I couldn't say no to call from Keano.
Exclusive By: Martin Hardy[/size]
Run that past me again Dwight. You were sat in your apartment, in Sydney’s Darling Harbour, on a sunny afternoon? "Yes.'" And the phone went, withheld number? "Yes." You took the call? "Yes." And you said you would sign for Sunderland? "Oh, yes. You don’t say no to Roy Keane."
Yorke was 35 with a party image; the Marquee player in Australia, when the call came to return to England, to the north east, for a manager who questioned in print his desire after the European Cup win in 1999.
"I was in my apartment in Sydney, overlooking the harbour! That’s where I bloody was when he called," laughs Yorke, who was a key element in the club's dramatic Championship success story.
"It was an international call so there was no number. The voice is very distinctive though! Even though I was out there I still follow the football. I was aware he had got the job. Then the voice came on. I knew exactly who it was. It was a voice I had heard screaming at me over the years! From the time the call came through, I was very flattered.
"He made it very clear that he was more than keen for me to come and be a part of it. I was honoured. I was surprised he wanted me. I had left English football to get a new challenge and a new lifestyle.
"I didn’t think I did too badly in the World Cup. Maybe he saw that and remembers some of my time at Manchester United.
"He knows what I am like behind closed doors and what I bring to the dressing room. He maybe felt that it was what this club needed.
"I closed the door on my apartment when I was leaving and I thought, 'I can’t believe I’m doing this, I really can’t believe I am doing this!' I had offers to come and play before that but I refused them. It takes someone of Roy Keane’s status to take me away from my Darling Harbour apartment."
Yorke, looking as comfortable and relaxed as ever when we meet at Sunderland’s modern £10 million training facility, the Academy of Light, talks of a dramatic change in Keane now he is a manager.
"There is a calmness about him," explained Yorke. "Everyone was expecting a raging bull but Keano has made changes in his life as well. He had to. We all change as we get older. You adjust your lifestyle. You make mistakes along the way but you learn from them.
"He has played for the top managers. He was never fazed by their reputation but he has learned to be calm. What is fascinating is that it quite suits him. And I told him so.
"He is calm and cool, but at the end of the day, you just don’t want to cross him. He has lost it three times this season. That is not bad. You would have got good odds on that."
The midfield veteran remembers what it was like when he joined Old Trafford in 1998 from Aston Villa.
"It was always a scary thing meeting him as a player. When I first signed for Manchester United, he would say, ‘Twelve-and-a half-million?’ I think he was joking at that time, but I will never forget it.
"He gave me a fierce pass in the penalty area in my first game. He looked at me as if to say, this is Manchester United, this is how we play. I will never forget that either."
Yorke denies that Keane wanted him because they are friends, saying: "I don’t really think I got to know him as a player. You would socialise off the park but he never got quite close. He always kept his distance.
"People say you must be big mates but we are not. We just have a kind of mutual respect between each other. I have a lot of respect for him.
"Was he the most driven player I ever played with? Definitely, even in training. He could give you it like never before and you would think, it’s only training, but he would say if you train well, you will play well.
"You might not be doing it and he would still be driving away. He would have a moan — and he was a great moaner — but with good reason. When you look back now you realise it was all to do with bettering yourself. He is doing magnificently as a manager."
Only once during our conversation does Yorke's smile fade. That's when he talks of his sister, Verline, who died of cancer three years ago.
"What was always in my life was my family. To lose my sister at that time really did knock me. I still miss her. She was only 45, it was not expected in the family at all.
"It was hard for me. My coping strategy is not to show the negative emotions. I was very lonely, very depressed. I am a person who does not show a lot of emotions. It was something I had to deal with. It is part of the reason I went to Sydney. I just needed a break."
So what was it like when he agreed to join Sunderland?
"I felt no pressure at being Roy Keane’s first signing," he recalls. "I hate using the word pressure. People use the word pressure for numerous things. Pressure to me is not a word in football. It is the easy thing. The expectation is high but pressure is when you can’t provide for your family. I never consider playing football as pressure.
"I came from a huge family of nine. Food was not easy to provide at the time. I don’t see playing football in front of 48,000 people as pressure. The day I can’t provide for my family, I will be in a pressure situation."
There has been precious little sign of pressure at Sunderland, whose march back to the Premiership was relentless.
"The size of the club has surprised me," admits Yorke. "I played at the Stadium of Light but didn’t realise how big it was. I found out just how fanatical the fans are. I knew of the Newcastles of this world but I didn’t realise the Mackems had so much support."
Now he is looking forward to one last go at the Premiership. And the north east of England has become home.
He has a place on the Newcastle Quayside that overlooks the delightful bridges.
"I call it my little Sydney," he adds. "It’s just my central heating bills are a lot higher!"
Comments (3)Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below?
It's typical of this man to be living it up on the other side of the world while his son is so sick over here.
- Mrs T Missenden, Derbyshire UK
Hope next season is sweet for Yorkie. There were times when watching him play at United when he was absolutely awesome, body strength and control was as good as I've seen off any forward anywhere, he was pure class. As for Keano he was pure class, the BEST.
- One United, England
I look forward to the next season and to see how Dwight gets on with Sunderland.
- Mary, Enniskillen
