MARDLE FEARS FOR LITTLER AS BOOS GROW LOUDER
16/04/2026 By Aaron Nijjar
WAYNE MARDLE believes Luke Littler is facing “concerns” for the first time in his career.
The Warrington ace has seen fans turn on him in recent weeks, with boos following him around the Premier League circuit.
The world No.1 sparked controversy during his fiery clash with Gian van Veen in Manchester a fortnight ago after it appeared he celebrated him missing a winning double.
But Littler later insisted it had been misunderstood and said: “I did a little fist pump towards Faith and her dad. He is staring at me. I did not do it to him. I did it to Faith and her dad, the whole crowd.”
The Nuke was again jeered in Brighton last week, where he slumped to a 6-4 defeat to Stephen Bunting, posting a record low TV average of just 83.94.
And frustrations had already boiled over at the World Championships in December, Littler lost his cool and told jeering fans: “You guys pay for tickets and you pay for my prize money.”
Former pro Mardle reckons the pressure is starting to show and it is worrying times for Littler.
He said: “You have to say there are things that he does so well and things that I think are not done as well as they could have been.
“There have been a few occasions at the World Championships where he annoyed the crowd with some of his comments.
“What happened against Gian van Veen — look, he got caught doing it. He got caught egging on the crowd and he said it was his family.
“It kind of doesn’t matter, but this is what is happening now and he has to put that to bed.
“He really has. He just has to come up here and play. Hopefully for him he wins and just puts it to bed week in and week out because it will die off.
“It has died off with Gerwyn Price. The thing with Gezzy and Luke is they do set each other off.
“If he reacts to Gezzy then there may be fuel to the flames. I don’t know. At the moment it is kind of running away from Luke Littler.
“He was top and he is now not. He has got concerns for the first time in his career in my opinion.”
Littler currently sits joint top of the Premier League alongside Jonny Clayton.
He defeated Gerwyn Price 6-3 in the quarter-final at Rotterdam after firing in TWO 124 checkouts and averaging 97.30 in the bout.
Image by Taylor Lanning.
