Raymond Smith potentially set for UK move after World Darts Championship qualification: "That's where all the planning is at"

Raymond Smith reached the Last 16 of the PDC World Darts Championship last year and will return to the Ally Pally after winning a last gasp DPA Tour Finals.

"It's still sinking in. This time last week I had no idea I was heading down so I suppose I'm trying to catch up with it all and get everything in place because now I've got time to prepare and put all my ducks in a row," said Smith to the Weekly Dartscast.

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But after reaching the Last 16 last year, a similar run could see 'The Guru' move over to the UK full time to chase his dream.

"I'm hoping to not only get all my preparation done but I've also formalised a lot of my professional skills just in case things go really well in the UK and I can look at a possible move. That's sort of where all the planning is at. If things do go my way, we are looking at going home after the Ally Pally but looking at moving a lot of stuff over."

A dream which he was honest that he wasn't willing to take last year. "I wasn't fussed on the Tour Card, I knew I didn't have the capacity to take it on at the time. I wasn't thinking about a semi-final, I wasn't looking past Merv (King). I just tapped out at the wrong time."

But since returning issues arose with the DPA Satellite Tour which he was fairly vocal about on social media which he explained.

"The work and effort involved in trying to come up with the Satellite Tour to play major tournament out of five different hubs in Australia was a massive undertaking. In Queensland, we'd finished our Round Robin phases before Western Australia had even started and I think I waited around for 2 and a half hours and after that, I was supposed to play and half an hour went by. I said can I claim the forfeit as they weren't answering.

"20 minutes went by, I finally got a game and by that time it'd been several hours. I got through that one and I was supposed to play Robbie King and they said you can either play now and then wait two and a half hours or wait an hour and a half and play and I just said it's 8pm at night. The bar staff had finished for the night, the amenities were closing and we were in the Last 16 stage. We should be able to put a stop to the tournament and come back and finish it in the morning."

"There was more controversy after that and I thought I'll have the Saturday off and try and come back on the Sunday, regrouped and played well. We put in all our feedback to the DPA but at the time COVID had wound up in Australia, we said we should be back on tour and eliminate this problem."

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