Gary Anderson slams 'boring' new age of darts players and begs old rival to return

Gary Anderson has taken aim at the new generation of darts stars and claimed that they are "boring, absolutely boring" as he longed for the "good old days" to come back.

The Flying Scotsman made his feelings known during the opening round of the World Matchplay as he hailed the sport's environment back when the likes of Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis were among the top guns. Anderson revealed how, despite being rivals on the oche, the players on tour would socialise with each other.

Nowadays, in an era where social media has taken over, the young generation who are now competing with the veterans have little interest in having a chat with Anderson claiming they're "too busy looking at their phones".

Anderson, who won his first round match in the World Matchplay as he dispatched of Luke Woodhouse, admitted that the youngsters have taken centre stage but was keen to take them down a peg or two.

He told SportsBoom: “The good old days, that's when darts players were darts players. Me, Lewis, Taylor, Kevin [Painter], we used to sit and have a crack and a laugh. Aidy Lewis was brilliant, and I wish he comes back. I do miss him.

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“Nowadays nobody talks to anybody. You don’t have a good laugh; you don’t have a bit of banter. The youngsters are boring, absolutely boring. You talk to them, they’re too busy looking at their phones.

"These youngsters, they’re here to do a job. They’ve got to the stage now that they’ve realised, they’ve got a great chance in life to make a lot of bloody money and boost themselves.

"But they need to calm down and think this is my job and that’s it. They’re good but they aren’t that good. That’s what you’ve got to remember.”

Littler's rivals have commented on how the sport's sensation conducts himself behind the scenes. The Nuke makes no secret of the fact he loves his gaming, which is a major interest when he's not competing. Stephen Bunting previously told The Express: “We see him week in week out on the Pro Tour. He’s literally sat there on his phone, he’ll be watching Manchester United play, or he’ll be playing a game."

It doesn't appear to be impacting the teenager though as he averaged over a ton during his round one battering of Ryan Searle in Blackpool. Littler cruised into the second round by virtue of a 10-2 victory over Searle, landing his first-ever win at the Winter Gardens in the process.

Top seed and last year's winner Luke Humphries was the shock exit of round one. Gian van Veen pulled off a shock to dump out the reigning champion with a 10-8 victory on the opening night. Humphries ended the match with just a 29 per cent success rate on the doubles and 20 doubles missed.