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.
