
A 20-year-old bricklayer from Huddersfield has become one of the most entertaining stories of the 2025 World Darts Championship. Charlie Manby, nicknamed “Champagne Charlie,” arrived with a record-breaking Development Tour average and promptly knocked out a seed at Alexandra Palace.
Average vs Evans: 90 ·
180s Hit: 11 ·
High Checkout: 57 ·
Missed Darts at Doubles: 41 ·
PDC Development Tour Record Average: 130.70
Quick snapshot
- Manby arrived with a record 130.70 PDC Development Tour average and beat Cameron Menzies 3-2 on his World Darts Championship debut (Sky Sports)
- Exact darts setup (barrel, flights, stems) is not publicly confirmed
- No verified reporting on Chris Dobey hitting a 9-darter
- December 2025: debut win over Menzies, second-round win over Adam Sevada, and third-round win over Ricky Evans (Sky Sports)
- Manby faces Gian van Veen on December 30 with a quarter-final spot on the line (Sky Sports)
The verified record so far breaks down like this:
| Label | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Charlie Manby |
| Nickname | Champagne Charlie Manby (Sky Sports) |
| Age | 20 (ESPN) |
| Region | Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England (ESPN) |
| Occupation | Bricklayer (ESPN) |
| Recent Tournament | World Darts Championship |
| Opening Round | Defeated Cameron Menzies 3-2 (Sky Sports) |
| Second Round | Defeated Adam Sevada 3-0 (Sky Sports) |
| Third Round | Defeated Ricky Evans 4-2 (Sky Sports) |
| Next Opponent | Gian van Veen (Sky Sports) |
Five matches into the tournament, one pattern stands out: Manby’s scoring volume keeps overwhelming opponents even when his finishing remains erratic.
What darts does Charlie Manby use?
The short answer: no one has confirmed it publicly. Neither the Sky Sports match reports nor the ESPN profile mention a specific dart brand, barrel weight, or grip style for Charlie Manby. That leaves fans speculating in forums and social threads.
What dart barrel does Charlie Manby use?
- No official source identifies Manby’s dart barrel model.
- His 130.70 Development Tour average suggests a straight, aggressive throw, but that is inference, not reporting.
What flights and stems does he prefer?
Again, unconfirmed. The available coverage focuses on match statistics rather than equipment details. Several darts retailers publish “player setup” pages for bigger names, but Manby has not yet received that treatment.
Where can I buy Charlie Manby’s darts?
Because no manufacturer has been linked to Manby in the reporting, there is no verified product page. If you are shopping for darts inspired by his style, a tungsten barrel in the 22–24g range is the conventional starting point — but treat that as general advice, not his confirmed setup.
The pattern: Manby’s equipment is a genuine gap in the public record. Until he signs a sponsorship deal or does an interview about his setup, any specific claim about his darts is guesswork. Fans should treat “Charlie Manby’s exact darts” as an open question, not a product listing.
Is Charlie Manby still in the Darts?
Yes. Manby is very much alive in the 2025 World Darts Championship, and his run keeps gaining momentum. After beating Cameron Menzies on debut, he swept past Adam Sevada and then knocked out Ricky Evans in the third round (Sky Sports).
Did Charlie Manby advance past round 2?
He went further than that. Manby beat Adam Sevada 3-0 in the second round (Sky Sports), then defeated Ricky Evans 4-2 in the third round after recovering from 2-1 down (Sky Sports).
What is his next match?
Manby faces Gian van Veen on Tuesday, December 30, 2025, with a quarter-final place at stake (Sky Sports). Van Veen is another young prospect, which makes this a genuine test of whether Manby’s scoring can hold against a player who also averages high on the tour.
Manby has already guaranteed £60,000 by reaching the last 16 (ESPN). Every extra round now means bigger prize money, but also tougher opponents who punish the 41 missed doubles he got away with against Evans.
The implication: Manby is not just a feel-good story anymore. He is one match away from the quarter-finals of the biggest tournament in darts, and his scoring suggests he belongs there. The question is whether his finishing improves before he meets someone who makes him pay for it.
Is Aspinall still in darts?
Yes, Nathan Aspinall is still a professional darts player. What he is not is still in the 2025 World Darts Championship. According to Sky Sports, Aspinall was knocked out during Manby’s third-round victory over Ricky Evans.
Did Nathan Aspinall lose to Charlie Manby?
No. This is a crucial distinction. The Sky Sports headline pairs Manby’s continued run with Aspinall’s elimination, but the two events are not the same match. Manby defeated Evans while Aspinall lost elsewhere in the draw. Some early social posts and aggregator pages blurred the two stories, but the reliable reporting keeps them separate (Sky Sports).
What was the score?
For Manby’s actual match, the score was 4-2 against Ricky Evans. His third-round win produced the 90 average, 11 180s, checkout 57, and 41 missed doubles, according to Sky Sports.
What this means: Manby’s next match will determine whether the scoring spike or the finishing flaw matters more.
Has Chris Dobey ever hit a 9 darter?
There is no evidence in the available reporting that Chris Dobey has hit a nine-dart finish in a televised event. That may come as a surprise given Dobey’s reputation as a powerful scorer, but absence of evidence is not the same as proof it never happened.
Has Chris Dobey achieved a nine-dart finish in a televised event?
Not according to the available sources. The provided material does not include any match report, statistic page, or PDC record listing a Dobey 9-darter. The Wikipedia and PDC pages that normally track such milestones were not part of the supplied data.
What is the significance of a 9-darter?
A nine-dart finish is the perfect leg in darts: 501 points checked out in nine darts, the absolute minimum. It is rare enough that players remember exactly where they were when they hit it. The most famous televised 9-darter in recent years belongs to Michael Smith, who landed one in the 2023 Grand Slam of Darts final. Without a source confirming Dobey, the accurate answer is “no verified 9-darter found in the provided reporting.”
The takeaway: if you are researching Chris Dobey’s career highlights, a 9-darter is not among the confirmed facts in this dataset. His power scoring is real, but a perfect leg is a different achievement — and one the reporting does not support attributing to him.
Who is the richest dart player?
Ask five darts fans and you will get the same first name: Phil Taylor. The 16-time world champion earned millions during his peak, but the reporting does not include verified net worth figures. Without official financial data, any specific number is speculation.
What is the net worth of top dart players?
- Phil Taylor is widely cited as the sport’s biggest career earner, but no confirmed figure appears in the reporting.
- Michael van Gerwen’s career prize money is frequently discussed, but again, no verified total is provided.
- Charlie Manby’s earnings are easier to track: he has guaranteed £60,000 at this championship, per ESPN.
How does Charlie Manby’s earnings compare?
Manby’s £60,000 from this tournament is a life-changing sum for a 20-year-old bricklayer, but it is pocket change compared with the career totals of the sport’s elites. The honest comparison: he has not yet earned enough to appear on any “richest player” list, and the reporting does not provide official net worth data for anyone else.
Why this matters: darts prize money is public, but net worth is private. That is why the richest-player question never gets a clean answer. What is clean is Manby’s position: he is no longer playing for beer money, and the £60,000 guarantee changes his season.
Timeline: Charlie Manby’s breakthrough
The sourced sequence for Manby’s rise looks like this:
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Early 2025 | Sets a record 130.70 average on the PDC Development Tour (Sky Sports) |
| December 22, 2025 | Makes World Darts Championship debut against Cameron Menzies at Alexandra Palace (Sky Sports) |
| December 22, 2025 | Defeats Menzies 3-2 with a 90.62 average and five 180s (Sky Sports) |
| December 2025 | Defeats Adam Sevada 3-0 in the second round (Sky Sports) |
| December 2025 | Defeats Ricky Evans 4-2 and reaches the last 16 (Sky Sports) |
| December 30, 2025 | Faces Gian van Veen for a quarter-final place (Sky Sports) |
What looks like an overnight story is actually a development arc. The 130.70 average came first, then the debut win, then the deeper run. That is the difference between a lucky draw and a player who arrived with a track record.
Why this matters: the timeline shows momentum. Manby did not stumble into the last 16; he built toward it. Each match added a new data point, and the development-tour record signals that the World Championship run is not a fluke.
What’s confirmed vs what’s still unclear
Confirmed facts
The reporting confirms Manby’s debut result against Cameron Menzies, his 3-0 win over Adam Sevada, his 4-2 win over Ricky Evans, his 11 180s, his 41 missed doubles against Evans, and his £60,000 guarantee for reaching the last 16. The sources are Sky Sports and ESPN as cited throughout this piece.
What’s unclear
- Charlie Manby’s exact dart setup (barrel, flights, stems)
- Whether Chris Dobey has ever hit a 9-darter
- Official net worth figures for Phil Taylor, Michael van Gerwen, or other players
- Fallon Sherrock’s relationship status and personal life details
- Exact breakdown of Manby’s £60,000 prize-money guarantee beyond the ESPN report
- Whether Sky Sports’ paired headline placed Manby’s win and Aspinall’s exit in the same session or just the same round
- Manby’s precise second-round finishing stats beyond the 90.88 average and 47% checkout rate
What this means: the confirmed facts are anchored in match reporting, while the open questions tend to be equipment, net-worth, or personal-life items that the sources do not cover.
Quotes from the run
“Champagne Charlie” Manby is making his World Darts Championship debut against Cameron Menzies at Alexandra Palace.
Sky Sports (established darts broadcaster)
Manby is a 20-year-old bricklayer from Huddersfield.
ESPN profile
Sky Sports also reported that Manby called beating Menzies the greatest thing he had done in darts, and that the Yorkshire star would next face Gian van Veen.
The pattern: the strongest reporting separates Manby’s own scorelines from the headline pairing his run with Aspinall’s exit.
Where Manby goes from here
If Manby beats Gian van Veen on December 30, he reaches the quarter-finals of the World Darts Championship. That is not just a personal milestone; it changes his professional trajectory. A quarter-final run at Ally Pally earns more prize money, more sponsorship attention, and a tour card conversation that did not exist before this month.
If he loses, the story is still overwhelmingly positive. A 20-year-old bricklayer who entered with a Development Tour record and leaves with £60,000 and a reputation is a successful season by any measure.
The difference between winning and losing now is the difference between “promising debut” and “genuine contender.” For the darts fans following this run, the decision is simple: find a way to watch December 30, because this is the match where Champagne Charlie either proves he belongs in the sport’s top tier or shows exactly how much work remains.
bbc.com, en.wikipedia.org, skysports.com, skysports.com, skysports.com
Frequently asked questions
What is Charlie Manby’s nickname?
“Champagne Charlie” — a nod to both his name and the celebratory image. Sky Sports used the nickname in its debut coverage.
Who is Charlie Manby’s next opponent?
Gian van Veen, on Tuesday, December 30, 2025, with a quarter-final place at stake.
How old is Charlie Manby?
He is 20 years old, according to ESPN’s coverage of his run.
What is the prize money for the World Darts Championship?
Manby has already guaranteed £60,000 by reaching the last 16, per ESPN. The full payout table is not included in the available reporting.
Where can I watch Charlie Manby’s matches?
Sky Sports is broadcasting the World Darts Championship and provided the match reporting referenced in this article.
For Manby, the December 30 match against van Veen is the moment the story either becomes a breakthrough or a lesson in finishing.
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