Wade reveals why he ditched management and is now flying solo

JAMES WADE revealed he is flying solo after ditching management and relying on his wife to support his career.

The world No5 reached his FOURTEENTH World Matchplay quarter-final after beating Ryan Searle 11-8 in a brilliant Winter Gardens battle.

Wade, 43, averaged 99.85 and produced two ton-plus checkouts to set up a last-eight clash with Gian van Veen.

But the Aldershot slinger is now going it alone following a major change behind the scenes

He said: “Thank you to my wife for everything she does for me because she puts up with me when I am a tit.

“When I do silly things and don’t toe the line, I get stressed out and stress all my family out.

“What people don’t realise with dart players is the stress we put on our families. It’s immense and awful.

“Darts is a horrible game. We make ourselves ill at times.

“When you haven’t won and haven’t played well, when you travel Europe around the world, then you go home and moan about it.

“The hotel was wrong, the car was wrong and the flight was wrong.

“I turned around to my wife and was like, ‘That was nice.’

“I didn’t play great, but I played well. It’s a big relief.

“I haven’t got any management. My wife is the one that shares that journey with me.

“I had management a few months ago and they didn’t really look after me.

“After those who didn’t look after me, it is my wife.

“I think a lot of dart players after the rubbish or the crap, it is their wife that is picking up the pieces when it all goes wrong.”

The Machine is chasing a TWELFTH major title as he looks to end a drought stretching back to his 2021 UK Open triumph.

Wade beat world No3 Van Veen at the same stage in Blackpool last year but does not believe that will count for anything when they meet again on Friday night.

He added: “There is no psychological thing in it.

“He is a great dart player. Without the World Championship run, I don’t think he will be where he is.

“But I am honest and just say it. He is a quality dart player.”

Words: Aaron Nijjar

Image: Taylor Lanning