NICHOLSON HITS BACK AT ITV DARTS CRITICS

PAUL NICHOLSON has hit back at critics of ITV’s revamped darts coverage and insists fans are too quick to look for faults.

Major changes were introduced after Matchroom took over production duties, bringing in new faces, fresh ideas and a different feel to broadcasts.  

Former pro Nicholson reckons an overhaul was always going to come with challenges and believes the scale of the work involved is being overlooked.

He told Sporting Life: “There are always going to be teething problems when there’s wholesale changes made to new productions, especially for an event in Minehead which is a logistical challenge due to the multiple rooms and stages.  

“I saw a lot of negatives on social media but I think for a first domestic event, I think they did a great job. Was it perfect? No. But then again, what production IS perfect?  

“It seems like no matter what the viewers watch these days, if it’s something new, it’s a case of What’s bad about this? What can I post on social media? 

“Forget about the fact that all of that was done free to view for your benefit, but lets just look at the negatives.”  

Presenter Pete Graves has also faced scrutiny, though Nicholson insists it is far too early to judge.  

He added: ”Pete Graves is a great journalist who has done incredible things with Sky Sports News over the years, and he’s been thrust into the limelight for a sport which hasn’t seen many anchors over the years.  

“Emma Paton then came in and that transition is probably the best transition we’ve ever had in our sport, because she is fantastic and we were very lucky to get her.  

“This is the nature of production. There are going to be changes and now that Jacqui Oatley has gone from presenting ITV, it’s now Pete who is in the firing line and is being graded by just one tournament.  

“What we should do is give him the rest of the year to understand the intricacies of darts, because he’s a football guy, everybody knows that.  

“He probably admitted a few times on air that his darts knowledge was lacking – which wasn’t necessary – but over the course of the year I think the fans will warm to him and the chemistry between himself, Wayne, and the team will.”  

Nicholson admits the scoreboard graphics need improvement and understands why viewers feel the coverage has a strong crossover with Sky Sports.  

He continued: “The only thing I take an exception with, which is a lot of us within the production have, is that we don’t believe the previous graphics needed to be replaced.  

“When you have these wholesale infrastructure changes and licensing issues to deal with, you may have to use your own new graphics and they will always get attention due to how prominent and fundamental they are to the coverage.  

“Are they perfect? No. They’re not. And everybody knows it. But like everything else, if they’re not right by the middle of the year, when we go to other World Series events, like New York, then there’s a problem. 

“Now it feels like there’s a lot more of an overlap between the traditional ITV events and traditional Sky events with the introduction of Wayne Mardle and Glen Durrant, while Mark Webster and Dan Dawson remain voices on both productions.  

“So I can understand that they might be getting a lot of the same opinions and outlooks from people who work for both productions, but…  

“Chris Mason’s presence means there’s still a little bit of traditional ITV stock there while there’s new faces and voices such as Gabbie Partington, Mark Wilson and Ian Danter.  

“I was commentating on board two during the UK Open and I obviously wasn’t immune from the criticism on social media either!  

“Everybody was getting slated, so is this a production being on trial, or is this just the people putting something on trial for the sake of putting something on trial?”

Image by Taylor Lanning.