James Wade opens up on toll of Premier League exclusion: Rejection 'knocks confidence' after strong year
James Wade was one of the high-profile names who was not chosen for the Premier League Darts line-up for 2026; Wade made it to two major finals in 2025 before being beaten by Luke Littler on both occassions; Watch the Premier League live on Sky Sports from February 5
Friday 30 January 2026 14:35, UK
James Wade has opened up on dealing with his Premier League Darts snub and admitted it has taken it's toll.
Wade is the current world No 11, which he dropped down to following the World Darts Championship after he lost to Ricky Evans in the second round in a high-quality contest.
However, Wade had a strong 2025 overall, making it to the final of the UK Open and World Matchplay before being beaten by Luke Littler in both.
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It is those runs in majors, plus his ProTour title, that Wade felt had earned him his return to the Premier League, with only Littler, Luke Humphries, and Gian van Veen doing better than 'The Machine' in terms of prize money in 2025.
However, the wildcard spots went to Josh Rock, Jonny Clayton, Stephen Bunting, and Gerwyn Price.
On the day the Premier League was announced, Wade expressed his frustration at the process and has since opened up that he turned to his wife to try to understand his exclusion and the knock in confidence that has come as a result.
"I had a disappointing back-end to last year, I didn't get the pick for anything, had a disappointing World Championship, but I had a bloody good year," Wade said during his press conference at the Winmau World Masters.
"So it's kind of hard to gather ground and gather a bit of momentum even though I was good last year, so it's a game of restarting.
"Of course (I am disappointed), there's only three players that did better than me.
"So the statistics and stats don't lie... I said to my wife, 'Is it because I'm overweight?' No, because there's someone else that's this size.
"'Is it because I'm old'?, No, because there's someone else that's there, 'Is it because I'm not great looking?', No, because there's some others that are not-so-great looking.
"So it's just obviously the way I am, I'm quite awkward as a character."
Wade admitted the rejection had been tough to deal with given his mental health struggles.
"It's hard to chew when you have the condition that I have (Bipolar disorder) as it's a complete kick in the privates and really knocks your confidence," he added.
"It knocks you for six, as there's no apparent reason why I shouldn't have been in.
"But as a business, I wasn't in their model, which is fair enough.
"But for someone with mental illness, it's quite hard to chew."
Indeed, Wade believes that the selection process should be down to results alone to remove the invitational element and instead focus purely on merit.
"It shouldn't have to be where someone has to pick you," Wade said.
"It should be where you do enough, and I believe I did enough.
"I did more than anyone else, apart from the top three or four."
Sky Sports has contacted the PDC for a response to Wade's comments.
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