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Dwight Eversley Yorke (born 3
November 1971 in Canaan, Tobago) is a Trinidad and Tobago football
player. He currently plays for Sunderland, having previously played
for Aston Villa for most of his career, followed by stints with
Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers, Birmingham City and Sydney
Along with his compatriot Russell Latapy and Pat Jennings, the
former Northern Ireland goalkeeper, Dwight Yorke holds the record
number of participations in different World Cup competitions,
including qualifying stages - six in total (1990, 1994, 1998, 2002,
2006, 2010).
Dwight Yorke was nicknamed 'The Smiling Assassin'[1][2]
because of his goal scoring abilities as well as the fact that he is
constantly smiling.
Club career
Aston Villa
Dwight Yorke was first discovered by Graham Taylor, at the time
the Aston Villa manager, on a tour of the West Indies in 1989. Yorke
appeared in a team that played a friendly match against Aston Villa,
Taylor was impressed and offered Yorke a trial at Villa. Yorke was
subsequently given a permanent contract and he made his First
Division debut for Aston Villa against Crystal Palace on 24 March
1990: the game ended 0-1.
During his time with Aston Villa, from 1989 to 1998, Yorke played
initially as a right winger until the 1995-96 season, he then
switched to centre forward and quickly established himself as one of
the Premiership's top strikers. Yorke was an integral member of the
Villa team that reached the League Cup Final in 1996. Villa won 3-0
with Yorke getting on the score sheet. On 30 September 1996 he
scored a brilliant hat-trick against Newcastle United in a 4-3
defeat. Newcastle were leading 3-1 at half-time and Aston Villa were
down to ten men, with Mark Draper being sent off late in the first
half. Yorke showed great character in leading his team in a brave
fight back by scoring two more goals in the second half to complete
his hat-trick, although it was to no avail as Aston Villa still lost
the game. Yorke scored a fourth goal to equalise the game at 4-all,
only for his goal to be ruled offside. It was performances like this
that led to interest from Manchester United in August 1998. Yorke
appeared for Aston Villa on 231 occasions, scoring 97 times. He also
has the distinct honour of being the last ever Villa player to score
in front of the old Holte End standing terrace, notching both goals
in a 2-1 victory on the final day of the 1993-94 season, 7 May 1994.
The circumstances of his departure from Aston Villa were very
controversial; Manchester United were accused of making an illegal
approach for the player. John Gregory, Aston Villa manager at that
time, made it known that the club did not want to sell Yorke to
Manchester United unless they were prepared to exchange Andy Cole, a
striker at Manchester United. Yorke then approached Gregory to state
that he wanted to leave the club, to which Gregory was famously
attributed to saying that he would shoot Yorke if he had had a gun
in his office. Yorke played in a match for Villa at Everton early in
the season in August 1998, however it appeared he made no effort
during the match as he was unhappy at not being allowed to leave the
club. Aston Villa was left with no option but to sell the player and
he was transferred to Manchester United for £12.6 million in August
1998. Despite spending 9 years at Villa he is disliked by some of
its fans for his behaviour at the time he left the club and also
because he later joined Birmingham City, the arch-rivals of Aston
Villa, but he is also widely regarded in the hearts of Aston Villa
fans as one of the clubs greatest ever goal scorers.
Manchester United
In his first three seasons, Yorke was a key player in guiding his
club to three successive Premiership titles including a unique
treble of the Premiership title, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League,
and at the same time forming an attacking partnership with Andy Cole
in the 1998-1999 season. Yorke finished the season as the top league
goalscorer. His partnership with Cole in United's treble winning
1999 season is reminiscent of the great Dalglish-Rush partnership in
the eighties and with their demolition of Barcelona in the Champions
League a key highlight. Yorke made, in total, 95 league appearances
for Manchester United, scoring 47 goals.
However, in the 2001-02 season, Yorke lost his place in the
line-up following the arrival of Ruud van Nistelrooy. It was also
rumoured that Yorke had a fall-out with United boss, Sir Alex
Ferguson, following his much publicised relationship with British
model Jordan. The following summer he was sold to Blackburn Rovers
for £2 million.
Altogether he scored 64 goals for Manchester United in 188
appearances.
Blackburn Rovers
Yorke spent two years at Blackburn Rovers, where he rejoined his
old United strike partner, Andy Cole, but never made the same impact
that he made at United, there he fell out with manager Graeme
Souness. It was rumoured that Souness, accusing him of not trying
hard enough, hit Yorke with a tackle that could have broken his leg.
Subsequently he joined Birmingham City in 2004 on a free transfer.
Birmingham City
Yorke started his Birmingham career well enough with a goal on
his debut which went a long way in winning over skeptical fans owing
to his lengthy association in the past with city rivals Aston Villa
F.C.. However, Yorke ended up spending most of the remainder of his
time at the club on the bench and was eventually released by Steve
Bruce and was snapped up by Australian A-League team Sydney FC.
Sydney FC
By signing for Sydney FC, Yorke opted to continue his career in
Australia for less money than might have been available in some
other leagues, notably those in the Middle East (a common
destination for aging stars seeking a lucrative final contract
before retirement). Qatar's football league were most interested,
but Yorke opted for the Australian club instead. He scored the first
goal for Sydney FC in its first A-League regular season match, a
diving header against the Melbourne Victory. Dwight Yorke came to
Sydney FC with the biggest pedigree of all players in the new
A-League, having won the treble with Manchester United. He signed
for two years. Yorke scored 7 goals in the A-League, with three of
them being from penalty kicks. Former Sydney FC coach Pierre
Littbarski moved Yorke into a midfield role and went on to give him
the team captaincy.
He played a major role in leading Sydney FC to victory in the
inaugural A-League Grand Final on 5 March against regional rivals
Central Coast Mariners. He set up the only goal, scored by Steve
Corica, in front of a sell out crowd of over 41,000 at Aussie
Stadium, and was awarded the Joe Marston Medal as best player in the
grand final.
Yorke was the marquee player for Sydney FC - meaning that his
salary fell outside the salary cap. He was also a star name for the
A-League as a whole. Aside from his football talents, the drawing
power and credibility he brought both locally and internationally
proved to be beneficial for the competition in its inaugural season,
leading the FFA to use his image and name for the promotion of the
A-League's second season.
In June 2006, Yorke trained with Manchester United in a bid to
achieve a higher level of fitness prior to the 2006 World Cup,
although he was at that time contracted to Sydney FC. This was
because the Australian season had already ended and pre-season
training had not yet commenced.
Sunderland
On 31 August 2006, Yorke's transfer to Sunderland was announced.
[1] The transfer for a fee of £200,000 (AU$ $500,000) re-united
Yorke with ex-teammates Roy Keane, now manager of Sunderland and
Andy Cole, signed in August 2006. Yorke made his debut in the home
match against Leicester City and received a rapturous standing
ovation from home fans when he came on as a substitute in the first
half. He scored his first goal for Sunderland in the 21 loss
against Stoke and has become accepted by the people of Sunderland,
switching on the city's Christmas lights in 2006. He has recently
been handed the number 19 shirt at Sunderland, the number which he
wore at Manchester United and Sydney. On 2 January 2008, during his
teams 1-0 defeat to Blackburn, Dwight Yorke was given a red card by
referee Rob Styles, who booked Collins, Wallace and Higginbotham in
the same match.
Dwight has been caught on record several times recently, stating
he would like to return to the A-League, preferably Sydney FC.
However following Sydney FC's recent signings, it seems very
unlikely that Sydney would be able to fit him under the salary cap.
For a time it seemed that Dwight would end up playing for rivals
Central Coast Mariners, the team bankrolled by the man who brought
him to Sydney, Peter Turnbull.[3]
On 11 March 2008, it was announced that The Mariners were in
"Advanced Negotiations" with Dwight to become the marquee for two
years.[4] However on 1
July 2008 Yorke signed a new one-year contract to stay with
Sunderland for the 200809 season[5].
He demonstrated that he can still perform at the highest level with
a man of the match performance[6]
against Arsenal on 4 October 2008, a game which Sunderland drew 11
at home.
Following Roy Keane's departure from the post of Sunderland
manager in December 2008, Yorke and Neil Bailey were named as
assistants to caretaker manager Ricky Sbragia.[7]
International career
Yorke has been capped 59 official times for the Trinidad and
Tobago national team, scoring 26 goals, but has played over 100
matches for T&T that were not recognised as international friendlies.
He retired from international football in 2001 with his friend
Russell Latapy after a disagreement with the side's coach; however
he returned to the team for the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign,
in which the team qualified for the World Cup finals for the first
time in their history after a 2-1 aggregate qualifying victory over
Bahrain.
Yorke announced his retirement from international football in
March 2007, choosing to focus on his club career at Sunderland AFC.[8]
He captained the side in Germany, and up until his retirement.
However, he made a guest return appearance for a friendly against
England in June 2008 after being invited by FIFA vice-president Jack
Warner.[9]
On 10 July 2008, the TTFF announced Dwight's return to the
national team for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign[10].
On 15 October 2008, he scored his first international goal after
returning from retirement against the United States in a 2010 World
Cup Qualification match. The game ended 2-1 for Trinidad and Tobago.
His goal was a crucial tie-breaker scored in the 79th minute, which
put Trinidad and Tobago in a great situation to advance to the next
qualifying stage, needing only a tie against Cuba in their final
game.
Life outside football
He was once in a much-publicised relationship with the British
Page Three model Jordan, and has a son with her named Harvey who
suffers from autism. Yorke disputed paternity until Jordan's claims
were proven by a DNA test.[11]
The Dwight Yorke Stadium in Bacolet, Tobago, constructed for the
2001 U-17 World Cup, was named in Yorke's honour.
Dwight Yorke is also a cricket fan. One of Yorke's closest
friends is fellow countryman Brian Lara, who is currently the second
highest run scorer in test match cricket. During the 1999 Cricket
World Cup, Yorke made regular appearances bringing on drinks for the
West Indies cricket team. Yorke's older brother, Clint Yorke, is a
former first class cricketer who has represented Trinidad and Tobago
as an opening batsman. [2]
He was said to have been dating former Miss Wales and Big Brother
UK 2006 contestant Imogen Thomas. She reportedly finished her
relationship with Yorke because "he was no longer famous enough".[3]
Yorke featured extensively in an episode of Australia's The
Biggest Loser TV show, which aired 28 February 2006. The episode
involved Yorke coaching the "red team" of contestants while they
competed against the "blue team" in a game of football. Mark Rudan,
Yorke's Sydney FC team-mate, was the manager of the "blue team".
For his contribution to the national team in the 2006 FIFA World
Cup he was made a Sports Ambassador for Trinidad and Tobago.
Honours
Aston Villa
- Football League Cup: 1994, 1996
Manchester United
- Premier League: 199899, 199900, 200001
- FA Cup: 1999
- UEFA Champions League: 1999
- Intercontinental Cup: 1999
Sydney FC
Sunderland
- Football League Championship: 200607
Individual
- Joe Marston Medal: 2005-06
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