Gary Anderson hasn’t minced his words when asked about what life on the darts tour is like nowadays, with the two-time world champion labelling the new kids on the block as “boring”. The Flying Scotsman was in action on day two and progressed into the second round with a commanding victory over Luke Woodhouse.

But it was during his post-match interview where Anderson raised eyebrows, as the 54-year-old called out Luke Littler and some of the more fresh-faced arrowsmiths by labelling them as “boring”. He explained: “The good old days, that’s when dart players were dart players.

“I was sitting there and thinking that the other day when I was talking to Ian White. Adrian Lewis, Phil Taylor, Kevin Painter, we used to sit and have a cracking laugh… nowadays, nobody talks to anybody, you don’t have a laugh or banter. You need to have a laugh, whether you’re on the building site or office, you’ve always got to have a laugh.”

He added: “Nowadays there’s not much of that going about… the youngsters are boring. Absolutely boring. If you talk to them, they’re too busy looking at their phone. But you’ve got to have a laugh, if you don’t have a laugh, life is ******* ********. It’s as simple as that.”

Littler’s rivals have opened up about how the teenager conducts himself behind the scenes, with claims that he often keeps to himself. Speaking exclusively to Express Sport last year, Stephen Bunting explained: “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.

“He might be chilling with a friend that he’s brought in [to watch]. He very rarely practices, he’ll probably stand up for 20 minutes, throw for the bull and it’s game on. He’s doing everything you’re taught not to do. But it works for him.”

Regardless, it appears to work a treat for Littler, given he averaged over a ton during his round one battering of Ryan Searle. The Nuke cruised into the second round by virtue of a 10-2 victory over Searle, with what was his first-ever win at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.

Commenting after his win, Littler said: “The crowd were amazing, to get that winning feeling is the extra boost. With Luke [Humphries] and Nathan [Aspinall] crashing out, everyone is going to be looking at me. But I’ve just got to focus on the next round and just look what’s in front of me.”