Andrew Gilding and Luke Littler (Picture: Kelly Deckers/PDC)

'Disgraceful' media coverage of Luke Littler's defeats could damage teenager's career, according to leading pundit Paul Nicholson

By Paul Nicholson

Darts

Thu October 31, 2024 · 3w ago

Luke Littler headed into the European Championship as one of the favourites to win his 10th PDC title of the season but it ended in round one when losing to Andrew Gilding.

Some sections of the mainstream press – particularly the Daily Mail – reported this surprising defeat like it was some kind of embarrassment he should be ashamed of.

As much as the British media love to build up a new star, they love to tear someone down even more.

To do this to a 17-year-old who is still so new to the highest level of darts is a disgrace. Quite frankly I wouldn’t wipe my behind with the Daily Mail.

It's not worth the paper it's printed on.

These major outlets are reporting to the masses and do not have their finger on the pulse of everything Littler has achieved this year away from the TV cameras and could easily start getting the impression that he’s a ‘one hit wonder’ and already on the decline.

Sensationalist and misleading coverage like this could be highly damaging to him and is exactly what Gary Anderson warned everyone about during last year’s World Championship.

Saying ‘Littler loses AGAIN’ and focusing on it being a third first-round major exit in a row paints completely the wrong picture.

He lost in the World Matchplay to Michael van Gerwen while he was beaten by Rob Cross at the World Grand Prix in which he was making his double-start debut. Neither result was anything to start panicking about.

Although Gilding was dubbed a ‘former butcher’ by the paper’s headlines, he also won the 2023 UK Open and is ranked 21st in the world! There’s no shame in that, especially in a short format like best of 11 legs.

Away from those events, he’s won two other titles in this time frame including the World Series of Darts Finals to take his yearly tally to nine, while last weekend he fired in three averages in excess of 110 en route to a narrow defeat to Luke Humphries in a European Tour semi-final.

Bare in mind only Phil Taylor, MVG and Peter Wright have ever managed 10 PDC titles in a single season, Littler’s progress has been astonishing.

We should also be very impressed by the fact Luke Littler is going to be in the top 16 before the end of his first season. That very rarely happens. Even Rob Cross didn't make the top 16 in his first year before he won the World Championship. He wasn't even in the top 20.

It actually speaks volumes that he’s reached world number 18 despite those three first-round exits. So, if anything it shows just how good he’s been everywhere else.

This is what the Daily Mail and some of the mainstream media doesn't understand. The big picture in 2024 for Littler has been sensational.

He's done more in his career this year than most people will do in their full tenures.

He's done more than I have in my career, and I congratulate him for that. I'm not bitter about it whatsoever.

He'll be disappointed he lost in the first round of these tournaments, but he'll look back and realise he was outgunned by three major champions in shorter format darts.

Let’s not forget that when you are as good as Littler is, you do have a target on your back. The moment Andrew Gilding saw he was playing Littler, I will wager that he was putting in an extra hour of practice.

People want to take him out because he's a headline maker, and as such the people who beat him can get the headlines as well. But instead of praising the way Andrew played, they focused on Littler losing. He didn’t even play badly. He averaged 95 for crying out loud. It’s not like he went up there and played badly.

But everybody's focusing on Littler in any way possible because he's a click monster, isn't he?

My words, however, are important I believe because we need to stop gutter press about him before it’s too late.

'Disgraceful' media coverage of Luke Littler's defeats could damage teenager's career, according to leading pundit Paul Nicholson

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