David Connolly has told a hilarious story of what happened after Dwight Yorke joined Sunderland.
The pair joined Sunderland on deadline day in 2006 and both spent the next three years on Wearside.
Connolly and Yorke scored 19 goals between them during their stint with the Black Cats, helping the side win the Championship in their first season.
They went onto represent the club in the Premier League before leaving, but it wasn’t their on-pitch performances that Connolly has now opened up about.
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Yorke’s Christmas party that didn’t go to plan
In reaction to Yorke’s interview with the Mirror, his former teammate took to X to tell a hilarious story about a Christmas party.
Connolly wrote: “Dwight Yorke joined Sunderland the same time as me and was in charge of the Xmas party one year. So off we went to London, to all his favourite spots, we even had our Xmas meal at Nobu.
“Black cod barely touched, well out of the lads comfort zone, most went to Mc D’s instead.”
The transformation of Sunderland’s squad over the last decade
Yorke was one of the biggest names at Sunderland at that time, having won three Premier League titles, the FA Cup and the Champions League with Manchester United.
He clearly liked his glam and enjoyed living a footballer lifestyle, but it is refreshing to hear how many players would still prefer the type of night that most of the supporters live each week.
Whether that would still be the same is another question however, with footballers often being spotted in fancy restaurants, driving fancy cars and partying at high-end clubs.
It feels like the current Sunderland squad are quite well-grounded though and the club have done well to avoid adding any big problem personalities to the group.
There is no doubting that the Black Cats had their fair share of those over the last decade, with the likes of Jack Rodwell, Lamine Kone and Papy Djilobodji proving to be real issues for the club at the time.
Once Sunderland had been taken over, their double relegation allowed them to be seen as an attractive club for players in the lower leagues to join. Once promotion to the Championship happened, even more players were excited by a potential return to the top flight.
However, when the Black Cats were already in the Premier League, these big personalities were simply joining for a pay cheque and caused real problems in the mean time.