James Wade angers darts fans with controversial comment about the current era of players

James Wade has angered darts fans with controversial comments made about the current state of the game.

The 41-year-old has been playing since 1997 and won his first PDC title aged 24 when he won the 2007 World Matchplay.

Wade has 38 PDC titles to his collection, including the Premier League back in 2009.

However, he has been missing from the Premier League lineup for the past three seasons and is currently ranked number fifteen in the PDC rankings.

In a new interview with the Sky Sports' Love the Darts podcast, The Machine opened up about his own form on the oche and admitted he is "not performing" while describing his timing as "awful".

However, Wade went on to claim that despite darts being in a boom period led by the likes of the Luke Littler and Luke Humphries, the standard is not all it is cracked up to be.

"I don't think it's what it's hyped up to be," Wade said.

"What I feel is there's more better players that can win tournaments, there's more than a few of them now, but I don't feel the big numbers are coming and I don't feel that the magical games are that in-depth in tournaments now.

"I just don't feel that the big numbers are there. I watch very, very little darts, so I'm probably the worst person to ask, but I don't see that the standards are as mighty as what some people talk about.

"It's magical, you know, and it's amazing. But I just feel there have been other years and other times where it's probably been a bit better. That's my experience from what I see anyway."

James Wade has caused a stir with his comments about the standard. Image: Getty

Wade hasn't got past the second round of the World Darts Championship for the past three years and his negative comments picked up plenty of reaction from fans on social media - who completely disagreed with his claims.

One on X said: "More madness, it's never been higher, which makes the decision to gift price a premier league place even more laughable. But then again, wade reckons he will win a major within 12 months so not surprised by this."

A second said: "I mean, the average 'average' is way higher than it used it be. You have a pool of around 20-30 players who could definitely win a major at any time. And even then, the top 8 players are way better than the top 8 players of 20 years ago. Not entirely sure what Wades getting at."

A third added: "He doesn’t watch darts so how can he say the standard isn’t as good."

A fourth stated: "James Wade is nothing but a comedy. Saying stuff like this is hilarious because if the standard in Darts is not as good as people think why are you exiting in your opening game at the World's THREE YEARS running? Bang average player who talks way too much."