Dwight Yorke says A-League’s running is holding Australian talent back

After his departure from Macarthur, Manchester United legend Dwight Yorke has hit out at A-League club officials, clamouring for a change in the system before it’s too late.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – OCTOBER 16: Macarthur Coach Dwight Yorke celebrates the goal of Daniel Arzani of Macarthur FC during the round two A-League Men's match between Macarthur FC and Adelaide United at Campbelltown Stadium, on October 16, 2022, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Jenny Evans/Getty Images)

Australia’s thin-skinned football officials won’t like what Dwight Yorke has to say about the A League.

Local football administrators rarely respond well to any criticism about the league but the straight-shooting Yorke says someone needs to speak up because the competition is failing.

Fresh from giving his version of his messy departure from Macarthur after guiding the club to its first major, the Manchester United legend has issued a passionate plea for officials to fix the A League before it’s too late.

“I know I will probably upset a few people but I have to call it for what I see,” Yorke told News Corp.

“There is so much talent in Australia but it’s being killed by the system.

“Australia has just got it all totally wrong and that’s why the game hasn’t progressed but it doesn’t have to be that way.”

Yorke said it breaks his heart to see the way the competition has declined since he was the star attraction for Sydney FC, earning $1 million a year.

Former Macarthur coach Dwight Yorke has criticised how A-League clubs are ranked. Picture: Supplied

He took Sydney FC to the inaugural A League title in 2006 – winning the man of the match award in a grand final played in front of a sellout crowd in excess of 41,000.

But those days are a distant memory.

Even before the league managed to alienate most of its supporters by awarding the next three grand finals to Destination NSW, the rapid decline in crowd numbers and woeful television ratings is the damning proof of how far the competition has fallen.

But Yorke said none of it was not the fault of the players – because, in his view, the blame lies with the administrators who made a series of catastrophic errors that remain in place.

“Football has a very successful model that is used everywhere else in the world but Australia does everything differently,” Yorke said.

“Nearly everyone else has promotion and relegation. Australia doesn‘t have that.

“Everyone plays the game in the Winter. Australia plays in the Summer.

“Then you’ve got a salary cap and a safe haven where the owners of the 12 teams all come to agreement.”

Yorke said the Australian model just wasn’t working so needs to be overhauled but he is unsure whether that will happen because it would require the existing club owners to give up the safety and security they get from being guaranteed a spot in the top flight.

Yorke won the inaugural A-League championship with Sydney FC. (Photo by Craig Wilson)

While Football Australia recently announced it had formally begun the process of creating a “national second-tier men’s competition” there are no firm plans yet for promotion and relegation.

Kicking off in March 2024, between 10 and 16 teams will play in the new competition, with FA saying promotion and relegation between the divisions would be “considered” once the new competition was “mature”.

But Yorke said it needs to happen as soon as possible for the game to prosper.

“Australia has just got it totally wrong. You’ve got to have incentives, you’ve got to have something to fight for,” Yorke said.

““The A-League is just too much of a comfort zone because all the clubs are safe and it’s just crying out for change.

“There is so much wrong with the game here in Australia and that‘s why the football is just really at a basic level when it should be far more advanced.

“If football has to progress in this country, I just think that they‘ve got to take a leap of faith and trust the system and play the game when it’s supposed to be played.

“That is the football model in Europe. I‘m not saying it has to be like the (English) Premier League but it has to be a version somewhere along those lines.

The Manchester United great says the A-League is a comfort zone for clubs. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)

Yorke said he understood the challenges football in Australia faces from other codes but urged officials to “stay in their lane” and put faith in supporters turning up to matches in Winter.

“Rugby (league and union) is a big game down here, we know that, but rugby is played in England as well,” Yorke said.

“There’s enough football supporters in the country but you’ve got to change it up and give them what they want.

“I know Australia is so far away but it doesn‘t mean you have to do everything differently. Just follow the protocols that work.

“I’ve seen the A League as a player and now as a manager and trust me, the model needs to be changed because it‘s not going anywhere.”

Originally published as Dwight Yorke says A-League’s running is holding Australian talent back