"Do your research! How unprofessional did they make themselves look?" - Gary Neville called out by Colin Lloyd after Luke Littler's appearance on Stick to Football

A recent episode of the Stick to Football podcast has sparked a fiery debate in the British press, with former footballer Gary Neville at the centre of controversy over his treatment of darts player Luke Littler. The issue? A seemingly innocent question that many, including former world number one Colin Lloyd, considered downright disrespectful.

During the podcast, Neville took the opportunity to quiz Littler on his math skills, asking, “If I give you three random numbers, could you give me finishes straight away?” A question that, in Lloyd’s eyes, crossed a line. The 2005 World Matchplay champion was quick to call out Neville’s lack of tact, claiming that the question not only belittled Littler but also missed the mark in understanding the true nature of darts as a professional sport.

“I actually thought that was a disrespectful question," fumed Lloyd in conversation with TalkSport following the release of the podcast. “Quite simply because, of course we’d bloody know, we are professional darts players. Our game is numbers."

“It would have been like [asking] Gary Neville: ‘If I kicked a ball towards the goal, do you think you could slide-tackle in and clear it off the line?’.," Lloyd continued. “Yeah, of course he could, he’s a defender. Why did you ask him about numbers then?"

According to Lloyd, this line of questioning not only disrespected Littler and the sport of darts, but also makes Neville and his fellow hosts (Jamie Carragher, Jill Scott, Roy Keane and Ian Wright ed.), look bad for their embarrassing lack of research. “Was it Ian Wright who turned around and said: ‘He could call any number out against us, we wouldn’t know’. Do your research!" Lloyd comments with fury. “Don’t sit there and say he could be saying anything and you wouldn’t know. How unprofessional did they make themselves look? How much are they disrespecting the sport of darts through not doing their homework?”