Robbie Slater: Dwight Yorke’s unnecessary A-League cheap shot after Macarthur Bulls exit

Dwight Yorke was one of the A-League’s foundation stars, but his parting shot at the competition after leaving Macarthur shows he doesn’t have an interest in Australian football, writes ROBBIE SLATER.

Dwight Yorke made his feelings about the A-League clear after leaving Macarthur. Picture: Jenny Evans/Getty Images

We will forever be grateful for what Dwight Yorke did for the A-League in the competition’s inaugural season, but the way in which he slammed Australian football in the past week is unacceptable, disappointing, and – frankly – nothing that we haven’t heard before.

Yorke’s heroics at Sydney FC in the 2005-06 season helped put the A-League on the map. We thank the former Manchester United player for that, but he should be grateful to the A-League giving him his first professional head coaching opportunity with Macarthur.

And while, for whatever reasons, that didn’t end up working out, it doesn’t give Yorke licence to smash the A-League with cheap shots.

Yes Dwight, we know promotion and relegation would be ideal, and it has been talked about and proposed for several years. But Australian football isn’t ready for it at the moment.

Yorke made clear his views on the A-League, a competition he has seen grown since its first season in 2005. Picture: AAP Image/Jeremy Piper

We need a bigger A-League and a functional national division before considering promotion and relegation. Yorke’s call for the A-League to be played in winter is also dated and tiresome. The fact is that football is not the No.1 sport in Australia. We need the clearer space that summer provides to assist with the competition’s exposure.

If the A-League wasn’t in its current space, in all likelihood there wouldn’t be a broadcast deal to support it.

It’s all well and good saying that a nation’s best football competition should be played in winter, as is the case almost everywhere in the world, but the Australian sporting landscape is different to the rest of the world.

Yorke also probably doesn’t realise that summer football wasn’t introduced by the A-League, but rather the former National Soccer League.

Maybe it’s also a fact that was overlooked by the person feeding this stuff to Yorke, rather than saying it himself as he previously has.

Regardless, Yorke should be smarter than to just be mouthing off about what’s wrong with the A-League. Remember, too, that this is the guy who coached the A-League All-Stars last year.

Yorke was in charge of the A-League All Stars as they took on Barcelona last May. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

Good luck to him trying to get another A-League coaching gig after his needless rant. I know I’ve also said stuff that probably in hindsight shouldn’t have been publicly expressed without a little more thought.

However, it comes from my passion for Australian football and the want to see it succeed.

Yorke doesn’t have an interest in our football, so perhaps next time he should think about what he’s saying, be happy for the coaching platform the A-League gave him, and move on with some dignity.

Originally published as Robbie Slater: Dwight Yorke’s unnecessary A-League cheap shot after Macarthur Bulls exit