BUNTING FEELS PREMIER LEAGUE PRESSURE AMID ONLINE NOISE
09/02/2026 By Aaron Nijjar
By Phil Lanning
STEPHEN BUNTING is “under pressure” in the Premier League because of social media not titles, according to ex-pro Paul Nicholson.
The former Lakeside winner has been getting trolled online after he spoke about being dubbed ‘The People’s Champion’ during the World Championship.
Bunting, 40, then got abuse on socials about getting a Premier call-up despite being World No.7 and having picked up event victories in 2025.
On the PL line-up, Nicholson told Betway: “I think a lot of people either had Bunting in the last spot in or the first spot out, at the expense of maybe Nathan Aspinall or Danny Noppert.
“But the reason that Stephen is under pressure is not because of how he’s played, it’s because of what is on social media and the narrative around it.
“Why is it always that someone is fortunate to be in the Premier League? We are talking about Stephen Bunting, who had the best year of his PDC career, and it’s controversial that he’s in the lineup!
“That’s how difficult it is to get in it now. When James Wade is saying that it’s unfortunate he’s not in the lineup, look at Stephen.
“He’s won twice on the European Tour, he’s won on the floor, he’s won twice on the World Series and he’s only just got in, and James barely won a thing.
“So it’s a strange old world that we live in. Stephen is under pressure because of the narrative, but it will be really interesting to see how he does.
“If it was a case of Stephen retaining his place in the top four in the world, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
“But because of people having big runs at the worlds like Gian van Veen getting to No.3, we now say that because Aspinall’s not in, Bunting’s got to be fortunate to be in.”
Image by Taylor Lanning.
