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Thu, Mar

Aston Villa's Dwight Yorke, Savo Milosevic and Ian Taylor celebrate with the Coa Cola Cup after defeating Leeds United 3-0 at Wembley.
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Dwight Yorke's arrival at - and departure from - Aston Villa left a lasting impression on supporters.

Forget for a moment the controversial nature of Dwight Yorke's departure to Manchester United, inflamed certainly by John Gregory's announcement that "If I'd had a gun, I would have shot him".

And if fans can put to one side the fact Yorke played at St Andrew's for a few short months, then perhaps they would agree he was one of the most naturally gifted footballers to have pulled on the claret and blue jersey in the last 60 years.

Spotted on a beach by Graham Taylor during a pre-season tour of the West Indies, Yorke had to bide his time before making his mark.

But leave a lasting impression he definitely did.

Yorke sprang to prominence in the early part of the 1991/92 season when scoring against Nottingham Forest in a 3-1 home win in September 1991.

He scored in four successive league games against Wimbledon, Notts County, QPR and Leeds in the following months and ended the season top-scoring with 17 goals, 11 of which came in the league and five in the FA Cup - including a first hat-trick against Derby County - to finish ahead of veteran striker Cyrille Regis.

The following two seasons Yorke hit six and then no league goals as he played second fiddle to Dean Saunders and Dalian Atkinson.

But he scored eight goals in a regular starting place in 1994/95, a season which was a pointer of what was to come because 1995/96 belonged to "Yorkie".

He blasted 17 league goals alongside Savo Milosevic, and 25 in total as Villa clinched fourth place in the league and won the League Cup.

Yorke starred in the final against Leeds, which more than made up for his disappointment at not even making the bench a couple of years earlier.

Another 17 league goals arrived in 1996/97 (20 in total) and 12 in 1997/98 (16 in total), before his move to Old Trafford after just one start in August 1998.

He became just as big a star at United, where he stayed for four seasons.Full name: Dwight Eversley Yorke.
Date of birth: November 3, 1971.
Born: Canaan, Tobago.
Villa league career: December 1989-August 1998: 231 appearances, 73 goals.
Honours for Villa: League Cup winner 1996.

Fascinating fact: The initial £10,000 paid to Signal Hill was one of the best pieces of business Villa ever did, particularly as he was sold to Manchester United for £12.6million in 1998.

Villa Park highlight: Got over the disappointment of not even making the bench for the March 1994 final against Manchester United by playing a starring role in the 1996 League Cup Final against Leeds when he netted a third goal for the club in the 88th minute to wrap up a comfortable 3-0 victory.