Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Villa Memories => Topic started by: Holte L2 on May 06, 2011, 04:18:26 PM
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Personally Dwight still remains my all-time Villa Hero. he'd reached his peak when I was in my early teens.
He still remains my all-time Villa hero along with Macca, and probably Tony Daley (don't ask).
he left under a cloud, but as time passes on I wondered what the general conception is with Yorkie.
I often get slated when I mention his name. Would love his name on the back of one of my tops but don't think I'd get it through VP!!
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I don't think he left under a cloud, he was made an offer he couldn't refuse and I still think we had the best of him. Great memories!
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Good player met him once top bloke his Dwight.
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My hero too. Devastated when he left.
Unlike so many others though he left to further his career at a better club so I have less of a problem with him than many other players.
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The last truly top class striker we've had i reckon. Angel equalled his goalscoring tally one season but flattered to decieve the rest of the time.
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Top guy, I think he still loves the Villa and I also met him a few times and he was always approachable
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I think the reason we hated him so much was because we loved him so much. He left and furthered his career winning the league and europen cup. Will Barry and Milner do the same? I seriously doubt it, they went for financial reasons.
Will never forget Dwight's goals against Arsenal.
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John Gregory's book was interesting.
He claims that he couldn't decide to let Yorke go or not, then he bumped into a Villa fan in a restaurant who said
'What's happening with Dwight, John?'
Gregory replied
'What do you want to happen?'
The fan replied
'Get rid of him.'
So he reckons that made his mind up for him.
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John Gregory's book was interesting.
He claims that he couldn't decide to let Yorke go or not, then he bumped into a Villa fan in a restaurant who said
'What's happening with Dwight, John?'
Gregory replied
'What do you want to happen?'
The fan replied
'Get rid of him.'
So he reckons that made his mind up for him.
Yeah I read that. That fan needs a word with.
So...will I get slated at Villa Park if I get "Yorke 10" on the back of next seasons top?
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Liked him at Villa. Don't like him any more. Don't know why we discuss him every year.
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He broke my eight year old heart when he left :(
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Yorkie was the last player that I was truly gutted when he left. However, I understood his reasons and the destination. The person who soured the leaving was Gregory.
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John Gregory's book was interesting.
He claims that he couldn't decide to let Yorke go or not, then he bumped into a Villa fan in a restaurant who said
'What's happening with Dwight, John?'
Gregory replied
'What do you want to happen?'
The fan replied
'Get rid of him.'
So he reckons that made his mind up for him.
Yeah I read that. That fan needs a word with.
So...will I get slated at Villa Park if I get "Yorke 10" on the back of next seasons top?
Loved him to bits and still do. Slated? Not a chance. Try having Hodge and see what happens...
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Know Dwight personally as I'm also Trinidadian.
It was never about the money for him to leave us. It was the dream and desire to play in and win competitions that he dreamt of winning. He always talks about being a lad from a small country without proper boots as a kid to go on and play in and win every major competition there is. He reached for and achieved his dreams.
Really can't fault him for doing those things!
He wanted to come back to us too! He talks about it in his 2nd autobiography that he turned down 60k a week from Middlesbrough when he was leaving Man Utd because he wanted to play for villa again but the manager I think was D O'L had a problem with Dwight's image ???
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How does he explain the badge-kissing episode?
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I was gutted when he left and hated him for it but he left to win trophies and he did just that.
Time is a healer and I cant blame him for leaving because what would he have won with us....fcuk all.
Could have done without him playing for the Blues though, that didn't help.
If all be told he was one of best players for us in my 30 ish years of following The Villa.
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I thought Yorkie was one of the best players in the world at his peak I really did.
Newcastle away (we lost 4-3) was the most complete performance i've seen from a Villa player.
Don't blame him for leaving at all. Wish he hadn't joined Blose (although sucking them dry of 25k a week and pissing off Sullivan in the process helped ease the pain) and some of the things he alledgedly said were out of order but so was the disgraceful barracking he recieved when he returned.
Great player, great memories.
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went to win trophies and did that at Man Utd
ended up playing for birmingham
dont hate him or love him, never give him a second thought, he played for us, then he left, then he ended up at our neighbours
everytime i see him on sky - i think, oh aye he used to play for us
same as watching the premier league years on sky - i see andy townsend and think oh aye he used to play for us, or i see mark draper and think oh aye he used to play for us
then i see Paul McGrath
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If you want to pinpoint one moment when the gap between us and the others really widened it was the day Dwight Yorke left.
Maybe if he had stayed we could have pushed on forward, maybe qualified and got in the Champions league and won an FA Cup ? I would say that would have been quite possible but the fact is he finished up winning three league championship medals, a champions league and an FA Cup. He certainly wouldnt have done all that with us before his career finished so I cant really blame him.
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his goal agains Forest at home in the 1991/92 season was good! and if you watch the Villa video, the entire ground paused at the pint where he turned prior to lobbing the keeper!
one of my all time favourite Villa goals!
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10 great Yorke goals i remember
1 Overhead kick vs QPR in a 4-2 win. Also scored an overhead vs Derby.
2 Dribble and finish vs Wigan in the 5-0 Lamptey game.
3 Dribble and finish vs Spurs 1996
4 Header after 13 seconds vs Coventry 1995
5 Header vs Sheff Weds 1993
6 Two headers vs Liverpool to keep us up 1995
7 Two neat finishes vs Liverpool, last day of Holte 1994
8 Backheel goal vs Wimbledon in a 5-0 1996
9 Chipped penalty vs Sheff United 1996 (and again vs Arsenal 1994)
10 Fantastic volleyed goal vs Southampton 1998.
Ok points 6 and 7 actually featured two goals but what the hell.
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Yorke was absolute class and is one of my fav all time players, and could understand why he left us in the end. I find it funny where players like Yorke and Platt seem to have little affection amongst some villa fans, who contributed so much to the villa whilst others like Mclnally, Merson, Dublin are seen as godlike. Thats not a critisism of them by the way, just an observation that 2 of my favourite villa players are not liked by too many villa fans.
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I like Yorkie. He gave us great service, 9 years i think, then left to win trophies while he was still good enough and we made a big profit on him.
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Again, I don't understand why Yorke isn't held with great affection. People can pinpoint the fact he played with Blues, but Saunders managed them and Withe went there.
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Peter Withe had already there when we signed him but Dennis Mortimer, Tony Morley (admittedly on loan) and Des Bremner all played for Blues after they left Villa and I definitely don't think any less of them for doing so. Dwight annoyed people because he said he thought they were the biggest club in the city - butthem he had just signed for a club whose ffans were not going to warm to him because of his Villa career.
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We all knew that was rubbish. And Yorke had that horrific reception when he returned with Blackburn
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I had a night out with him years back. He was living next door to my cousin in Coleshill and she brought him over to our local because she knew me and my mates were big villa fans. The only thing I really remember is it was a couple of weeks before the first game of the 91-92 season when BFR was going back to Sheffield Wednesday, but when we asked him about it he didn't have a clue who we were playing in the first game! Oh, and I went to his 21st birthday party the following year (he had it at Villa park) because that same cousin had a row with her boyfriend the day before and took me instead.
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How does he explain the badge-kissing episode?
Being riled mercilessly by fans who used to worship you. He lashed out, understandably, if not very nice. Only human.
Dwight and McGrath were the two players who always made me proud to be a Villan whenever we went through bad times in the 90's. World-class, the pair of them.
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My mum always says 'He left Villa and then never did anything after that'. It's with heavy heart I have to explain the European Cups, etc.
Still like Dwight. Fucks me off that he left but that's what most heroes end up doing anyway. It would have been nice if he'd never had to play against Villa but life's rarely perfect.
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I'd like to get him on the pitch pre-match to give him the ovation he should have had.
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Couldn't blame him for leaving (though I wish he'd gone abroad rather than to that lot).
It's not as if we were some mid-table rabble back then either, just making up the numbers. We had had successive high finishes under Little for a few years and after a difficult start to 97/98 played some exciting stuff under JG from Feb onwards. The most exciting football of his tenure, as it turned out.
No guarantees, but a motivated Dwight Yorke not subjected to the tapping up shenanigans of Fergiescum might have helped us go on to bigger and better things.
The badge kissing incident was ugly, but vaguely understandable considering the abuse. Joining SHA and then making some crack along the lines of "everyone knows that Birmingham City have traditionally always been the bigger club in the area," was beyond the pale. That's an error neither Saunders, Mortimer or anyone else who had connections with both clubs made, so any comparisons with them are futile.
But against that, he did give years of decent service during his stint at the club -particularly the early part of 1991/92 and from 1995-98. So overall I'd say I'm neutral to him.
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I always say he was the best player I've seen play for us (I was perhaps a bit too young to appreciate McGrath in his pomp) and he broke my heart when he went to them. The fact he then went on to achieve everything he wanted at club level in his first year there made it even worse. Couldn't even speak his name for years, the Blackburn cup game hardly helped, but time is a great healer and the good memories are starting to out-weigh the bad.
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I was at Brammall Lane when he scored that beautiful penalty in the cup. They only had three stands at the time and the snow was hammering us in the away end. Some twats were opening car doors and punching whoever they found inside in the post-match traffic and my mate's car broke down an hour away from home. Yorke made that trip worthwhile with that moment of class.
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I loved Dwight and was absolutely gutted when he left.
However, if was also cathartic, because the day he left, was the day I decided that I was too old to make heroes out of footballers and invest in them emotionally. Since then, my motto has been: support the team and appreciate the skill and/or application of certain individuals whilst they're with us, but accept that they will all move on in the fullness of time.
So there you have it. Dwight Yorke: my last Villa hero.
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Loved him to bits and still do. Slated? Not a chance. Try having Hodge and see what happens...
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Can I ask for a brief tale on Steve hodge pls? It's a little before my time but seems to crop up a fair bit on here. Why is he so hated?
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Can I ask for a brief tale on Steve hodge pls?
******.
Is that brief enough?
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He was very close to re-signing for us when Sir Graham returned.
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Wish we'd have got him back instead of singing Allback.
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Yorke along with McGrath are 2 Villa players I will never forget. Loved them. I was too youn g to appreciate the team with Shaw, Mortimer, Morley and a young Cowans.
I did absolutely love Yorke though, maybe it was the age I was when he played for us, or how good he was, his attitude, his smile, his rapport with the fans, our song, his background. I agree with Top Deck, it's all about the team these days for me, Yorke was was last hero too.
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I loved Dwight and was absolutely gutted when he left.
However, if was also cathartic, because the day he left, was the day I decided that I was too old to make heroes out of footballers and invest in them emotionally. Since then, my motto has been: support the team and appreciate the skill and/or application of certain individuals whilst they're with us, but accept that they will all move on in the fullness of time.
So there you have it. Dwight Yorke: my last Villa hero.
Pretty much sums it up. I am putting up a stern resistance to the charms of Bent because given a shit season and another club putting on the gear and red lisptick he'll be off quicker than a greyhound at Hall Green.
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One of the best songs ever with had for a Villa player.
Start spreading the news, his playing today, I want to see him score a goal again, Dwight Yorke, Dwight Yorke......