‘Never seen him like that before..' – Luke Littler needs to deal with crowd abuse after Man Utd fan's Liverpool meltdown

The Sun

01-05-2025

LUKE LITTLER has to learn to deal with crowd abuse after his defeat to Michael van Gerwen in Liverpool.
Former UK Open finalist Vincent van der Voort believes the teen sensation must cope with the boos following a rare outburst a week ago.
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World champion Littler, 18, reacted angrily to sections of the crowd after his 6-5 loss at the M&S Bank Arena.
'The Nuke', who is a Manchester United fan, stormed into a 4-0 lead against Van Gerwen on Merseyside.
But the seven-time Premier League winner mounted a dramatic comeback after he won six of the next seven legs to secure victory.
The Liverpool crowd grew louder as momentum shifted and Littler was visibly frustrated as the match slipped away.
Former professional Van der Voort believes the behaviour was out of character for the teen sensation.
He said on the Darts Draait podcast: 'Sure, you can provoke the crowd, but you have to be able to take it when it comes back at you.
'He's still young and needs to learn how to deal with this.
'You don't need to provoke or respond to the crowd. I've never seen him like that before—he usually comes across as so calm, like nothing fazes him. This was a completely different side.'
The Dutchman concluded by highlighting how such reactions can encourage more provocation from the stands.
He added: 'For the guy in the crowd, this was probably the highlight of his night.
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'Imagine you're a Liverpool fan and you managed to get under Littler's skin. He was up 4-0 and still lost 6-5. That's a dream scenario for them.'
It's been revealed that Littler earns an astonishing £5,833 per week on average playing in the Premier League.
He has played the most matches in the tournament this season, racking up 26 matches in 12 weeks, earning £70,000 in the process.
Research by BetUK reveals Littler earns £2,692 per match and £288 per leg based on prize money alone.
Five-time major winner Littler has four weekly wins and one nine-darter, which comes with the bonus of a set of golden darts worth £30,000.
He has also thrown a 180 an incredible 128 times in his 26 Premier League matches.
That's an average of 4.92 per game, almost double his nearest rival, Luke Humphries, who has thrown 69 for an average of 2.65.
Littler continues to throw 180s at an average rate of 10.67 per week, and he has already equalled his record of 128 in a season after just 12 nights.