You may have a point, but there’s a right way to make it

I’m sure Mike De Decker is having a good laugh to himself somewhere. One isn’t condoning his doing so and doesn’t for a moment think he should be, but you wouldn’t wonder if he was. Whether he should have been in the line up for the Premier League or not is a moot point at this stage, but, lo and behold, after two rounds, the two surprise packet inclusions – Chris Dobey and Stephen Bunting are currently trailing the field after two rounds of the four month marathon.

But here’s the thing, you may have a point, but there’s a right way to make it. On that score, De Decker certainly didn’t do his own image any good, however, there’s no guarantee that he would have faired any better than the aforementioned duo. Which vindicates the view expressed by Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) head honcho that the Belgian simply hadn’t been consistent enough.

That said, people racing to jump all over the place to highlight Michael Van Gerwen thrashing Bunting 6-1 in Glasgow on Thursday night can pull the handbrake on that thought for a while. MVG is still more than capable of doing that to anybody with three darts in his hand. A bit like Mark Twain, rumours of his demise have been greatly exaggerated. The mesmeric levels of brilliance continually concocted by the dual Luke axis does not remotely mean there has been a diminishment in the quality of fare being produced by the Dutch darting dynamo.

Nor, mind you, does the fact they both have been defeated in their two outings to date mean either Dobey or Bunting are unfit to be in the field. If that were the case, the likes of Gerwyn Price and Peter Wright would’ve been precluded from partaking long ago.

Price’s form has been up and down like a toilet seat of late and – while he did improve somewhat during the big one at Ally Pally, I do feel there are others who the former rugby man jumped in the queue to get the 16 week ticket.

Yes, De Decker would have to come into those calculations, but so too would Gary Anderson and Dimitri van den Bergh and Danny Noppert and Jonny Clayton and Ross Smith.

So, as the roadshow rolls into Dublin next week, I will again be asked do I want to head for the 3 Arena. But, as much as meeting Wayne Mardle is very high on the to-do list, my response to the annual query will be the same as it ever was – I’d see much more at home!