Dwight Yorke

Dwight Yorke
Dwight Yorke (2012)
Personnel
Surname	Dwight Eversley Yorke
birthday	3rd November 1971
place of birth	Canaan ,  Trinidad and Tobago
size	175 cm
position	Forward / midfield
Juniors
Years	station
	Signal Hill Comprehensive School
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1989-1998	Aston Villa	232 (73)
1998-2002	Manchester United	95 (47)
2002-2004	Blackburn Rovers	60 (12)
2004-2005	Birmingham City	13 0(2)
2005-2006	Sydney FC	21 0(7)
2006-2009	Sunderland AFC	59 0(6)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1989-2009	Trinidad and Tobago	72 (19)
1 Only league games are given.

Dwight Eversley Yorke (born November 3, 1971 in Canaan ) is a former football player from Trinidad and Tobago . The 72-time national player became known as a fast-paced and tricky striker from Aston Villa , who moved to the top club Manchester United in the late 1990s and there after his league cup success in 1996 with "Villa" - alongside three English championships ( 1999 , 2000 , 2001 ) and an FA Cup trophy (1999) - won the Champions League in 1999 . After further stints in Blackburn (2002-2004), Birmingham (2004-2005) and Sydney (2005-2006), the "left foot" last, somewhat withdrawn in midfield , ended his active career until the summer of 2009 at Sunderland AFC . Due to his habit of smiling constantly during a game, he was called "The Smiling Assassin" because of his scoring danger.

Career

In the club

Aston Villa (1989-1998)

Yorke was discovered in his homeland of Tobago by Graham Taylor , who in the summer of 1989 as coach of Aston Villa let his men compete there against a local selection, from which the nimble and talented 17-year-old stood out. Taylor immediately invited Yorke to a trial training session in Birmingham and, after positive impressions, provided him with a contract.

For the first time in the first team of "Villa" Yorke was at the end of the 1989/90 season on March 24, 1990 as a striker in the game against Crystal Palace , which ended with a 0-1 defeat. Under coach Jozef Vengloš , who was newly signed for the 1990/91 season , he was finally in the starting line-up several times on the right wing position - mostly on behalf of Tony Daley . He scored his first two league goals and later moved to the left when Daley returned to the team. Yorke showed his best performance so far in the 1991/92 season, when he scored twelve goals under coach Ron Atkinson and he was the top scorer of the "Villans" together with center forward Cyrille Regis . Particularly noteworthy was his performance in the league against Nottingham Forest , when he overran the entire opposing defense, danced the last defender so that he landed on the pants, and then lobbed goalkeeper Mark Crossley from the corner of the box.

When the Premier League went into its first season in 1992/93 , he was unable to confirm the previous year's performance consistently. In the following two years he rarely found himself in the first team of Aston Villa and he had nothing to do with the league cup success in 1994, as he had not been considered in the final or in the previous rounds. It was only in the 1994/95 season that he was a fixture again, varied depending on requirements in the outer positions or in the center of the attack and scored six goals in 33 league games. Since he did not want to endanger his increasing status as a regular in the team, which was supervised by the new coach Brian Little from November 1994 , he also canceled his planned participation in an international tournament for Trinidad and Tobago in March 1995.

With 17 goals in 35 Premier League games, Yorke finally catapulted himself into the class of the best strikers in English first division football in the 1995/96 season. He benefited from the fact that he could now act firmly in the center forward position and thus his scoring qualities were better expressed. Among the highlights of this season, which were not uncommon for highlights, were his quick goal after just 13 seconds, the fastest goal in Premier League history up to that point, and appearances in the League Cup when he was in the first semi-final match against Arsenal (2: 2) two goals and later scored the last goal in the final to make it 3-0 against Leeds United . Despite slight teething problems, Yorke was also his club's top scorer in the 1996/97 season. He reached the 20 competitive goal limit for the second time in a row, for which a series of 14 goals in 16 games was mainly responsible. In Yorke's last full 1997/98 season for Aston Villa, he found himself more often in a somewhat withdrawn position as a "hanging top" behind strikers like Stan Collymore and Savo Milošević . As a result, he was a bit behind his previous yields with twelve league goals, but was still the most accurate Villa player. He benefited from his speed, which he now increasingly used in a one-on-one situation, coming from midfield.

Rumors of an imminent move from Dwight Yorke took on more concrete traits and although the then Villa coach John Gregory only offered a transfer in the event that an adequate replacement could be found - Andrew Cole was named - it finally came to a " normal “sale to Manchester United for £ 12.6m . Yorke had previously revealed to his coach that he wanted to leave Aston Villa in any case and after a listless appearance in the first game of the season against FC Everton (0-0), the club management of the Villans was ultimately compelled to agree to a transfer unreservedly. The striker , who had been celebrated for a long time with his own speaking choir ("It's up to you, Dwight Yorke, Dwight Yorke", loosely based on Frank Sinatra's world hit ) left Aston Villa in August 1998 with a somewhat bland aftertaste, especially since he was in a later phase of his career was also hired by arch-rivals Birmingham City .

Manchester United (1998-2002)

Yorke immediately fulfilled the great expectations that former United strikers like Denis Law and George Best propagated - Best even described him as better compared to Eric Cantona , who had recently migrated . In the second game he scored the first of a total of 18 league goals against Charlton Athletic . With this yield he was in the end together with Michael Owen and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink even the best Premier League scorer of the 1998/99 season and with nine goals in six consecutive games, some in impressive form. In the Champions League semi-final against Juventus Turin , he was also one of the goalscorers; he was also in the final eleven, which defeated FC Bayern Munich 2-1. With the additional double success in the English championship and in the FA Cup , the "triple" was the most successful year in Yorke's active career. In the election for England's Footballer of the Year , he only narrowly failed in the journalist and player selection due to the French David Ginola , but he was granted a place in the " Allstar Team " of the Premier League. In the following two years Yorke won two more English championships, in the 1999/2000 season at the side of his strike partner Andrew Cole and / or Teddy Sheringham, the previous year's marks with 20 league goals and 29 competitive goals in total exceeded again.

It was only when Sheringham was in better shape in the 2000/01 season and Norway's Ole Gunnar Solskjær increased the pressure that Yorke found himself on the bench more often, which in turn gave rise to rumors of an impending transfer. The signs increased when Yorke was rarely used in the 2001/02 season, with coach Alex Ferguson in addition to the numerous alternatives available to him in the attacking positions - Ruud van Nistelrooy was added - allegedly also Yorke's relationship with British model Katie Price and the media hype it caused was a thorn in the side. Yorke scored his only goal of the season against Leicester City in November 2001 and after failed talks with Middlesbrough FC in January 2002, he moved to Blackburn Rovers in the summer of the same year for a transfer fee of two million pounds .

Further career stations (2002-2009)

Yorke was "reunited" in Blackburn under coach Graeme Souness with Andrew Cole, who had already started the same path the year before. With 13 competitive goals, he was again the top scorer in his club and with performances, such as the 2-1 victory at Arsenal FC in October 2004, Yorke recalled past successes. His "assists", in which he often passed the ball to teammates in the opponent's penalty area as a pass point, were proven advantages that enabled the Rovers to jump to sixth place in the Premier League and into the UEFA Cup . In clear contrast to the initial success, Yorke's second year in Blackburn was not a good star. He fell out with coach Souness, who told him not to work hard enough. Often only sitting on the bench, he only scored six goals and a transfer free of charge at the end of the 2003/04 season was ultimately not surprising.

The choice fell on the first division rivals Birmingham City , but he did not find his luck there either, although he had already scored on his debut against Charlton Athletic after being substituted on. He only scored one more goal and Walter Pandiani and Clinton Morrison were more in the favor of the sporting management. In April 2005, his contract was terminated prematurely and Yorke signed a little surprisingly for two years a new contract in the newly founded Australian professional league ( A-League ) at Sydney FC - previously, a move to Qatar had been speculated, a financially more lucrative course at this point many aging professionals were doing.

Yorke was one of the biggest "draft horses" of the new league and headed his first goal in the first game of the season against Melbourne Victory . There were ultimately seven hits in the 2005/06 season, with coach Pierre Littbarski having pulled him back into midfield. He led the team in the championship final as captain, prepared the decisive goal for Steve Corica and was finally awarded the Joe Marston Medal as best player in the final . However, the fulfillment of his two-year contract did not come about. In preparation for the 2006 World Cup in Germany , he took part in the training operations of Manchester United and when Roy Keane, a former United team-mate and at that time an active coach at Sunderland AFC , showed interest, Yorke returned to England in August 2006. The transfer fee for Sunderland AFC was £ 250,000.

In a young team that was fighting for promotion to the Premier League in the second-rate Football League Championship , Yorke was a stabilizing element, regardless of whether he was in the front line of attack or playing in midfield. Important was his performance including a goal against fellow competitor West Bromwich Albion in March 2007, which finally cleared the way for the longed-for promotion and the second division championship. In the last two professional years up to the summer of 2009 Yorke was seen less and less. Initially still used sporadically in midfield as a ball distributor, he was in only seven league games in the 2008/09 season - most recently on Easter Sunday 2009 against Manchester United. Much more important were his duties as the co-trainer of Ricky Sbragia , who had inherited Keane in December 2008. Yorke's engagement in Sunderland ended in May 2009.

In the national team

Yorke completed 72 official internationals for the national soccer team of Trinidad and Tobago and scored 19 goals. Like his teammate Russell Latapy , he was involved in no fewer than six qualifying tournaments for World Cup finals between 1989 and 2009 (from the 1990 World Cup in Italy to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa ). Even before “Italia 90” he and his men just failed due to a 0-1 home defeat against the USA .

After two more unsuccessful attempts, he resigned from the national team in 2001 after differences of opinion with the sporting management, but then celebrated his comeback on the occasion of the qualifying games for the 2006 World Cup in Germany . With 2-1 goals after two legs in the play-off against Bahrain , the qualification succeeded and Yorke led the team as captain in the three group games. Although the "Soca Warriors" ended here, the "old star" performed well and after the game against Sweden (0-0) he was awarded the "Man of the Match" award.

In March 2007 he announced his resignation one more time in order to focus on his club career newly initiated in Sunderland and on the possible promotion to the Premier League. However, he decided to make another comeback in July 2008 when qualifying for the 2010 World Cup. Despite some respectable successes, such as the 2-1 win over the USA, the attempt to participate in the second World Cup finals in a row failed. The away game against El Salvador in February 2009 attracted particular attention , which ended with a red card for Yorke after massive insults from the referee and suspended two games. His 72nd and last international match took place again on August 12, 2009 against El Salvador (1-0); he had scored 19 goals in total in more than 20 years.

Yorke is considered the best footballer Trinidad and Tobago has produced. The Dwight Yorke Stadium in Bacolet , which was built for the 2001 U-17 World Cup , bears his name.

Title / Awards

• UEFA Champions League : 1999
• World Cup : 1999
• English championship : 1999 , 2000 , 2001
• Australian Championship: 2006
• FA Cup : 1999
• Premier League Player of the Season : 1999
• English League Cup : 1996
• Caribbean Championship : 1989
• Premier League top scorer : 1999
• UEFA Champions League top scorer : 1998/1999
• Joe Marston Medal : 2006

Season statistics

society	league	season	league		FA Cup		League Cup		European Cup		total
			Games	Gates	Games	Gates	Games	Gates	Games	Gates	Games	Gates
Aston Villa	First Division	1989/90	2	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	0
		1990/91	18th	2	2	0	1	0	-	-	21st	2
		1991/92	32	11	5	5	2	0	-	-	39	16
	Premier League	1992/93	27	6th	4th	1	4th	0	-	-	35	7th
		1993/94	12	2	2	1	-	-	-	-	14th	3
		1994/95	37	6th	2	1	4th	1	-	-	43	8th
		1995/96	35	17th	5	2	8th	6th	-	-	48	25th
		1996/97	37	17th	2	2	2	1	-	-	41	20th
		1997/98	30th	12	2	2	1	0	7th	2	40	16
		1998/99	1	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	0
total			231	73	24	14th	22nd	8th	7th	2	284	97
Manchester United	Premier League	1998/99	32	18th	8th	3	-	-	11	8th	51	29
		1999/00	32	20th	-	-	-	-	15th	3	47	23
		2000/01	22nd	8th	2	0	2	2	11	1	37	11
		2001/02	9	1	1	0	1	0	3	0	13	1
total			95	47	11	3	3	2	40	12	149	64
Blackburn Rovers	Premier League	2002/03	33	8th	3	3	4th	2	3	0	43	13
		2003/04	23	4th	1	0	1	2	2	0	27	6th
		2004/05	4th	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	4th	0
total			60	12	4th	3	5	4th	5	0	74	19th
Birmingham City	Premier League	2004/05	13	2	1	0	2	0	-	-	15th	2
total			13	2	1	0	2	0	-	-	15th	2
Sydney FC	A-League	2005/06	21st	7th	-	-	-	-	-	-	21st	7th
total			21st	7th	-	-	-	-	-	-	21st	7th
Sunderland AFC	Championship	2006/07	32	5	1	0	-	-	-	-	33	5
	Premier League	2007/08	20th	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	20th	1
		2008/09	7th	0	1	0	-	-	-	-	8th	0
total			59	6th	2	0	-	-	-	-	61	6th
Career total			479	147	42	20th	32	14th	52	14th	605	195

Private life

Yorke has two sons. His son Harvey was born in 2002 and the mother is Katie Price . His second son Orlando was born in 2007.

literature

• Rob Bishop, Frank Holt: Aston Villa - The Complete Record . DB Publishing, Derby 2010, ISBN 978-1-85983-805-1 , pp. 297 .

Web links

Commons : Dwight Yorke  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Profile page at the Soca Warriors
• Dwight Yorke in the soccerbase.com database
• Dwight Yorke in the weltfussball.de database

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1995-96 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1995, ISBN 0-09-180854-5 , pp. 241 .
2. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1996-97 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1996, ISBN 1-85291-571-4 , pp. 269 f .
3. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1997-98 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1997, ISBN 1-85291-581-1 , pp. 301 .
4. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1998-99 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1998, ISBN 1-85291-588-9 , pp. 335 .
5. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1999-2000 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1999, ISBN 1-85291-607-9 , pp. 331 .
6. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 2000-2001 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2000, ISBN 1-85291-626-5 , pp. 353 f .
7. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 2001-2002 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2001, ISBN 0-946531-34-X , pp. 336 .
8. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2002/2003 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2002, ISBN 1-85291-648-6 , pp. 449 .
9. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2003/2004 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2003, ISBN 1-85291-651-6 , pp. 465 f .
10. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2004/2005 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2004, ISBN 1-85291-660-5 , pp. 447 f .
11. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2005/2006 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2005, ISBN 1-85291-662-1 , pp. 447 .
12. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2007-08 . Mainstream Publishing, 2007, ISBN 978-1-84596-246-3 , pp. 448 .
13. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2008-09 . Mainstream Publishing, 2008, ISBN 978-1-84596-324-8 , pp. 450 .
14. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2009-10 . Mainstream Publishing, 2009, ISBN 978-1-84596-474-0 , pp. 448 .
15. ^ "Yorke heads Sunderland clear-out" (BBC Sport)
16. ^ "Dwight Yorke - Goals in International Matches" (RSSSF)