Jonny Clayton is set to retire from plastering and focus on his professional darts career as he eyes a stunning £315,000 prize pot by winning the Premier League Darts on Monday night.
The Welsh star finished atop the Premier League Darts table after securing four wins across the 16-night competition. He won £40,000 throughout the season.
If Clayton defeats Joe Cullen in the semi-finals in Berlin and goes on to retain the Premier League Darts trophy for the second time, the 47-year-old will collect £275,000 in prize money. After years of discussions, Clayton has agreed a deal in principle with Carmarthenshire county council to quit his day job as a plasterer in December - and finally operate full-time as a darts professional.
“I’ve basically taken five months off work already this year, and as the Premier League season comes to an end, my time as a plasterer is probably coming to an end, too,” The Ferret announced. “My bosses at Carmarthenshire county council have been incredibly fair to me, allowing me to fit the day job around playing darts.
“But now it’s time for me to return to their kindness. I can’t keep going to them to ask for time off, and they can’t keep bending over backwards to accommodate one employee.
“The plan is for me to carry on until December, but from the end of the year I’m going to try and be a professional darts player full-time.
“After that, the tools will be staying in the van. It will be hard to say goodbye to a trade that has sustained me all my working life.
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“But I’ve reached the stage now where it’s become too hard to maintain a balance between darts and a nine-to-five job.”
Clayton had previously been taking unpaid leave in order to attend professional darts events, but the exhaustive schedule has led to the Welshman to call time on his plastering career. The World No. 8 hopes the decision will aid his game as he eyes further success.
Second seed Michael van Gerwen will face James Wade in the other best-of-19 leg semi-final. The playoffs come just two days after the Nordic Darts Masters, which were won by Belgian star Dimitri Van den Bergh.
After the Premier League playoffs finish, Clayton is set to partner Gerwyn Price in the Wales team at the World Cup of Darts in Germany, which begins next week. The pair won the title in 2020.
