Dwight Eversley Yorke

Dwight Eversley Yorke (born 3 November 1971 in Canaan, Tobago) is a Trinidad and Tobago former football player. He played for Aston Villa for most of his career, followed by stints with Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers, Birmingham City, Sydney FC and Sunderland. He is the assistant manager of the Trinidad and Tobago national team until the completion of the qualifying matches for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Along with 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 because of his goal scoring abilities as well as the fact that he is constantly smiling.

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 scoresheet. 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 goalscorers.

Years Team Apps† (Gls)†

1989–1998 Aston Villa 232 (73)

1998–2002 Manchester United 95 (47)

2002–2004 Blackburn Rovers 60 (12)

2004–2005 Birmingham City 13 (2)

2005–2006 Sydney FC 21 (7)

2006–2009 Sunderland 58 (6)

Total 479 (147)

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1989–2009 Trinidad and Tobago 72 (19)