coach, working with novices right up to top pros, like fellow north-east star Ryan Joyce.

“I love it,” says Durrant of commentating. “I do a lot of preparation. I’m not a wordsmith so I’ve got to work hard behind the scenes. The journalists make it look ridiculously easy and use words more than my two syllables!

“I just try and give it from a player’s perspective, how they might be feeling at that moment when you’ve got a winning double to hit. You can’t legislate for that, so I just try and get it across to the audience what they will be feeling at that time. I love every second of it.”

While he isn’t missing playing, he has at least regained his love of the game. The 54-year-old affirms: “I’ve got that love for the game but I don’t miss it [playing]. I’m still heavily involved in the game.

“I’m also working for the PDPA [Professional Darts Players’ Association] – it’s like PFA in football. A few players are coming to me [for help], and I work with Ryan Joyce. I’m coaching as well. Everyone wants to be Luke Littler, so I’m very busy!”

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