Former Aston Villa, Birmingham City, and Blackburn Rovers star lands international manager's job

Former Aston Villa and Birmingham City striker Dwight Yorke has been unveiled as the new manager of the Trinidad & Tobago national team.

The 52-year-old takes charge of what is just his second job in football management after managing A-League outfit Macarthur for a season. Yorke applied for the Villa job before they decided to appoint Steven Gerrard, going for the role three times. He had previously been linked with jobs at Sutton United and Perth Glory.

Yorke who was born in Canaan in Trinidad and Tobago played 72 times for his country, scoring 19 goals. He helped them qualify for the 2006 World Cup, and got to play against England.

He takes over a side that are currently second in World Cup qualifying in a group consisting of Costa Rica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, and the Bahamas. Their next scheduled matches aren't until June against St Kitts and Nevis (June 6) and Costa Rica (June 10).

Trinidad & Tobago are currently ranked 102nd in the FIFA world rankings. They are currently unbeaten in three games after draws with French Guiana and Cuba, before beating the latter in mid-October.

“I am proud and privileged to receive the honour of leading the Trinidad and Tobago national team,” said Yorke on the TTFA’s official website.

“The opportunity to work with this talented, close-knit group of players is something I look forward to. 

“Having helped Trinidad and Tobago to the semi-finals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2000, captained the side at the 2006 World Cup and been Assistant Manager, my love and commitment to my national team is well documented.

He added: “I saw first hand as a player how working together to achieve our targets brought joy and united our country. I see that same ambition and desire at all levels of the current set-up.

“So I look forward to building on the work of someone who I played alongside withfor a number of years from youth level right up to senior team, a good friend and former team-mate, Angus Eve, and the current interim head coach, Derek King.

“As a player I experienced some incredible moments in a Trinidad and Tobago shirt. With this squad I hope they can continue as head coach.”

Yorke began his career at Aston Villa in the 19980s after being spotted by Graham Taylor. He spent eight years at Villa Park, scoring 98 goals in 287 appearances, helping them to a League Cup win in 1996.

The striker was later sold to Manchester United for a reported £12.6m in August 1998, and went on to help them what was an unprecedented treble, lifting the Champions League, Premier League and the FA Cup all in one season.

Blackburn Rovers signed him in 2002 and he spent two years at Ewood Park before spending a season playing for Villa's fiercest rivals Birmingham City. At Blues, he scored just twice in 16 games and later moved to Sydney FC. Yorke finished his career in England, helping Sunderland win promotion, before becoming an assistant coach at the Stadium of Light.