We’re going to start this off by confessing that we’ve never been the most die-hard darts fans, only occasionally watching the odd game when it’s on in the pub and not knowing much beyond the big names — but there’s one name that everyone’s tipping to join them: Luke Littler.
For a lot of people who’ve recently gotten into the arrows, the famous nine-dart finish from the 2023 World Darts Champion Michael Smith against Michael van Gerwen — which went down as ‘the greatest leg ever‘ — will have likely been their way into the sport. It certainly caught our attention.
However, despite last year’s thrilling winner and crowd favourite crashing out, young Luke Littler isn’t just exciting his fair share of fans, players and pundits alike with his senior debut but he could genuinely go on and win the lot and is rapidly attracting a raft of new viewers who suddenly have someone to support.
Oh yeah, and did you know he’s still only 16?
Sit back and enjoy the best bits from Luke Littler's win over Brendan Dolan 🎯 pic.twitter.com/qQmdaFDUBb
Luke ‘The Nuke’ Littler doesn’t look nervous standing up there in front of all those people. Not one bit.
On a serious note, the constant reminder of his age may have become a bit of a meme, especially given the whole looking a bit older than a teenager thing (insert tired Wolfy from The Inbetweeners joke here), but, at the root, it’s simply because it’s so hard to believe he’s already that good.
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That’s not to say that the youngster born just down the road in Runcorn and based even closer in Warrington is new to the game though; the 16-year-old told Sky Sports that he’s had a set of darts in his hand since he was “18 months old” and grew up idolising his sporting hero, Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor.
Littler also became the first two-time Junior Darts Corporation world champion in history back in November 2023, making it consecutive wins barely a fortnight before entering his first-ever senior World Championship as an unseeded teen who is now being considered as the genuine favourite to win it.
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Other players have won the WDC on debut in the past, his upcoming semi-final opponent Rob Cross being one of them back in 2018, but very few have ever arrived at the oche looking so at home and so supremely confident as such a young age.
Luke Littler is the youngest player in history to reach the PDC World Championship semi-finals 👏
Having secured his spot in the final four on New Year’s Day after beating seasoned pro and infamous big game pest, Brendan Dolan, the local phenomenon became the youngest player in history to reach the semi-finals, taking home a cool £100,000 in the process. Not bad for being basically fresh off his GCSEs.
The chants of ‘he’s got school in the morning!’ have been ringing around Alexandra Palace ever since he stepped foot in the place but it can’t be overstated just how true that is. The local lad and avid Manchester United fan only just finished secondary school this past summer and is now being discussed in the same breath as the game’s very best. Again, he’s 16.
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What’s more is that it’s not just the obvious natural talent which he’s apparently boasted since the age of four that’s earning him so many fast fans and new eyes to the sport, in general: it’s his whole demeanour. He struts around the stage like he’s been there as long as any other player, rarely so much as a set and doesn’t just brush off the age jokes, he seems to almost thrive on the noise and the hype.
From conducting the Ally Pally crowd to the PDC’s famous ‘Chase The Sun’ theme song, winking, grinning and showboating at all the right moments; joking with interviewers about his post-match victory kebab and a coke, snapping selfies with famous footballers already enamoured with his meteoric rise and more — he really does look to have it all.
16 and Premier League footballer are already fanboying over him. Mad. (Credit: Luke Littler via Instagram/Live Darts via X)
Everyone’s new favourite 16 year old is now just two games away not just from greatness, he’s already well and truly on that road, but a seriously immense bit of darts and sporting history full stop.
While van Gerwen became the youngest player to ever win a PDC major at 23 back in 2012, the youngest World Champion was Adrian Lewis at the age of 25. If Luke ‘The Nuke’ does goes on to lift that trophy, he’ll be comfortably in the history books before his career has even really started.
Moreover, the fact that he literally looks like half of the blokes most people went to school with (only with much better beard coverage than most of us had at that age) means that it’s been easy for fans and newcomers to latch on to him and a sport that’s viewership jumped 33% from 2022 to 2023 alone.
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It was only after Christmas chats with nine-year-old nephews, hearing our nans talk about ‘that brilliant young darts lad’ and watching a packed out Mulligans full of people from all walks erupt in cheers and pure limbs after his previous win that it hit home just how massive a prospect he is for the future of darts.
He isn’t just the bookes’ favourite, he’s Ally Pally’s too.
With MvG now out and only former champ Cross, fellow unseeded underdog Scott Williams and another heavy favourite in Luke Humphries left standing in his way, he admitted he really is “starting to dream” that he can do it and, more importantly, he believes he can.
Luke Littler is looking like a truly generational talent who is already on the brink of history in what is sure to be a blockbuster all-English final two rounds and could truly change the game for decades to come.
No pressure — not that he’d feel it anyway.
It’s absolute fairytale stuff and we can’t wait to see how this chapter pans out. If you’re not into darts yet, we’d bet a fair few of you are about to be.
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"𝙄'𝙢 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙬."
Luke Littler reflects on reaching the Semi-Finals to continue his historic debut run and responds to Premier League speculation ☢️🗣️
Featured Images — Luke Littler (via Instagram)/Sky Sports
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Location for new Manchester United stadium announced after club secures land for the build
Danny Jones
The location for Manchester United’s brand-new stadium has been officially revealed just over a fortnight on from the football club securing the land after more than a year of disputes.
Man United’s ‘New Trafford’ is set to be a state-of-the-art sporting ground with a roughly 100,000-seater capacity, not only becoming the largest in the UK but rivalling all other industry-leading arenas around the world.
While there’s been plenty of speculation about funding for the redevelopment, the proposed designs, and the aforementioned plot for the massive project, serious forward momentum can finally begin now that the latter has been resolved.
That being said, the INEOS ownership group, board of executives and partnered Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) have now confirmed where exactly the site for Old Trafford 2.0 will be situated, not to mention some new CGIs.
Put in the simplest terms, the work will be centred around the Wharfside area, with the native council and Freightliner both having, at long last, greenlit the plans in principle.
The Old Trafford Regeneration Mayoral Development Corporation (OTRMDC) and dedicated Taskforce – on which Mayor and seemingly soon-to-be Prime Minister Andy Burnham has served since its inception – are set to create a fresh ‘Stadium District’ across the 150 hectares of space in Stretford.
Revolving not only around the current Metrolink tram stop and other accessible Bee Network routes, but sitting approximately just 350 metres North of the existing ‘Theatre of Dreams’, the blueprints go far beyond just creating newer and bigger stands that are easily reachable.
As per an official MUFC statement, “the vision is for a diverse neighbourhood creating 48,000 local jobs and 15,000 new homes, with the new stadium as the catalyst. Together, the mixed-use developments across 150 hectares have the potential to offer a £7.3bn-per-annum boost to the UK economy.”
Promising to maintain key aspects of nearby heritage, traditions and matchday rituals, be a walk from Pomona to a favourite food truck, or supporters making their way down the Quays and the River Irwell, they’ve even put together a video of what they hope this next chapter for Trafford will look like.
Safe to say, the GMCA, United and everyone involved have pretty ambitious ideas when it comes to a fresh era for the borough and the surrounding section of Stretford and bordering Salford.
Local Council Leader Tom Ross, Leader of Trafford Council, said of this most recent update: “We are delighted to introduce the masterplan which starts a long journey to piece together what could happen where, to bring this world-class cultural and sporting destination to life.
“We want to create a great place to be, not just on matchdays but every day – and we’re looking for as many residents and businesses as possible to help us to shape this vision, through our forthcoming consultation process.
“Wharfside will become a network of attractive neighbourhoods in which to live, work, wander, explore, relax with family, enjoy nature and wildlife, meet friends, eat out, have a drink, shop and be entertained.”
He goes on to add that besides the obvious additions to the matchday experience, this will effectively become the city region’s latest neighbourhood, delivering new parks and waterside spaces, housing including affordable options, and even new health and educational facilities.
Twinned with the obvious transport links and proximity to other key parts of Greater Manchester, this could be one of the biggest overhauls the North West has seen in decades; you can see more down below. What do you make of it all?
Our proposed new home will sit at the heart of a new stadium district ❤️🏟️
Featured Images — Publicity pictures via Manchester United Football Club
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Prime Minister set to announce extra bank holiday if England win the 2026 World Cup
Danny Jones
Prime Minister Keir Starmer is reportedly set to announce an extra bank holiday if England win the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
What a way to sign off from the highest office in Great Britain, eh?
According to Sky News journalist Beth Rigby, the outgoing PM is expected to reveal an extended period of celebration across the country if/should/WHEN (you’ve got to believe) the Three Lions reach this year’s World Cup final and lift the biggest prize in global sport.
Starmer may be gearing up to leave No. 10 Downing Street soon, but he can certainly earn himself a few more points in the pros column should this familiar rumour come to fruition.
The PM is planning to announce a bank holiday if England win the World Cup. Final is the day before handover of power day on July 20. PM expected to confirm bank holiday if England reach the final, with the likely date set to be July 24. Dare to dream!
As Rigby states in her post on X, this decision would fall just before the transition in leadership, with Greater Manchester’s own Mayor Andy Burnham all but confirmed at the head of the table already within the Labour Party cabinet.
Regarding the still only potential bank holiday – Thomas Tuchel’s side still need to make it through the quarter-final and the semis, remember – the Sky reporter states that the following Friday, 24 July, is the most likely date.
Understandably, plenty on social media are already rejoicing over the prospect, but some aren’t content with waiting a week to carry on the post-trophy lift party, with many arguing that it should be the Monday morning immediately after the final next Sunday (19/2/2026).
Let’s be honest, there’ll be lots of people pulling sickies regardless of whether or not their bosses are left to grant a day off.
Many have already rightly argued that such decisions should have been made in the past after the Lionesses won not just one but two back-to-back European Championships; we’re willing to forgive and move on if the powers that be make it happen this time.
Starmer recently said that despite always believing England will “go all the way”, he didn’t want to jinx anything, simply telling the BBC’s Chris Mason: “Ask me again if we make the final.”
Either way, the general jubilation should England end 60 ‘years of hurt’ will be nothing short of colossal, and it would only feel right given the sheer gravity of the would-be achievement.
We’re even getting excited merely by the idea of some additional and, at present, strictly hypothetical pre- and post-match entertainment…
Danny Jones -
2nd January 2024 
