Charlie Manby says there are “no friends on the oche” as the fallout to Luke Littler’s spat with Gian van Veen continues.

Littler and Van Veen clashed during their Premier League quarter-final in Manchester a fortnight ago, with the world champion appearing to celebrate his opponent missing a match dart before gesturing to him.

It ended in a frosty handshake and further exchanges on social media, but both men have since said they are ready to move on.

Manby knows all about friction on the oche after he clashed with James Hurrell during the recent UK Open and says it is part of the game.

“I suppose it could be good for the sport,” he told the Press Association.

“Those sorts of things can happen in the heat of the moment. You’re playing for a lot, a lot is on the line and at stake.

“On the oche, you’ve got no friends anyway. Backstage, you can be how you like with everyone and be all right, but when you are up there you shouldn’t really care who you are playing, how close you are off stage.

“These players are all trying to take money out of your pocket. A lot is riding on it, you can’t be friends on the oche.”

Manby, 20, made friends off the oche during his breakthrough run to the last 16 of the World Championship last December.

He is now viewed as one of the young players who can take the sport on and has been rewarded accordingly, joining Littler in the stable at Target Darts.

The Huddersfield thrower had to balance his darts career with a job as a bricklayer, but that has changed after winning his PDC Tour card and he wants to make sure he is not swapping the tungsten for the trowel any time soon.

“I stopped doing the bricklaying when I got my tour card in January,” he added. “It’s good to be on tour, I miss parts of it I suppose, I pay them a visit every now and again and see what they are up to but I never really get the trowel out.

“The motivation is not to have to go back. For now I just want to keep my tour card, get in the top 64 after two years.

“It is one thing to get it but you have to perform once you get it.”

Manby hit the headlines during the Alexandra Palace tournament when he called out his girlfriend’s employer for not allowing her time off to watch him.

However, there will not be the same issue in this year’s tournament as Manby reported good news.

“She still works there,” he said. “She got a couple more holiday days this year as well so happy days.”

:: Charlie Manby will release his upcoming Target Darts product in September