I won the treble with Man Utd and asked Sir Alex Ferguson for a year off with pay – his response was classic
MANCHESTER UNITED legend Dwight Yorke asked Sir Alex Ferguson for a year off WITH PAY after the treble triumph in 1999.
Yorke spearheaded Ferguson’s frontline alongside Andy Cole and registered 29 goals as well as 19 assists in 51 appearances that season.
But once the dust settled from that grueling campaign, the striker wanted to recharge his batteries – a little too much – and tried to ask for the kind of time off no one has ever dared to.
The ex-Trinidad and Tobago international asked Fergie for a 12-month leave thinking there was nothing left to conquer – and he wanted to get paid in full during his extended sabbatical.
Yorke told United’s official podcast when asked about that strange request: “Yeah, but with pay. Yeah, I mean, what else would you do?
“I went in and I said, ‘Gaffer, what are we doing?’ Obviously, after you win the treble there’s nothing to do.
“[I asked] ‘Can I have a year off from football, with pay, and then I come back the next year and rejoin the team’. Honestly, I don’t know what made me think that. I just thought, ‘What else is there to do?
“‘There’s nothing else to do. What more can we possibly do as a team?’
“Yeah, you can repeat the feat, but if you don’t repeat it you are deemed as a failure.”
But as expected, no-nonsense Ferguson didn’t put up with it and responded in typical Sir Alex fashion.
FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS – BEST NEW CUSTOMER OFFERS
Yorke, though, still laughs when he remembers that moment as he knew the legendary United boss wouldn’t have granted his wish anyway.
The 51-year-old added: “That was a fun moment. If ever in time you were going to ask the gaffer for anything, that was the time to go in and ask him.
“I didn’t have anything to lose. He could tell me to f**k off, which is what he did.
“It was kind of jokingly, but if he had said to me ‘take a year off’ I would have taken it, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen, but I thought, ‘you know what, it’s worth a try’.”