Luke Littler issues cheeky unprompted Gary Anderson reply after 'boring' dig

Luke Littler could not help but bite back at Gary Anderson after the 54-year-old's rant about how the PDC circuit's current young players are "boring" compared to the old days. The world champion held his nerve to navigate past Andrew Gilding on Sunday, booking his spot in the World Matchplay semi-finals at Blackpool's Winter Gardens.

Littler led Gilding 12-8 and 14-9 as he looked to be cruising into the four final before Goldfinger clawed back to move one leg behind at 15-14. The Nuke eventually finished the job for a 16-14 triumph and will face Josh Rock, who beat 2023 runner-up Gerwyn Price 16-11, for a ticket to the final.

Following the match, Littler was asked whether he spoke to Gilding away from the oche two years after they took a photo together in their hotel before a World Championship clash.

In response, the teenage superstar took the opportunity to call out Anderson's comments.

He said: "I do not think he is a big talker, Andrew [Gilding]. A lot of us players, we just get on with our things. As Gary Anderson said, we are boring, so that is what we do!"

Earlier in the week, Anderson bemoaned how the tour was now full of "boring" younger players who do not share the banter he used to with the likes of Phil Taylor and Adrian Lewis.

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"I was sitting thinking the other day, having a talk with [Ian] White, [Adrian] Lewis, [Phil] Taylor, [Kevin] Painter," Anderson explained after beating Luke Woodhouse 10-5.

"We used to sit and have a cracking laugh. Nowadays, I would rather sit like this. Nobody talks to anybody. You do not have a good laugh, you do not have a bit of banter. You need to have a laugh.

"Does not matter what you do in life, on a building site, office, you have always got to have a laugh. Nowadays, there is not much of that going about."

"The youngsters are boring. Absolutely boring. You talk to them, they are too busy looking at their phone.

"They are sitting on their phones with their bloody earphones in. Do not talk to you. It is a completely different life."

"The youngsters, they are here to do their job. They have realised they have got a great chance in life to make a lot of bloody money, buy their first house, then their second house.

"But they need to calm down and think: right, this is my job. That is it."

James Wade and Jonny Clayton will face off in the second semi-final on Saturday.