Tormented Raymond van Barneveld’s plan for a long goodbye may have been trashed by the wrong goodbye.

Barney’s shock first round exit at the William Hill PDC World Championship on Monday left the five-times world champion in danger of dropping out of the top 32 in the rankings.

If he falls the wrong side of the dotted line, the 51-year-old would have to qualify – against his better instincts - for his planned passing-out parade back at Alexandra Palace next December.

And for the broken man who shuffled out of Ally Pally after a 3-2 defeat by Lithuanian outsider Darius Labanauskas, ranked a lowly No.108 in the world, on Monday night it could be the end of the world.

Haunted by assorted traumas in his private life, and without a major tournament win in more than four years, Barney has reached breaking point.

The Dutchman's five world titles looked a long way off as he lost to an opponent ranked 108th (
Image:
PA Wire)

The humble former postman from the Hague wanted to turn 2019 into a farewell tour, taking the final curtain on the world championship stage.

He could still get a Premier League wild card in the New Year, because the Thursday night circus is an invitational event heavily subsidised by Dutch TV. But the dream farewell at Ally Pally is now under serious threat after the bag of nails he scattered across the board against Labanauskas – because without enough ranking points, Barney would have to qualify for the World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, Grand Slam... and World Championship.

Speaking earlier this month, he told Mirror Sport: “The motivation left a bit when Phil Taylor retired – he was always the one to beat as well as being one of my heroes.

“Now I’m looking at having to qualify for the major ranking events, and I’m thinking to myself, ‘Ray, as a five-times world champion, do you really want to go through all that again? Go back to scratch?’

Van Barneveld admits it will be hard to motivate himself to qualify for tournaments (
Image:
Getty)

“To be honest, I’ve had enough of all the defeats, the late nights, the early wake-up calls, living out of a suitcase for most of the year.

“Dealing with defeat is the hardest part. Sometimes you go on stage feeling good, and two minutes later you’re gone.You can lose four matches in a week – in the Premier League on a Thursday night, on the Pro Tour floor tournaments in places like Wigan or Barnsley over the weekend, and then again the following Thursday.

“It eats away at your soul. You are losing the drive, losing the focus, and then the moment arrives when you don’t love the sport any more and you only see it as a job. You have to be realistic, and maybe my time is done. There are no targets left, except one more world championship.

“We all know we can’t beat Phil’s record of 16 world titles, so you can only aim to be the best of the rest. I know I can still win championships, but I also know I can’t do it for the whole year because my body and mind won’t allow it.”

Old rival Taylor got to retire in style by making last season's PDC world darts final (
Image:
Getty)

Barney is also wracked with guilt over a catalogue of harrowing episodes in his personal life, notably an armed break-in at his home last June which left his wife Silvia in deep shock.

He played Labanauskas just hours before three men were due in court in relation to the incident back in Holland, and 29 missed attempts at doubles out of 38 suggested his mind was elsewhere.

Van Barneveld said: “I was away at an exhibition in Scotland when three guys broke into my house at 6.15am on a Saturday morning, when my wife was home alone, and she had a loaded gun held at her head.

“I can’t forgive myself that I wasn’t there for her, and leaving her by herself every week while I’m away playing darts is not the answer. She is afraid to live in the house any more, so she is looking for an apartment and it has caused us a lot of heartache. Hopefully I can give her more attention next year, but life isn’t easy.

Van Barnveld won the BDO world title four times and, above, the 2007 PDC version (
Image:
Getty)

“I have cut off ties with my son, my mother has cancer in the mouth and in the last year four close friends of mine have passed away – but you can never pay your respects or say goodbye to them because you are always 36,000ft in the air.

“On the way home from the World Series in Australia, I received a text message from a very close friend who was terminally ill, saying ‘Ray, tonight I’m going to sleep forever. I hope you enjoy the rest of your life, I wish you all the luck.’

“He had decided to end his life with an injection from a doctor [euthanasia remains illegal in the UK]. I could not even reply. By the time I received the message, it was too late. At times like that, you don’t want to play darts any more. Moments like that never leave your system.

“We lost Eric Bristow earlier this year, Tommy Cox (the PDC tournament director) as well. It makes you wonder, How much time have I got left?’

“I’ve made good money from 35 years in darts, but I’ve not had time to spend it.”