Gary Anderson failed to hold back in his view of darts’ current crop of stars – labelling them boring and being too preoccupied with their phones.
In an incredible X-rated rant, the two-time world champion bemoaned the lack of banter on the circuit compared to what it used to be in its heyday.
Citing players are too professional now, the Scotsman declared Luke Littler, Luke Humphries and co fail to get involved in any laughter with the older pros.
Anderson made the extraordinary comments after his 10-7 victory over Luke Woodhouse to secure his place in the second round of the World Matchplay.
Speaking after his 10-7 win, the 54-year-old said: “I was sitting thinking the other day, having a talk with [Ian] White, [Adrian] Lewis, [Phi] Taylor, [Kevin] Painter, we used to sit and have a cracking laugh.
“Nowadays, Nobody talks to anybody, you don’t have a good laugh, you don’t have a bit of banter. You need to have a laugh.
“Doesn’t matter what you do in life, whether you’re on a building site, in an office, you’ve always got to have a laugh.
“Nowadays, there’s not much of that going about.”
He added: “The youngsters, they’re here to do their job.
“They’ve realised they’ve got a great chance in life to make a lot of bloody money, buy their first house, buy their second house.
“But they need to calm down and think, ‘Right, this is my job,’ That’s it.”
Anderson was then pressed as to why the backstage atmosphere has changed and if it is due to the fact that leading figures such as Littler and Humphries are just much younger than Anderson.
To which Anderson didn’t hold back in insisting that the current generation are too professional – stressing they need to let their hair down every now and again.
He stated: “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 ******* ******* – that’s that, it’s as simple as that, and I know I swore, fine me!
“But you’ve got to have a laugh, it’s one of these things, you’ve got to enjoy what you do.”
Anderson concluded his rant by saying: “The old boys, like I say, Ade was brilliant, and I wish he comes back, I do miss him. Love you Ade!”
His call-out to Lewis prompted an instant response from the Jackpot on social media, who took to X to post: “I’ll consider it.”
The two-time PDC world champion then quipped: “Just realised Gary Anderson only wants me to come back for an easy draw!”
Lewis hasn’t competed professionally since the UK Open in 2023 at Butlin’s Minehead having walked away from the sport to take care of his wife Sarah.