“I don’t think there’s a player who’s not moaned” - Wayne Mardle couldn't care less about upsetting players with his commentary

A four-time PDC World Darts Championship semi-finalist in his pomp, Wayne Mardle is nowadays better known as one of the leading analysts and commentators for Sky Sports.

Mardle is a popular figure with many darts fans, however, he's not without criticism either. “I don’t think there’s a player who’s not moaned,” he admits in conversation with the Daily Star. “I moaned at Sid Waddell when I used to play. Sid used to say things I’d say, ‘Sid, I wasn’t happy with that’. He’d say 'OK kidda’ and that was it."

“Nowadays, they’re a bit more aggressive in their ways. They take to social media, take to slagging off through the press. I can honestly say now, that I literally couldn’t care less. I used to care."

"I see it like this: ‘If I think you’re going to win and you’re going to lose, you may take exception to that. Well, I can’t help that you’re offended, sorry about that’," continues Hawaii 501. “The world we live in, you can’t say anything anyway. If I say the weather’s quite pleasant outside, someone will say ‘what planet are you from?’ I tend not to care what they say.”

Mardle has one golden rule for himself. “I try to be transparent everywhere in my life,” he explains. “If you go down the road of trying to please people, you’re going to tie yourself up in knots."

“You’re going to lie through your teeth to person A to keep person B happy. Then person A is going to change their mind and then they both dislike you, so just be honest. When I say honest, just say what you feel. A lot of them [players] over the years have had a gripe, but I can honestly say there’s not one of them now that I don’t talk to,” concluded the 50-year-old Englishman.