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.…