Former Aston Villa chief executive Keith Wyness has highlighted the irony in Dwight Yorke’s claim he never heard back from the Premier League club regarding the manager’s job, writing on Twitter.
Now, we don’t profess to have Wes Edens or Nassef Sawiris on speed dial but we’ve got a good idea why Villa’s billionaire owners entrusted Steven Gerrard – rather than Dwight Yorke – to take over a talented, expensively assembled yet underperforming squad following their sacking of Dean Smith.
Gerrard, while hardly the most experienced of elite-level managers, guided Rangers to their first Scottish Premiership title last season, winning 32 and losing none of his 38 league games.
His record in European football – Rangers have beaten Porto, Feyenoord, Braga and Galatasaray among others in recent years – also speaks volumes about a man who transformed not only the players at his disposal but also the entire culture and mindset of a club that was on its knees (and in the bushes in Pedro Caixinha’s case) before his 2018 arrival.
Yorke, in contrast, has never coached a professional side, although the former Villa striker did reveal in 2016 he had earned his coaching badges (ESPN).
Did Dwight Yorke really think he’d get the Aston Villa manager’s job?
“Although I have a fantastic relationship with Wes (Edens), I still haven’t been able to get a response,” Yorke, a treble winner with Manchester United in 1999, told Sky on Friday.
“So even with the connection I’ve got, you would still like (to hear) ‘well it’s not possible, we have other options and maybe when the job comes around again (you’ll be considered)’.
“I would just like to be acknowledged – but I’m not even getting that. I’ve got to be realistic, I’ve got to be real with myself, understanding the challenge I face as an individual getting in.
“It’s not going to be as straightforward as it is for others – and that is a fact. I’ve got to take that on board and look elsewhere to try to get manager experience somewhere else.”
Yorke made a similar claim when he applied for the Aston Villa job in 2016 following the departure of Roberto Di Matteo (Athletic).
But, according to Wyness, who was acting as Aston Villa’s chief executive at the time, Yorke did receive a response – just not the one he wanted:
“I asked for it, I asked for an interview, I wasn’t on the shortlist,” 50-year-old Yorke told talkSPORT in 2016. “I spoke to Keith via text and he was like: ‘no we’re not interested.’”
It remains to be seen whether Yorke is willing to take the Gerrard route and prove himself in youth football – or further down the football pyramid – before aiming at a Premier League dugout.
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