"You have to protect your product, the product is the elite": Wayne Mardle sees PDC changing rules to give top 16 including Luke Littler automatic entry into Minehead despite ProTour snub

Wayne Mardle sees the PDC changing the rules to allow players such as Luke Littler who have decided to skip all the ProTours and most of the European Tours free entry into tournaments to protect the product and the commercial interests of the company.

Mardle said that while he will stir the pot with his view that for the PDC they cannot afford to allow players to not turn up and then have lesser players take their spot while they don't qualify as they cannot be bothered doing the qualification routes. Littler has recently said that he might even play ProTours in order to get into Minehead so he can achieve the unthinkable of holding all titles at once.

He started the point speaking at the US Darts Masters by saying that while he was clever for doing so that MVG was almost the pioneer in giving that heads up that playing no ProTours and having a rest is the way to go.

"Time management is everything. You can't work every day and you can't rest every day. The majors are what's important," said Mardle to Online Darts.

"The ProTours have become less important than they once were. The PDC probably didn't see that coming, but it's happened. They're still hugely important for the lower-ranked players, but not for the elite. You still need to play enough to qualify for things like the Players Championship Finals.

"Michael van Gerwen started this by taking breaks before the World Championship. I think Luke Humphries, Luke Littler and others have looked at that and thought he might be onto something. If anyone is going to figure out the best way to manage a schedule, it's Michael. The only player cleverer than him in that respect was Eric Bristow.

As for holding every title, Luke loves records. He goes on about it all the time. If he managed to hold every major title at once, it would be a record that Michael has never done, Phil has never done. It would be the most ridiculous record ever. He has to go for it."

He pointed out that with Minehead in particular that it is very much that the PDC have done it before with the Grand Slam and even the European Tour so feasibly they will do it again. "Matt Porter and Barry Hearn are two of the cleverest men I've ever met. Of course they'll change the rules. This is going to annoy so many people. You have to protect your product. The product is the elite.

"Do you think the Premier League is for the 71st player in the world. No it's for the elite. The Players Championship Finals and the UK Open is driven by the elite being there and competing.

"Do people want to watch the world numbers 109 and 107 in a final. Who will garner more viewing figures, who will sell more tickets. Them or Luke Humphries against Luke Littler? It's an absolute no-brainer. The PDC will protect their product. They have even changed the Grand Slam rules because too many big names weren't qualifying for that. I would never question the PDC. They do get things wrong, tell me a company that doesn't. You've got to look after your products, the players are the product."

Big names are very likely to miss out on the World Matchplay including Dave Chisnall, Peter Wright among others and he chimed as to why they have slided and the likes of Nijman etc have managed to surge on through. "There are simply more good players now. The players who were very good two, three or four years ago lose a bit of confidence and now they're playing Tour Card holders every round. Back in my day there were players who just turned up to have a go. Not now.

"There are no mugs, no easy first rounds. If you're slightly off your game, like Dave Chisnall, Peter Wright or Michael Smith through injury, it's hard to win a game. Once your confidence takes a knock and you miss one of the big events, it's not just that you've missed out - everyone else in that event is gaining ground on you.

"Then you panic because you've gone from being one of the elite to someone everyone wants to draw. That fills you with no confidence whatsoever. You become the player who's 5-2 up in a race to six thinking, "I can lose from here." Then you do. The slide is incredibly difficult to stop because there are more good players than ever and they're not frightened of you anymore.

"But as Mardle went on to explain, when the slide begins it is quite difficult to stop. "Missing one major is okay, but if you miss both the Matchplay and the World Grand Prix in the same year, that's a huge blow. Then you've got ranking money coming off from two years earlier, while all the new players are earning more. It's a double whammy - probably a triple whammy.

"If you miss them two years running, you're in trouble. It hasn't been stopped by many players, which proves how difficult it is. When you lose confidence you almost start looking for ways to fail. Barry calls it a meritocracy, and he's right. I don't know what the perfect system is. Some people don't think the rankings are fair at times, but when you're on that slide it's very hard to stop.

"Everyone has their day. I was spent at 38. I wasn't the type to hang around getting beaten anymore. Careers are going to get shorter because there are more players, more prize money and more incentives to become a professional."

Often Raymond van Barneveld in particular has said that he can't stop for financial reasons after a divorce which saw him come back in the first place and the fact he couldn't compete in exhibitions due to COVID. But while he has taken a break now, he is not fully giving up.

"There's a fine line. I remember Steve Davis saying, "I know I should retire, but I love the game." If Peter and Barney genuinely feel like that, fair enough.

"But when I see Barney, especially, looking so defeated, I don't like it. I grew up competing against Barney when we were both near our best. I've watched him win the World Championship, the Grand Slam, the Premier League - what a player.

"When I see someone not enjoying it, I wonder why they're doing it. We know the financial side comes into it, but you want to remain mentally and physically healthy.

"I hope Peter Wright has done things right financially so he can walk away. I hope Barney has too. Sometimes you've just got to hang the darts up and say, "It's treated me well, but enough's enough."