"It's not long ago that they were regarded as the best attacking pair in Europe," said Graeme Souness. "Andy is a predator. He does the job for us that Ian Rush used to do for Liverpool. And Dwight is the ideal partner, as they have shown time and time again. I couldn't tell you why United let them go, but I'm glad they did."
The Guardian says that Jaap Stam backs Souness’s judgement, predicting "United's loss will be Blackburn's gain" and hailing the Yorke-Cole partnership as the best he has worked with. "I could never have guessed that Andy and then Dwight would be sold," he said. "When they were playing together and on top form they were sensational. It is rare to have two front players with no obvious weaknesses. They are fast, good in the air, deadly on the ground and they have a knack for taking the right positions at the right time. Plus they seem to know instinctively what the other is doing."
Yorke claims that Ferguson never gave him a chance:
"The last year has been the most difficult time of my career, but my goalscoring record speaks for itself and I left with my head held high," he said. "I trained hard all week and at the weekend I wasn't getting a look-in.