As World Champion you have to say that Michael van Gerwen is the best player in the world at this moment in time.
Of course he's going to be missed from the Premier League because he's a great player, but decisions have to be made and we have to stand by them.
Miss out
I think the only other person that can be disappointed to miss out is Andy Hamilton because he was number 11 in the world, but Sky chose Raymond van Barneveld (world number 10) and Gary Anderson (world number 18) as their wildcard picks.
Hamilton is a larger-than-life guy who entertains the crowd, but Sky felt Anderson was more of a crowd-pleaser than some of the other players in the mix.
Anderson can count himself very lucky after last year's performance when he finished bottom of the table and based on that he doesn't deserve to be in. But there are signs that he's coming back to form and there's no question if he does that then he's a brilliant darts player who will entertain the crowd with his high scoring.
Wes Newton will benefit from last season in the Premier League. He doesn't seem to do it consistently on TV and he needs to stop worrying about what people think and say about him. If he thinks the pundits have said something wrong then he should get up there and prove us wrong.
The Premier League just seems to get better every year and overall the game is in great shape. I'm so pleased to be a part of the PDC and to go to all of the tournaments, in particular the Youth Tour and the Challenge Tour.
This year's Q-School starts on January 16 and
anyone can enter via the PDPA website. We are putting £160,000 prize money into the Challenge Tour and £100,000 into Youth tournaments in 2014, so the rewards are very good!
That shows the commitment we are putting in to find more great players like Michael Smith, who knocked Taylor out of the World Championship. We have more players like that coming through, who just need a bit more experience on the big stage.
Those tours will be great because people can treat it as a job rather than a game of darts down the pub. The game is in great shape.
