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Topics: Darts, Luke Littler, Snooker
Jack Kenmare
Ronnie O'Sullivan has urged 16-year-old darts sensation Luke Littler to find a Sir Alex Ferguson-type mentor following his success at the PDC World Darts Championship.
After being a massive 66/1 outsider to become the world champion, Littler beat Christian Kist, Andrew Gilding, Matt Campbell, Raymond van Barneveld, Brendan Dolan and Rob Cross on his way to the final.
He would eventually suffer a very respectable 7-4 defeat to world number one Luke Humphries but the Runcorn-born teenager walked away with £200,000, a million followers on Instagram and a ton of experience.
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Littler's rapid rise has naturally been compared to other sporting icons who emerged at a young age, including Ronnie O'Sullivan, who has offered the youngster some sound advice.
"I think if I had my time again, I’d probably take the Hendry route and just be always around an Alex Ferguson type figure," O’Sullivan told SportBoom.
The 48-year-old added: "I’d definitely choose to do things differently. So, just keep your feet on the ground if you can and just keep good people around."
O'Sullivan, a seven-time world champion, recently opened up on his father's prison sentence and how it almost derailed his snooker career at a young age.
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"I didn't want to blame everything on that situation with my dad," he said in his Amazon Prime documentary, Ronnie O'Sullivan: The Edge of Everything.
"But I just think I would rather not have the snooker, just have a normal family. Not had to have gone through that. Forget the snooker. Just normal."
James Wade, who became the youngest player to win a major PDC title in 2007 when he won the World Matchplay at the age of 24, has also offered some similar advice to Littler.
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The 40-year-old believes the World Championship finalist "deserves" to be nurtured after making such an incredible start to his career.
"People need to accept that Luke is 16 years old and things may not always go according to plan," Wade told the Daily Star.
"We have seen this before when people like Josh Rock emerged only to get caught up in the fanfare and then take a few years to adjust.
"I can understand the PDC’s desire to put Luke into the Premier League but that roadshow is a lonely and tiring place and I really hope that it doesn’t come at the cost of burn-out for the rest of his career.
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"He deserves to be nurtured because it is a great story, and he could turn out to be a top, top player for a long time."