Machine gunner

James 'The Machine' Wade chats about his world title dreams, darts fans and his music taste...

Wade on Ally Pally, darts fans and the Black Eyed Peas...

The World Darts Championship is serious... just ask world number three James Wade. The 26-year-old is so desperate to make his mark at Alexandra Palace over the next few weeks that he has made his most stringent preparations ever. The Premier League champion is regarded as one of the most naturally gifted players in the game and rarely practises before big tournaments - but he told skysports.com that he is taking things much more seriously this year. The Machine says that only a victory would be satisfactory in the year's World Championship and, yes, he is confident of beating defending champion Phil Taylor. He also spilled the beans about his Christmas plans, being recognised in the street and the problem of rowdy darts fans. Plus he explained why he's changed his entrance music for this year...

What would you regard as a satisfactory result at this year's World Championship?
James Wade: To win. You don't go there to be runner-up. I don't think that anyone that's ever going to be any good at anything would settle for being runner-up. You never go anywhere if you don't think you can win it. So you've got your eyes on that £200,000 first prize?
JW: The World Championship is probably the only one where I don't think about the financial gain. The World Championship title is hanging over my head and it's really starting to annoy me now. I need to get it in the next couple of years because it's really starting to pee me off. So you want to win, simply because it will annoy you if you don't?
JW: Yeah. I'm not interested in any of the other crap. I just want to win now because it's starting to annoy me. Things that annoy me then become challenging and it's just started to become challenging to me this year. In other years it hasn't really been a challenge for me. Once it's a challenge I get a bee in my bonnet. When I was runner-up in the Premier League I got a bee in my bonnet that I was going to win it. I had to. So it may happen this year, there's no reason why it shouldn't. But it'll happen soon anyway. What have you been doing to ensure things do go right?
JW: I'm actually practising before the World Championship so that should hopefully rectify the problems. I don't practise usually so for me, that's a big thing. I shall practise every day for the two weeks before my first game. I want to win the World Championship and I want to start playing well again because I've not really played well for a year. Phil Taylor is your main obstacle. Can he be beaten?
JW: Yeah, of course he can, but I've got to get to the final first. It's bloody hard to beat him but he is beatable. Would it be easier to play him earlier in the tournament over the shorter distance?
JW: There's no such thing as "easily" knocking Phil out. You can't put those two words in the same sentence. But yes, I can beat him because I have beaten him before. It doesn't bother me playing him like it does other people. There's probably 98% of the darts population think they've lost the game before they've even played him. That's a massive advantage to have over everyone. But the only place I ever want to play him is in a final because even though I've won four titles, I've never actually beaten Phil Taylor in a final. It's still not actually a real tournament win in my opinion until you beat Phil in the final. So you don't count your Premier League win as a proper win, for example?
JW: Probably not, no. It's still escaping me a proper victory in a tournament... What do you know about your first round opponent Steve Brown?
JW: He's a good player with a lot of bottle. It's not the easiest draw in the world, it could be harder though. It's one of those games where I could make it easier for myself or I could make it a lot harder. You don't play until the last night before the Christmas break. Will you be able to enjoy Christmas?
JW: I enjoy Christmas. I'll enjoy the drinking and the eating. I'm not going to let darts affect my Christmas, that's for sure. You've got to have a regular Christmas. Some people put it on hold, I think Phil does, but I won't. Some things are more important than others. That's probably my problem. That's why I don't practise at times because I put everything else as more important! So what's on the Christmas list this year?
JW: A big fat cheque and a smelly trophy! It's the same as every tournament. I want that big fat trophy at the end of it. But like I say all the time, it depends what James Wade turns up; the James Wade that can be bothered or the one that can't. Can you not control that?
JW: No. If I could I'd have won a lot more bloody tournaments! It's so annoying, so, so annoying - but there you go! You have increasingly become a figurehead for the sport. Are you comfortable in that role?
JW: Yeah, I love doing it. I'm not very good at it at the moment but I'll get there. I want to try and overcome my nerves doing things like interviews. I get very nervous on stage and some people think I'm being arrogant but really it's just that I'm shy and nervous. I'm getting more at ease with interviews, but every time I have to do radio or TV or something like that it makes my palms of my hands sweat... like they are at the moment. I suppose some people can do it and some people can't. I've got to learn to be good at it pretty quickly. Do people recognise you in the street yet?
JW: Yeah, they've been doing that for about four years now. They always say; "It's the darts player. And they always do this stupid thing where they say "It's the darts player" and they mime throwing a dart. You can say "darts player" without doing that! Ninety-nine per cent of the banter is good though. It's weird. It's very difficult for me to go out anywhere and not get recognised, which is strange. I'm only a darts player. Do you think the crowds at darts are getting out of hand?
JW: They can do, but they're there to enjoy themselves and if a player can't get on with that then that's our fault and our problem. You seemed to have some problems with the crowd when you lost to Terry Jenkins at the Grand Slam...
JW: I've never experienced anything like that. That was a different level. The game was taken out of my hands. It wasn't up to me who won that game, it was up to the crowd. They wouldn't shut up for five minutes and let me get on with it, not at all. Is it getting worse?
JW: Yes, but what can you do? If you don't let people enjoy themselves then you're not going to draw as many people in. So you're in a no-win situation. What did you think of Barry Hearn's £1million offer to buy the BDO?
JW: I'm not against it, but I don't think there's anyone left in the BDO that's any threat or could get inside the top six in the PDC apart from Martin Adams who is definitely a world-class player and always has been. But he'll give up before he comes over here. The others wouldn't get close in my opinion, but I think they should come over and see how good they are. Is there any merit in still having two organisations?
JW: You need the BDO as a breeding ground. You can't bring players straight into the PDC because they'll just have the stuffing knocked out of them. You'll get the odd person that will come through and play to the top level, but not many. You need somewhere they can learn to play the game and put up with the pressure and the nerves, then progress to the PDC. Is it true you've changed your intro music to 'I Gotta Feeling' by Black Eyed Peas?
JW: That wasn't my choice. Jason (Thame, manager) or Helen (Chamberlain, girlfriend) changed it, but it wasn't my choice. They said 'what do you think of this?' and I said I thought it was okay. Maybe I was drunk. Why did you get rid of Two Tribes?
JW: It's a terrible song, I hate it. Jason chose that one, it was nothing to do with me! He thought it was a good idea. Then again I have a terrible taste in music. I even like ELO!