15 May 2024 , 17:00
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Nathan Aspinall will ‘treat’ himself to watching Manchester United in the FA Cup final - but only if he wins his shoot-out with Michael Smith on Thursday night.
The Asp and Bully Boy go head-to-head in the final BetMGM Premier League meeting at Sheffield for a place in next week’s play-offs at London’s O2. And the avid United fan has set himself a customised motivation to qualify for the chance to win £275,000 of Premier League loot next Thursday.
Beat Smith, and he will skip the Dutch Darts Championship in Rosmalen on the European Tour and head to Wembley instead. But if he loses, he will miss the Cup final after his win-or-bust duel at the Utilita Arena and prepare for the prestigious North American Darts Championship at New York’s Madison Square Garden in the Netherlands instead.
Aspinall explained: “If I win on Thursday, then I will go to the Cup final. I can’t physically go from the Premier League finals to a Euro Tour to New York. It’s impossible.
"But I’ve decided if I am involved in the finals night, I will probably go to watch Manchester United at Wembley – as long as I get some tickets off people. If I am in London next week, if I qualify, it’s impossible for me to play Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, fly home Monday and then back out to New York on the Monday afternoon.
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“So if I win on Thursday night, the chances are I am pulling out of the EuroTour event and I can go and watch United get absolutely battered off City again! The joy, eh?”
Aspinall has already decided he will not be going to Wembley with stablemate, boy wonder and fellow United fan Luke Littler. He laughed: Absolutely not - it’s bad enough going for a Nando’s with him – let alone going where there are thousands of English people, all Mancs. I would literally spend five hours having pictures with him. He’s a celebrity, isn’t he? If I go to Wembley, I’ll be going with a mate who doesn’t get recognised everywhere.”
Will Nathan Aspinall beat Michael Smith? Have your say in the comments section
Aspinall's beloved Manchester United are in the FA Cup final (Getty Images)Aspinall and Smith’s showdown is serious business after they took a four-day break in Las Vegas to recharge the batteries earlier this month. Smith’s form fell off a cliff after he went to Vegas last year, but Aspinall insisted: “I stand by the decision. I have had an absolute nightmare over the last two weeks with people criticising us for going.
“Listen, you find me a week to go on holiday in my calendar. If so, I will bite your hand off and take that week to go on holiday. We chose to pull out of a EuroTour to go on holiday to have some down-time. The only time we can go away is by pulling out of events. At the end of the day, I am not on a salary from the PDC - I can do what I want in my own time.
“If it all goes t**s up, pardon my French, it’s on my head. I stand by the decision. Me and Mike had a fantastic four days away. And I will probably do it again next year if I am in the Premier League. It has not affected anything.
“Michael’s missus started to chew my ear off on the plane about darts. Michael was like, ‘Listen, stop talking to him about darts, we are away for a few days.’ Everyone knows me and Michael are good pals and it is ironic that it’s down to me or him in the final game.”
Littler, Luke Humphries and Michael van Gerwen have already booked their places in the Premier League play-offs.