Manchester United Legends Dwight Yorke and Andrew Cole Are Bringing Soccer Culture to America

The famed Man U duo were in New York to talk winning the treble, the future of American soccer, and why they get along so well.

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Complex Original

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It’s 7:30 in the morning on a Saturday, and I’m painfully making my way to New York’s Gotham Hall to soak up an open bar and embed myself among a couple hundred Manchester United fans to watch their club take on Norwich City. I usually wouldn’t wake up this early to watch a club I don’t support, but there are two legends in the crowd of New Yorkers and ex-pats: Dwight Yorke and Andy—now Andrew—Cole. The pair flew to New York to meet and greet the supporters while taking in the match for an “#iloveunited” event.

For the American that’s drawing a blank on these two names, Yorke and Cole played together at United from the late ‘90s to the early 2000s and formed one of the best one-two punches in Premier League history. Their success culminated in 1999 when they were able to win a treble—the Premier League, Champions League, and FA Cup—with Yorke netting 29 goals that season.

While their playing days have come and gone, Yorke and Cole now serve as ambassadors for Manchester United, still drawing hordes of eager fans chomping at the bit to get a picture taken with their heroes.

The duo, who couldn’t be more different, take in the 1-0 United victory their own way. Cole is upbeat and excited to chat while Yorke is preoccupied with his phone. But with the two of them Stateside, it’s a big moment for the budding football (soccer) culture in this country. They’re not going to join an MLS roster anytime soon, but the advice they can impart on Americans is a surefire way to help people further appreciate the beautiful game.

Why do you think the two of you had such a good connection on the pitch?
Cole: Why? Because we don’t like each other. [Laughs.] No, we just hit it off. We get on very well. That’s what made our friendship very good. We’re two opposites, and we get on very well. I think that’s what helped.

How much time do you spend together these days?
Cole: I told you, I don’t play those games, man. [Laughs.] No, no, to be fair: He’s never in the country anymore. He’s a jetsetter. He does like three weeks inside of the country, and I’m always at home. But when we do catch up, we try to play a little bit of golf, get a drink maybe.

Where have you been traveling these days?
Yorke: Where? I don’t even know where to start. I don’t even remember half the places I’ve been, but it’s been a nice journey. I enjoy traveling. These are the things I wasn’t able to do when we played. But to have to have the opportunity to travel to all of these countries, drink some nice wine, see the other side of the culture of these countries I’ve been to, it’s nice. I’m a bit of a traveler and I enjoy that side of life right now.

What’s the most memorable connection you guys had on the pitch?
Cole: I’ll be brutally honest with you: I enjoyed it all. After all these years, people still talk about the partnership me and Dwight had on the football pitch and how it worked. We’ve got young kids trying to emulate it even now. We can’t talk about one special moment, because they’ve all been special moments. I’ve been retired eight years now, we’re talking about our partnership 20 years.

Are you guys happy that your legacy is together?
Yorke: I think we enjoyed that because it was a special moment in our career. What we achieved as a team is a huge part of it. To be a part of the history with the Manchester United club is a huge moment. That’s why people talk about it. We’re individuals at the same time, and we have our own identities, don’t get me wrong—I know where you’re going with this. But from a football perspective, when you hear the Manchester United fan base talk about it, you don’t want that to go away. That’s pretty special, man, because you don’t want that to go away.

How important were the supporters to you then?
Cole: Supporters are important. We’re very lucky as players to hear the fans and excite them and score those goals for the football club—to see the reaction on the fans and joy we bring to people. We’ve also had the opportunity to react with the fans behind the scenes now, and that’s something we never saw as players. It’s good to see both sides of it.

You guys go to events like this and people want pictures, but is it relaxing when you come to the States and you can walk through the streets almost anonymously?
Cole: It’s good. Coming to the States has been really good. My time playing we used to go to Asia a lot more, and you can’t get away with it there. You go to the hotel—or you try and get out of the hotel—and you get mobbed. When you come to the U.S., you can see it’s a lot easier on the players now to go out for a walk or whatever. There are fans here, but the fans are more respectful and get along with it. Americans are used to stars.

What do you think of football culture in the States?
Cole: I think it’s getting bigger, the MLS is getting stronger. You get every game on Saturday in the Premier League. You got Bundesliga, Serie A, La Liga, the Champions League, Europa. You got so much football, it’s going to change people’s perception of soccer in the U.S. People are going to start to want to play it, because they’ll see it in Europe. It’s a global game. MLS is getting better, the national team is doing well. If the MLS gets players at a younger age, if they can get European players at a younger age—26-28—that’s when it will really start to take off.

If the MLS gets players at a younger age, if they can get European players at a younger age—26-28—that’s when it will really start to take off.

Neither of you guys played in the MLS, but did you ever get offers?
Cole: When I came to the end of my career, the MLS wasn’t as big as it is now. There wasn’t really talk of English players going to the MLS. It was more so offers to go play in the Middle East and finish your career. You’ve only seen the league get more prominent in the past few years. You’ve seen [David Beckham] come here and heighten the profile of the MLS. Role reversal, if I was coming to the end of my career now and someone said, “Do you want to come and play in the MLS?” My answer would have been, “All day.”

Yorke: It’s the most-played sport with kids in this country. You call it soccer, but I can’t get myself to call it that. We don’t want to take anything away from baseball, but the development of the sport has been huge. It just hasn’t caught on. Don’t forget, you had the World Cup here in ‘94, and that was a huge success. Also you have the MLS come along. So the progress has been made. It’s just compared to the European side of things, people will say, “Oh, you’ll never be that.” Becks, [Steven] Gerrard, [Thierry] Henry, and them have come here. [There is] great revenue to be made, it’s a great place to be. So you’ll continue to see it grow.

What’s the best advice that Sir Alex Ferguson gave you?
Cole: “Enjoy it, because it doesn’t last forever.” When you’re at the peak of your powers, you’re 22, and you turn around and say, “Whatever.” By the time you look around, your career is over. It’s unbelievable how quick your career goes. So I’d say that to people now, too. When you do retire, the first few months are the toughest months, because you don’t know what to do with yourselves anymore. You play for 20 years, then you have no one to tell you what to do, you have no one to write your script anymore. You’ve got to write your own script. I enjoyed my years as a professional footballer, if I could do it all again, I certainly would.

Yorke: It’s pretty much the same. You’ve got to embrace those times as a professional player very seriously, because it will come to an end. That’s the sad part of it. You do have to enjoy those moments with the players, the camaraderie with the players, the coaching, the commitment, all of those those things you need to be successful. At the end of the time, you have to have some enjoyment and find the right balance. Every individual is different. You’re in a team sport, so you need to take that into consideration, as well as your personal achievement.

If you were to take your treble team and stack them up against the current teams in the Champions League, how do you think you’d do?
Cole: I think we’d do alright. I think we’d do alright. Yup, I think we’d definitely do alright. I’ve got to be brutally honest with you: We won the treble and European Cup, finally, in 1999, but we could have possibly won it a couple of times before that and we could have possibly won it a couple times after that. I watch the Champions League every season, and the teams that make it to the final have a little bit of luck at the end of the season. And a few times we didn’t have it. If you took our ‘99 team and had them compete now, I think we’d be OK.

I was out in Manchester the other week and I got to see Salford City—who’s run by former Manchester United players—Ryan Giggs, Gary and Phil Neville, Paul Scholes, and Nicky Butt. Do you ever see yourself doing that together for a lower-league club?
Cole: I think for those boys, because they’re from Manchester and grew up around the Salford area, I think it’s a good thing for them. They’ve had a lot of help as well with getting ahold of the football club, acquiring the right players, because it’s not a cheap thing, even at that level. Once you’ve got the backing of an individual, it’s a lot easier. I’m pleased for them, because maybe in a few times they’ll be in league football. That would be great not just for the boys but for Salford, too.

Dwight, your days with Manchester United were huge, but a lot of people in the States remember you from your days with Trinidad and Tobago in the World Cup. Which was bigger for you?
Yorke: They’re totally different. The players are far more superior than what I played against at Manchester United. My highlight was playing for my country at a very tender age, and my biggest achievement was when we qualified for the World Cup in 2006. After all these years of trying to do that and finally doing it at the end of my career, it was the most rewarding thing ever to happen, not just to me but to our country, too. We’d been trying so hard to do that for so many years. Qualifying for the World Cup in 2006—put the treble year aside—that has to go down as one of the biggest achievements in my playing career, just seeing the joy and excitement of bringing our people together. That was amazing. To walk out there in Germany and lead that team out—to feel what you felt for your country was sensational.

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