Gary Anderson has issued a warning to Luke Littler and co. (Image: Getty)
Gary Anderson has fired a warning to and his fellow teenage darts sensations.
Anderson has been there and pretty much done it all in the sport. A winner of two , the Scot has also lifted the UK Open and World Matchplay titles, as well as tasting glory in the Players Championship Finals.
But now well into his fifties, Anderson has urged the next generation of darts stars, including World Championship contender Littler, to have a back-up plan if their sporting career goes south.
Speaking to , Anderson stated: “It is great for youngsters, they come straight out of school, they’re making so much money, fantastic, absolutely fantastic. But if anything goes wrong, they’ve never got a trade to go to.”
Anderson worked as a builder before going mainstream in darts and while he’s reaped the rewards, he believes all young darts starlets should have a Plan B.
He added: “If something happened, they couldn’t throw darts, they’ve got dartitis, can’t play darts ever again, what are they going to do? They’ve left school, they’ve done darts for four or five years, they’re now stuck, there’s not a lot out there.
“I’ve always said, get a trade, have something behind you that you can fall onto. It’s there for a safety net.”
Anderson has enjoyed somewhat of a career renaissance in recent months, reaching the quarter-final of the European Championship before being narrowly edged out by Litter in the semi-final of the Grand Slam last month.
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Gary Anderson has won two World Championship titles (Image: Getty)
He’s now hoping to carry that impressive form over into the Worlds later this month, with the two-time winner suggesting his experience on the Alexandra Palace stage could prove vital.
Anderson continued: “I’m still averaging probably higher than all of them put together.
“So, yes, they’ve got youth on their side, which to us boys is a bit downgrading because we want to be young again, but they’ve got a great future in front of them.
“It doesn’t matter what happens after that, your name’s always going to be on that trophy.
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“When I won it the second time, the third time, I did go for the hat-trick.
“There have been boys that have won it back-to-back. I don’t think they’ve done it three times in a row. But I made the finals – so I’ve done five finals, won it twice, so I’ve done not too bad there.”
Anderson will get his World Championship campaign underway on December 22 against the winner of Jeffrey de Graaf vs Rashad Sweeting.