‘Latas’ wants Yorke at Falkirk

TRINIDAD and Tobago football team captain Dwight Yorke may yet join “Litle Magician” Russell Latapy at Falkirk in the Scottish League. This follows reports from Sydney, Australia where Yorke plays in the A-League indicating that there had been no formal approach for the former Aston Villa and Manchester United star striker. However Latapy has added his bit in the ongoing issue saying that the Tobago-born would be  happy playing in Scotland on a proposed three-month loan deal leading up to the World Cup Finals in June. “I’ve spoken to Dwight about coming over and I think he’s quite keen on it. His season in Australia finishes in February and he will need a team to stay in shape for the World Cup. It’s the biggest tournament in the world so there’s no way he won’t be in top condition for it.

“To be that, he needs matches, so I think it would be perfect for him to come here,” Latapy told the Scotsman newspaper on Thursday. “I’ve known Dwight for a long time and we’ve played together for the national side many times. “It’s always been an ambition of mine to play in the same club side with him and this would be the perfect opportunity. He’s a great player and would do a great job here if he wanted to,” Latapy said. He added that Yorke had in fact met with Falkirk bosses during the TT/Bahrain play-off. “I introduced the directors to him at our World Cup qualifying game (against Bahrain) and put the idea to him, and now it’s something he’s thinking about,” he said. Latapy is continuing his effort to expose TT’s talent and has been behind Densill Theobald’s transfer to Falkirk but there is a current hold-up as the club tries to sort out his work permit. Also Technical Director of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation Lincoln Phillips has paid tributed to Yorke, saying that he truly deserves the title of the Football Federation’s “Player of the Year” for 2005 .

Phillips said Yorke should be a strong contender for the First Citizens “Sportsman of the Year” award. The former outstanding national goalkeeper was speaking at the end of the three-day training  camp for Under-21 and Under-23 players at the Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva where he sounded pleased about the search for future Yorkes. “I think it is definitely a fitting tribute to a man who has shown the qualities of a giant leader, not only for coming back and giving his all but in the fashion in which he did it by leading the country to one of its biggest sporting achievements,” Phillips said. “We felt that while the entire team deserved kudos and there were others who performed with distinction, Yorke was the player who should be given the nod,” he said. The decision to adjudge Yorke as the “Player of the Year” was a unanimous decision of the TTFF Executive Committee and Technical Department a media release stated yesterday.