Aston Villa (England),
Manchester United (England), Blackburn Rovers (England),
Birmingham City (England), Sydney FC (Australia)
Honours
1999
Intercontinental Cup winner (Manchester United) 1999 Champions League winner (Manchester United) 1999 Champions League top scorer (Manchester United) 2000 Premiership Champions (Manchester United) 2001 Premiership Champions (Manchester United)
Biography
Dwight Yorke (born November 3, 1971 in Canaan, Tobago) is a
Trinidad and Tobago football player. He currently plays for
Sydney FC in the Australian A-League; he has previously played
for the English clubs Aston Villa, Manchester United, Blackburn
Rovers, and Birmingham City.
Trinidad & Tobago
Yorke has been capped 59 times for the Trinidad and Tobago
national team, scoring 26 goals. He retired from international
football in 2001 with his friend Russell Latapy after a fiasco
with the 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. He is the current
captain of the national team.
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.
He was signed by Taylor for approximately £120,000. Yorke made
his Premiership debut for Aston Villa against Manchester United
on December 29, 1990 in which the game ended one-all. During his
time with Aston Villa, from 1989 to 1998, Yorke was plagued with
injuries that would halt Yorke from further progressing his
career at the time. He was a right winger until the 1995-96
season, when he 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 3-1 with Yorke getting on
the scoresheet. On September 30, 1996 he scored a brilliant hat-trick
against Newcastle United in a 4-3 loss. 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 equalize the game at 4-all, only
for his goal to be ruled offside. It was brilliant performances
like this that earned Yorke a £12.6 million transfer to
Manchester United in August 1998. Yorke appeared for Aston Villa
on 231 occasions scoring 97 times. He is the 12th top goalscorer
in the history of the club.
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 a deadly
attacking partnership with Andy Cole. Yorke was joint top scorer
of the Premiership in the 1998-99 season. Yorke made 95 league
appearances for Manchester United, scoring 47 goals. In 2001-02,
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 supermodel Jordan. The
following summer he was sold to Blackburn Rovers for £2 million.
Yorke is currently training with Manchester United in a bid to
stay fit for the upcoming World Cup. Although still contracted
to Sydney.
Blackburn Rovers
Yorke spent two years at Blackburn Rovers, where he never made
the same impact that he made at United, and subsequently joined
Birmingham City in 2004 on a free transfer. There he fell out
with manager Graeme Souness, and it spilled onto the training
pitch, where Souness, accusing him of not trying hard enough,
hit him with a tackle that could have broken his leg. After that
he was on his way out. Word is that despite the tackle, there is
still a healthy respect between the two.
Birmingham City
He saw little action during the first part of the 2004-05 season,
and made no appearances after January 2005. Yorke was eventually
released from his contract, and he signed with Sydney FC on 17
April.
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). Qatars football league were most interested,
and can easily offer multimillion dollar salaries. He scored the
first goal for Sydney in its first A-League regular season
match, a spectacular 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 has signed for Sydney for two years and
has so far impressed with his vision and enormous experience. To
date, Yorke has scored 7 goals in the A-League, with three of
them being from penalty kicks. Recently, Sydney FC coach Pierre
Littbarski has moved Yorke into a midfield role. The move from
striker to playmaker has paid off, with Yorke's vision, and
midfield experience playing for Trinidad and Tobago, coming into
practice. Yorke's tantalising form, and crowd appeal has not
gone unnoticed and he has been rewarded with the captain's arm-band.
Dwight now resides in Elizabeth Bay, in Sydney in a multi
million dollar penthouse that overlooks Sydney Harbour.
He played a major role in leading Sydney FC to victory in the
inaugural A-League Grand Final on March 5 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.
Yorke is a "marquee" player for Sydney FC - meaning that his
salary falls outside the salary cap. He is also a star name for
the A-League as a whole. Aside from his footballing talents, the
drawing power and credibility he brings both locally and
internationally has proven to be extremely beneficial for the
competition in its inaugural season.
