The Grand Old Duke of Yorke
Posted by Jasper Reed in A-League, Dwight Yorke | 13 February 2006
The organisers of the A League wake up every morning and say a prayer of thanks for the beaming grin that is Dwight Yorke. If they don't, they should. He has bought with him a most precious gift that no one else has come close to; credibility.
This time last year there were many marquee personalities tipped to travel south; Terry Venables as Newcastle manager, Teddy Sheringham to Melbourne, but in the end it was the Trinidadian (or Toboggan?) who became the marketing face of Australian football. Since he arrived in the harbour city, it has been 'Dwight Yorke's Sydney'. He is the biggest star in the league by a country mile (however far that is); his coach, Pierre Littbarski, may have been to 3 World Cups, but to the A League audience a man who has been in close contact with David Beckham, Brian Lara and Jordan is someone to be revered. And he is.
The man himself has gone about his work with trademark politeness, being gracious about the standard of the league, guarded about his future plans and tolerant of an often ignorant media. I had read UK reports that suggested he had come on some valedictory tour of Sydney nightspots... not so. On the pitch, he is a class above everyone else; he knows it, they know it. Although sometimes playing up front he is most often found in midfield these days, sometimes as deep as a libero, and is surprisingly effective. He never really stamps his presence on the game, which is refreshing amid the hurly burly of midfield cloggers, but his vision and experience will embarrass an opponent - or team mate - and you realise you are watching a world-class player. Against Adelaide, Littbarski used him brilliantly to make late runs in an attempt to thwart the Red's rigid offside line in much the way his old mate Keano did - England beware, lest he does this for his country too!
After suggestions last month that he was jaded (in November and December he was in more places than bird flu for club and country) there are now suggestions that he will go to Japan at the end of the season on a short term deal to keep his fitness up before the World Cup. I hope he is rested enough to put on a good show in Germany. Football Australia certainly wants him to finish his 2-year deal in Sydney - despite the hype of Australia's qualification, he is still the only A League player likely to take the field in Germany - but I don't think Dwight will be regretting his decision to come here rather than the dusty plains of Qatar.
Comments
Thanks for the Dwight update.
Sounds like he's grown up at last. Shame it was after he left England - he was a very good player in the premiership, but if he'd had more disciplined off the pitch he could have been fantastic.
