He has hardly touched a football in eight months – but former English Premier League and Sydney FC star Dwight Yorke is adamant he won’t let anyone down in the one-off clash with Everton this weekend.
He has hardly touched a football in eight months – but former English Premier League and Sydney FC star Dwight Yorke is adamant he won’t let anyone down in the one-off clash with Everton this weekend.
Yorke, who led Sydney FC to grand-final glory in the inaugural A-League season in 2005, will line-up for the Sky Blues as a guest player at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.
The 38-year-old, who played a further four seasons with EPL club Sunderland after his stay in the harbour city, hung up the boots last year after a decorated career spanning two decades that also included stints with Aston Villa, Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers and Birmingham City.
And while he insists he has no desire to make a return to competitive football, the former Trinidad and Tobago captain is confident he can still hold his own.
“If I didn’t think I could do it and if I didn’t think I could give a good account of myself I wouldn’t be here,” Yorke said, who completed a marathon journey from South Africa to Australia via England on Wednesday morning.
“I don’t take the Mick out of people and I don’t take the Mick certainly out of myself – I don’t want to be doing that. I didn’t turn up here just for turning up’s sake. I’m here to give a good account of myself and that’s what I’m hoping for.”
“I just want everybody to know I’m not here looking for a new contract or anything, I’m coming here to give my best obviously because I’m competitive like that.”
“I’m looking forward to play against a Premier League team and I’m sure all the boys from Sydney as well are looking forward to that, because that opportunity doesn’t come along very often. It’ll just be good to see if I can still compete at that level.”
While Yorke says ‘it would be unfair if people think I’m just going to turn up and be a world beater’, the veteran striker is confident he can see out the full 90 minutes on Saturday night.
“Football to me is not that difficult,” he said.
“I’m in pretty good nick in terms of physical fitness.”
“Football wise obviously I’ve lacked that in the next two days we’ll monitor that as to how long I’ll play in the game, but from a physical point of view I’m in very good touch. I just need to get the feel of the ball and I should be ok.”
Asked if the lure of Sydney night life influenced his decision to return, Yorke said with a smile: “I’m looking forward to that as well.”
Experienced Everton defender Tony Hibbert has no doubt Yorke will turn up ready to play.
“Knowing Dwight he’s probably been doing stuff to keep in shape and he’s a good player,” Hibbert told Sportal.
“You don’t just lose it overnight and he’s played in some top teams.”
“I’ve played against him before and he’s a class player and it just shows if Dwight Yorke’s playing out here the lads (Sydney FC) are going to be good.”
“So it’ll be a very good game.”
Meanwhile, Yorke says he’s yet to decide what his future holds but admits a career in coaching is a strong possibility.
Not surprisingly he has plenty of options having balanced a fledgling media career with his role as Ambassador of Sport in Trinidad and Tobago since hanging up the boots.
“I feel that given time, once I’ve settled down a little bit and reflect on which direction I want to go I’ll make that decision,” he said.
“But football has been part of my life and it’s very difficult to walk away from that.”
“Management is something that I feel I can be good at providing that the opportunity is the right one.”
