Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: dave.woodhall on September 08, 2025, 12:10:58 AM
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Dave Collett kicks off a fine storm.
https://heroesandvillains.info/2025/09/07/the-men-we-couldnt-do-without-dwight-yorke/
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My memories of the good times with Dwight Yorke have always been tainted by the way he left but this had begun to soften in recent times up until I read his foreword to Richard Sydenham's book Nobody Remembers Second. In it Yorke bleats about not getting the credit he deserves at Villa because of the way he left.
Edit: Modified for a typo which completely changed the meaning of one word.
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Done.
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Yorke was waiting a while to get his chance as the main man. Brave call from Little at the time to bomb out DA when the side was struggling. Forgot about Fashanu's stint!
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Good article, finishes before he really hit the heights though, the Little seasons where we challenged, top 4, cup semis, winning league cup.
For 3 seasons - his last 2 with us and his 1st at Manure, I thought he was genuinely the best striker in Europe, absolute class!
His leaving and subsequent behaviour did leave a sour taste though, but can there ever have been many better value signings?
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Most definitely one of the best players we’ve had in my lifetime. He broke my heart like no other in the way he left us. Any fondness I had for him was taken away by who he signed for when we really were on the cusp of something. No surprise that he had a stint with the vile Katie Price. Hope he gets over the fact he will never get a shot at the Villa manager’s job, the fact he felt and might still feel he’s somehow entitled to it is beyond me.
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Grade I A tw@t
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I was very vocal about his talents early on, so was hugely excited with the impact he made. However it made his departure, particularly the manner of it, all the more difficult to take.
It's made me cynical to the point that I just shrugged my shoulders when Joe went and didn't care for Emi's tears.
I just feel sorry for all those who are yet to watch their heroes turn their back on the club.
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Yorke leaving was The Day The Music Died for me. Have been largely ambivalent about the departures of all the others since.
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If ever a player ruined their 'legacy' with fans it was him.
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Also a total waster of a father.
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Yorke leaving was horrible at the time, I was gutted. Platt before him was a hard one to take. Both wonderful players who have been dickheads since leaving.
I have great memories of Taylor and Atkinson’s time here, however I can’t believe and I certainly don’t remember Big Ron buying that many centre forwards!
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He was fantastic at times, a fave memory is singing us his song at Wembley after the Leeds game. Always struck me as a massive twat though, and I knew someone that spent a lot of time with our players back then and they said he was a twat as well.
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Yorke leaving was horrible at the time, I was gutted. Platt before him was a hard one to take. Both wonderful players who have been dickheads since leaving.
Yorke far more than Platt. The kissing Man Utd badge, the assertion Small Heath are the biggest club in the city and times he thought he should get the manager's with virtually no experience or much evidence of the appropriate talent in that regard. Platt in contrast has been mostly silent about Villa.
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Yorke leaving was The Day The Music Died for me. Have been largely ambivalent about the departures of all the others since.
Same. I was only a pup. Would've been about 12. Remember seeing the headline outside the newsagents next to the Moby Dick on Turves Green. Was gutted, as being a kid I hadn't realised how inevitable it was.
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Yorke was on fire when Dalian Atkinson was injured in 93 then, Big Ron brought a clearly not fit Dalian back for the Coventry match. Result 0-0, while Old Trafford went into a period that started 'Fergie Time'
I'm not bitter.
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If I had to pick my all time Villa 11, Yorke would stand a very good chance of being up front, probably alongside Withe.
Terrible for him to leave, but one of the best players I’ve seen down the Villa.
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I've seen lots of our finest leave going back as far as Tony Hateley, but Yorke going was a real sliding doors moment.
The gap really started to open up with what was then the Sky 4. We missed the boat at that moment and spent the next 25 years without much hope of ever getting close.
These days John Gregory would probably be investigated for hate speech and/or incitement to violence for the comments he made.
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Some players leave with dignity. Some leave without dignity. Some shit on the dictionary definition of dignity.
Yorke made a total cvnt of himself, repeatedly. He never played for us, as far as I'm concerned.
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I can't help but think that while he didn't help himself, the biggest factor was Gregory's behaviour.
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I was 14 when Yorke left. I absolutely idolised him. He would definitely make my all time Villa eleven. I prefer to forget about the aftermath of his departure and remember the good times.
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Can’t think of another player I watched in the flesh that was better than him….McGrath the only one perhaps. Yorke could do anything with a football. He could score every type of goal.
I’ve never seen a player who had such balance as him in his prime. Was totally heartbroken when he went, and him going where he did….we all knew that he was the missing piece in their jigsaw.
I’m kind of over it all now….but something definitely died within me when he went, football was never quite the same for me. I’ve loved him, hated him and now mellowed a bit towards him.
Obviously a complete weapon of a man but that adoration I had for him as a player in a Villa shirt, I will always be grateful to him for that.
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I can't help but think that while he didn't help himself, the biggest factor was Gregory's behaviour.
A lot of it was performative rubbish from JG. Yorke wanted to go, it wasn't exactly a surprise. JG was keener on being in the media more than any player.
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Some players leave with dignity. Some leave without dignity. Some shit on the dictionary definition of dignity.
Yorke made a total cvnt of himself, repeatedly. He never played for us, as far as I'm concerned.
Wow. Really? You were young but so was I. This player meant everything to me for a lot of the 90s. I'd never airbrush that just cos he's been a bit of a div/dick in the years since.
But yeah, why did Collett stop at the moment where Dwight starts to soar? H&V no different to Netflix in stretching content out into multiple seasons/articles, I guess...
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Part 2 to come.
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Yorke is my favourite player of all time. absolutely quality player, he had so much ability, and it is thanks to Brian Little that he realised his potential as a centre forward.
Loved the warm ups, which finished with him balancing the ball on his head and running off the pitch from the half way line.
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His lower centre of gravity was immense. Couldn't be knocked off the ball. BFR signing likes of Fashanu and Whittingham when Yorke was already there looks very strange in hindsight. Was he injured or just not that rated back then?
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I think Atkinson saw him as more of a wide forward, as opposed to a central striker, and when Little took over, he played him in all sorts of positions, until he settled on Yorkey as a centre forward, I vaguely remember him playing at right back for part of a game, might have been when we went down to 10 men at some point.
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I hadn't realised he missed much of 93/94. Did he do his cruciate ?
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His last 'performance' at Everton is one of the most disgraceful ever from a Villa player.
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His last 'performance' at Everton is one of the most disgraceful ever from a Villa player.
Sub-Hodge.
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His last 'performance' at Everton is one of the most disgraceful ever from a Villa player.
Sub-Hodge.
Was that the 1-4 at home to Norwich in autumn 86? I was only about 13