‘I'm awkward… I don't fit the mould' – James Wade slams darts chiefs and says he's ‘crushed' by Premier League snub
'The Machine' recently moved up three places in the Professional Darts Corporation's Order of Merit to No.5, meaning he is one spot away from being automatically included in next year's Premier League with the rest of the top four.
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The 2009 Premier League winner hasn't competed in the tournament since the 2022 edition, which saw him finish third.
Fellow Englishman Stephen Bunting is currently fourth in the PDC rankings, and after a strong first round showing at the World Matchplay by beating Joe Cullen 10-3 while averaging 104.44, Wade's form suggests he could push to overtake him.
However, 'exhausted' Wade has joked the PDC would 'change the qualification gaps' to stop him playing in the Premier League.
He said: "I think I've paid enough dues, and I think I've done enough things, and I think I've given enough of my life to the PDC that I'd like to get those rewards.
"But I don't think that'd ever happen to me. I think if I was to get back into the top four things would change with the qualification gaps.
"I just think it would change. I'm not what they need and I'm not probably what they want, but I want to be there a hundred percent.'
After the top four automatically qualify, the rest of the players are selected by Sky Sports and the PDC and assessed on marketability and popularity.
And Wade puts him being left out for the last three years on him being 'awkward.'
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Asked for his theory on his exclusion, he said: 'Because I'm awkward. I'm an awkward character. I probably don't say the right things at the right times.
"If I was great at saying the right things at the right time, I probably would've been in all the World Series the last 12 months. But I don't quite fit into that mould.
"There's other players that do manage to get those things and unfortunately, I don't. I'd love to travel the world. I've been doing it for 25 years.
"Do you not think I want to travel the world? Do you not think I want to represent the PDC? Do you not think I want my children and my wife to see me do great things?
'If anything, it crushes me. It crushes me. Why wouldn't it crush me? I'm perhaps not getting what I maybe could have got. So, it's exhausting not to be in that.
"But I'll keep trying as hard as I can. I want to be in it all. I want to be part of it all. Of course, I do because when you're not in it, you feel like a lemon.'
Wade next faces Wessel Nijman in round two in Blackpool.
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