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So the Dwight Yorke era lasted just 13 league games in Sydney’s south-west, with the former Sydney FC marquee parting ways with Macarthur Bulls after allegedly labelling his side “a pub team”.
Brought back to Australia amid considerable fanfare for his first professional managerial role, Yorke led the Bulls to immediate Australia Cup success barely three months later.
He was quick to shut down any references to his ‘All Night Dwight’ playboy reputation, with the former Trinidad and Tobago international making it clear he was only interested in proving himself as a manager.
The man who scored 123 goals in the English Premier League appeared to have particularly high standards, so the question now is whether those standards were being met by the Bulls.
Macarthur weren’t exactly played off the park by Adelaide United in their 1-0 defeat at Coopers Stadium on Friday night – at least from the action I saw.
Like many Paramount+ viewers, my live stream packed it in on the night and I missed the entire second half.
But were it not for a couple of inspired saves from Reds shot-stopper Joe Gauci – who is surely destined for bigger things – the Bulls could easily have returned to Campbelltown with at least a point.
So was Yorke’s post-match spray, which Dan Walsh of the Sydney Morning Herald suggests involved him blasting the “sub-standard culture” of Australian football, reason enough to see him part ways with the club?
It was well-connected Paramount+ presenter Andy Harper who sent the rumour mill into overdrive when he casually dropped the bombshell that Yorke had left his post at the end of Western United’s 1-0 win over Sydney FC in Hobart.
John Aloisi’s defending champions ground out that victory on the back of one of the goals of the season from Alessandro Diamanti – who, at nearly 40, is still one of the best players in the league.
The news prompted pundits Daniel McBreen and Scott McDonald, who were reporting on the ground in Redcliffe for Brisbane Roar’s free-to-air scoreless draw with league leaders Melbourne City, to link Yorke with a potential move to Sydney FC.
“The rumour mill is going to start, isn’t it?” pondered McBreen. “It comes off the back of another Sydney defeat. I’m sure if we go to Twitter now, it will be a frenzy of rumours.”
“Absolutely,” replied McDonald. “It’s a case of ‘where’s he going?’ Because he doesn’t leave if he doesn’t have another job.”
"I'm sure if we go to twitter now it will be going a frenzy with rumours" – @djmcbreen @ScottyMcD83 thinks Dwight Yorke will be staying in the Isuzu Ute A-League ????#BRIvMCY is about to kick off live on Paramount+ ???? pic.twitter.com/IwWjIJp2KN
— Paramount+ Australia (@ParamountPlusAU) January 21, 2023
Whether that’s the case remains to be seen, but you know the best thing about those off-the-cuff comments from a couple of seasoned former pros?
It meant we were talking about some actual football matters again.
One of the worst things about the A-League is the fact that after 18 seasons, there’s still so little football culture that surrounds the game.
There’s virtually no newspaper talk, very few discussion shows, and those who do create independent media are often met with indifference by the same fan base that frequently demands more coverage.
(Photo by Morgan Hancock/Getty Images)
Even this column cops its fair share of criticism, with many on social media seemingly incredulous that an opinion column about the A-League could even exist – as if every other football nation around the world isn’t home to countless just like it.
One man who always gets the need for talking points is Western Sydney Wanderers manager Marko Rudan.
The Wanderers tactician was characteristically frank in his assessment of the Newcastle Jets in the build-up to the two sides’ 1-1 draw on a cattle track at McDonald Jones Stadium, implying that some pundits were guilty of giving Jets coach Arthur Papas an easy ride.
Love him or loathe him, Rudan understands through hard-won experience that the game needs talking points.
And with the APL no doubt desperate for us all to simply forget about their decision to sell the A-Leagues’ grand final hosting rights to Sydney, that’s something we’ll be doing plenty more of on the back of Dwight Yorke’s remarkable decision to go running from the Bulls.