Colin Lloyd discussed the return of Raymond Van Barneveld to the PDC Tour recently on The Darts Show Podcast.
Lloyd called him a ‘class act’ and that his Q-School progression was never in doubt but admitted it’s up to him now to do it on the ProTour - which he started to do with his first title in 8 years.
“It was never a surprise to see Barney go through Q-School. He's a class act, and he still has that name and fear factor about him,” said Lloyd on The Darts Show podcast.
“But he's starting from the bottom again. And that means, he's got no choice, he has to go to the tour events, he has to go to the European qualifiers.
If he has grandeurs of getting back up to - I'm not saying where he was - but get back competing in big TV events again, he's got to get his ranking up.”
“It's not like a big prize boxer making a comeback, and they get a shot at a world title straight away. He can't. He's got to qualify for tournaments.
Listen, I wish him all the very best. Part of the hard work was getting his card, he's done that.
He's qualified now. He can now start focusing on working his way up the rankings. I wish him all the very best.”