FOR years the same question has reappeared every January – will Scott Mitchell leave the BDO and make the switch to the PDC?

The culmination of the World Championship at Lakeside was always the chance for players to switch allegiances for the following 12 months.

But just like the BDO left their iconic Lakeside venue behind this year and moved on to Indigo at the O2 in London, now is finally the time for Mitchell to try his hand at sealing a spot with the lucrative rival darting organisation.

World champion in 2015, Bransgore star Mitchell had always remained fiercely loyal to the BDO. But after becoming increasingly disillusioned over recent months, the 49-year-old, who reached the semi-finals at the Indigo last week, will tomorrow begin his quest to secure a spot among the glitz and glamour of the PDC.

Mitchell, along with 520 other aspiring players, will battle it out at Q School in Wigan, where across the next four days, 20 will earn their right to win a Tour Card to compete on the richest circuit in the sport. The last PDC event saw Peter Wright receive £500,000 for winning the World Championship on New Year’s Day.

“The BDO situation has become very difficult,” Mitchell told the Daily Echo.

“We had to take a bit of a drop in prize money at the World Masters (and World Championship). Also the top 16 players who had qualified all year to be in the top 16, who usually went straight onto the TV stages of the World Masters, were told two months before that they would have to go onto the floor. So basically we’d been qualifying all year for nothing.

“So that changed and I wasn’t happy about that.”

He continued: “I think everything happens for a reason. My dad passed away back in October and he always wanted me to stay on the BDO side and didn’t want me to make an attempt to go the other way.

“Not that I’m going against his wishes, I’ve got to do things my way and I’ve always wanted to have a go and experience Q School and make an attempt to get a Tour Card, to be in that 128 with those superstars, with (Michael) van Gerwen, Peter Wright, Gerwyn Price.

“I have a lot of friends that have gone over there in the last 10 years since they’ve been doing it. They’ve always said ‘come on over Scotty, it will be great, you’ll love it. It will suit you if you get a card, it’s a lot different’. 

“It’s my first chance. The BDO is not kind of going the way I want it to and I haven’t been overly happy there for the last four or five months and so it’s time to try the alternative. 

“If I get a Tour Card then great, if I don’t then great, I’ll come back and continue doing what I’m doing and try and help the BDO as much as I can to resolve what problems they’re in, as a player. 

“But it’s time to go to Q School, it’s time to try and be with the elite before I’m too old and it’s too late really. To go and get a Tour Card and be in that 128 would be as big as winning the World Championship.”

Mitchell, who is travelling to the event with Dorset team-mates Mark Grimes and Lee Turle, is one of a host of big names competing at this year’s Q School, which has attracted its largest ever number of entrants.

Fellow world champions Scott Waites, John Part, Wayne Warren and Mikuru Suzuki are also among the strong field, as well as new sensation Fallon Sherrock.

“It’s going to be very difficult to get a card because of the likes of people that are there,” admitted Mitchell.

“Most of the BDO guys who we’ve been playing all last week are going and a few that didn’t make it last week will be going. There’s even some of the PDC’s names of the past, like Andy Hamilton will be there.

“It’s going to be absolutely massive and a brilliant experience to do. 

“I couldn’t have finished my darting life at any point in time without having done it and experienced it, because it is a darting competition and I really want to go and experience it.”

The four-day competition sees two players win a card on each day, with 12 more of the best-performing players from across the event also qualifying.

Mitchell said: “It’s going to be a very tough day, and you’ve got four days in a row. 

“I don’t have to win a day. If I can be consistent and have a couple of good runs and score a few points in their ranking system, hopefully I’ll go through at the end.”