Week nine in Manchester is where the atmosphere in the crowd started to turn against Littler.

After a missed match dart by Van Veen, the pair exchanged a frosty handshake and the Dutchman said Littler "was out of order" at what he perceived to be a celebration at the miss.

Littler also gestured that Van Veen was a "cry baby" and the pair did not speak for multiple weeks.

After Manchester came Brighton, where Littler was dumped out at the quarter-final stage by Stephen Bunting with a measly 84 average.

And then came Rotterdam - where fans were behind one of their own in Van Veen - before events in Liverpool and Leeds where Littler has been routinely booed because of his support of Manchester United.

The teenager called the Rotterdam reception the "worst I have experienced" and that his mindset was now to "just expect the worst".

On Wednesday, at the pre-finals night media event, Littler said the fans were "fickle" for mixing booing and cheering.

Just over 24 hours later, Littler was loudly cheered by…