He is known for scoring goals aplenty and doing so with a smile on his face. As part of the treble winning team for Manchester United, an event which kickstarted their domination in the Premier League, the 44-year-old legend Dwight Yorke has his name etched in the history books.
In the city for a promotional event, the ‘Smiling Assassin’ spoke at length on the United’s glorious past and the current predicament. Excerpts: On winning the treble: I think it’s a wonderful achievement to be part of such a historical moment in Manchester United’s history. It’s a great honour to play at such a prestigious club and it gave me the opportunity to experience so many things. Of course we had a great manager and great players so to have won the treble and be part of that was just amazing. On his partnership with Andy Cole: Me and Cole had an unbelievable relationship. It was special at that time because we had become friends on and off the pitch which makes the understanding on the pitch that much better. At the same time, we made a lot of headlines by it and the treble, we have acknowledge that we had a wonderful team behind us.
On the struggle to find a replacement for Sir Alex Ferguson: Without a doubt, he’s been the most successful manager in English football and throughout the world in terms of what he has achieved at United. It was always going to be a tough ask of anyone to come in and follow that. We’re still in a bit of shout of winning the league despite being only nine points behind without playing our best. So there’s some positives.
On the current crop of players and how they differ from their predecessors: The club has big history in terms of local talent, people who understand what the club represents. When you look at the present time, we have a lot of foreign players, maybe not quite educated about what United is. These players are still learning the ropes. You’re always looking for that blend, unfortunately we don’t seem to have that kind of blend at the moment.
I would say to give some time to young players such as Jesse Lingaard and Adnan Januzaj, people who have been at the club from a tender age, take these players in the coming years and blossom. That would be the case to continue that legacy we’ve always carried along at United.
