"People say, ‘Oh, he doesn’t care.’ I don’t give two flying monkeys!": Gary Anderson bluntly retorts about care-free attitude to darts, says Luke Littler saved the sport

Gary Anderson feared he was heading for an early exit when Jonny Clayton surged into a 4-1 lead at the World Matchplay. After winning ten of the next 13 legs however, the Scot was celebrating an 11-7 victory and his first appearance in the tournament’s quarter-finals since 2020.

Clayton began with checkouts of 105 and 121 as Anderson struggled to reproduce the spectacular form behind his 109.96 average against Ryan Joyce in the opening round. At that stage, the 2018 champion was already contemplating damage limitation.

"My game was shot at 4-1 down,” Anderson told talkSPORT. “I was thinking, ‘I’ll just nick at least three or four legs and make it look good,’ but then I ended up going 6-4 up. I just battled on and plodded on. It wasn’t the greatest of averages, but we got the outcome.”

Five unanswered legs carried Anderson from 4-1 behind to 6-4 ahead. Clayton briefly halted his momentum, but could not rediscover the level that had produced such a commanding start. “When I got a couple of legs in front, there was one leg that I lost and made a complete mess of,” Anderson continued. “I was trying to keep ahead of him. Then it started to come good.”

Anderson ensured there would be no final opportunity for Clayton by completing the victory with a 12-dart leg. “In that last leg, I didn’t want to give him much of a chance because, if I started missing, he wasn’t going to miss,” he explained. “He’s been in the Premier League and he’s been in the top five—top four, even. Jonny is a 50-year-old who has been in the world’s top four. He’s a class act.”

With both players now in their fifties, Anderson and Clayton showed that experience remains capable of challenging the sport’s younger generation. Anderson’s victory earned him a meeting with Dirk van Duijvenbode, who eliminated three-time champion Michael van Gerwen 14-12 later on Tuesday evening.

Blackpool has not always been a particularly productive destination for Anderson in recent years. After reaching the World Matchplay final behind closed doors in Milton Keynes in 2020, his following five campaigns all ended before the quarter-finals. Nevertheless, the tournament remains his favourite on the calendar.

Even his memories of lifting the Phil Taylor Trophy in 2018 are blurred by the journey that immediately followed.

“When somebody asks me what it was like when I won it, I don’t know!” he admitted. “I was out of this building at half past two in the morning. I went back to Ribby Hall, where we were parked. Rachel took Tai, who was a baby at the time, home in the van. I was in a taxi at half past three, heading off to either Australia or New Zealand for the World Series. When I won it, it was just gone because I was straight off.”

His relationship with Blackpool has grown rather more relaxed since then. Anderson even delivered an unsolicited endorsement of his accommodation outside the town.

“It used to be that I’d get beaten in the first game and go home,” he joked. “Now I stay at Ribby Hall. It’s a fantastic place—and I’m not getting a bung for saying that! If you’ve got kids and want a holiday, Ribby Hall is fantastic. I’m going to get 80 per cent off these charges now!”

Anderson has never concealed that he rarely watches darts away from the oche. More than three decades into his career, the 55-year-old remains motivated by playing well rather than rankings, records or external expectations.

“I’ve always enjoyed playing darts,” he said. “I tell people that I don’t watch darts. I don’t have time for darts, but I enjoy playing. Win or lose, I don’t care, as long as I can play all right. I would rather lose and play well than play rubbish and win.”

Asked whether that mentality made him more dangerous to his opponents, Anderson responded in typically blunt fashion. “People say, ‘Oh, he doesn’t care.’ I don’t give two flying monkeys! I’ve done it for 32 years now, coming up for 33. These boys have got a great life in front of them.”

Anderson may believe his best years are behind him, but his performances in Blackpool have offered little support for that assessment. He has dropped only nine legs across his opening two matches and is now three victories away from a second World Matchplay title.

The younger generation may be driving darts forward, but Anderson remains firmly in contention at one of its biggest tournaments. Van Duijvenbode now stands between him and a first World Matchplay semi-final since his run to the final in 2020.