How former plasterer Clayton is lighting up Premier League

For many darts players, a key question needs to be answered at a crunch period of their careers. Job or full-time arrows?

Jonny Clayton was no different.

The Welshman spent many years switching between competing against the darting elite and working as a plasterer for Carmarthenshire County Council.

It was a work-life balance like no other but one that laid the foundations for his incredible rise to the pinnacle of the sport.

A wildcard for this year's Premier League of Darts, the 51-year-old was expected by many to finish bottom, let alone qualify for the finals at the 02 Arena on 28 May.

However, with four nightly wins - including back-to-back successes in the past two weeks - Clayton leads the way after 11 of the 16 pre-finals rounds.

Having previously won the event five years ago, BBC Sport considers how he got here - and whether the former decorator can be decorated again.

Premier League love the catalyst for change

Clayton regularly cited his concerns over putting too much pressure on his darts if he was to permanently ditch the trowel for his arrows.

"I find when you're working, your mind is completely off darts so then you've got a work-balance of, you think of work and then you think of darts when you play darts," he said in 2022.

But his debut showing in the 2021 Premier League was arguably the biggest catalyst for change in his career.

It's easy to see why the former council worker has such an affection for the competition.

Having won the Masters in January 2021, his maiden individual televised Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) title, Clayton earned selection for the Premier League.

He won the tournament on debut, taking home a career-best sum of £250,000 in doing so, before returning to his day job of plastering.

He went on to win the World Grand Prix and World Series of Darts finals to cap off the greatest year of his career to date.

In 2022, Clayton topped the pile in the Premier League before going on to lose to Joe Cullen on finals night, although his continued success was sufficient to at long last justify a full-time switch to darts.

In the official 2026 tournament programme, Clayton was the only player in this year's eight-man field to name the Premier League as his favourite part of the darting calendar.

"I love it. It's 16 weeks of the best players in darts," he said.

Clayton is appearing in the Premier League for a fourth time, but for the first time since 2023.

The Welshman is firmly on course to extend his unblemished record of reaching finals night in each of his appearances in the showpiece event.

His 29 points, 17 match victories, four nightly wins and 125 legs won so far are all more than any other player in this year's Premier League.

Crucially, his current points tally, even with five weeks still to play before finals night in London, should see him comfortably through to the O2 next month.

Since the league format was restructured in 2022, players finishing fourth - the final qualifying position for finals night - end the regular season with an average of 25 points.

The scratch coat has been applied in rapid fashion. The goal will swiftly turn to applying a smooth finish in May.

Image caption,

Jonny Clayton beat Jose de Sousa 11-5 to win the 2021 Premier League final on debut

Proving the doubters wrong

Clayton was a significant outsider with bookmakers to win this year's tournament. He wasn't even fancied to make finals night.

Given his record, it was something that clearly rankled with the former plasterer.

Speaking at the Premier League media launch in early February, Clayton said: "It motivates me alright because people don't rate me, obviously they rate the others more. Let's see on finals night."

A 6-4 victory against Luke Littler in the Rotterdam final last time out earned Clayton back-to-back night wins for the first time this season.

He now holds a 16-point buffer over defending champion Luke Humphries who is fifth going into night 12 in Liverpool on Thursday.

"He has sewn up a place at the O2 in London," Sky Sports pundit Wayne Mardle said of Clayton after his triumph in Rotterdam.

"Jonny Clayton will be there, that is certain. He is so far clear of the rest."

A week earlier, Clayton produced a remarkable comeback to win 6-5 against seven-time champion Michael van Gerwen in Brighton having been 5-2 down in the final.

After his victory against reigning world champion Littler in Rotterdam, Clayton revealed he re-watched his win against van Gerwen from a week earlier.

"I don't watch many games back, but I watched last week's game against Michael and it hurt a little bit when somebody said I was favourite to finish bottom. That really hurt," he said.

"That really annoyed me to be honest. It's going well for myself and I've got a massive smile on my face.

"I've been here three times before and I've done finals night on each one."

At 51 Clayton is comfortably the oldest player in this year's field, although he is consistently proving to be a thorn in the side of the game's younger talents.

And with the £350,000 Premier League winner's prize still well within his sights, Clayton can have no doubts that his long-delayed full-time move into darts was entirely justified. And then some.