Dwight Yorke says he is ready to manage in the English Premier League, and believes it is time for other individuals like himself to be given an opportunity to do so — not merely ones who have been at it for the last few years.

Yorke, who played for Aston Villa in the Premier League for a decade before making the switch to Manchester United, where he flourished under manager Sir Alex Ferguson, has been in Jamaica for the past few days as a guest of telecommunications giant FLOW, broadcast partners of the “Red Devils”.

The 46-year-old is certain that the time is right for some fresh faces to be seen on the touchline of some of the top clubs in England.

“I think I made my intentions clear… I am now 46 years of age and I felt that it’s a good time to get into management. I feel like I have got my mojo back so to speak, where football is concerned.

“I feel that it’s been a football merry-go-round when you look at the Premier League, [as] it’s the same managers who are getting the sack and coming round and all that and I feel that there is a young generation bursting to get in there, let alone black managers,” said the Trinidadian.

The Manchester United club ambassador says that former black players are just not being given the chance in England.

“Truth be told, there are 92 football league teams in England [and] there is only two, possibly three black managers. And when you think of the number of black players that have represented in the Premier League, “I know for a fact that there are black players out there wanting to be managers, but it’s the lack of opportunity. So that in itself is another challenge.”

The 1999 treble winner (English Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League), cited his own personal experiences at trying to get jobs.

“I have made it clear that I want to be a manager, I want to be given an opportunity to manage. I have put in my CV (curriculum vitae) for the Aston Villa job, also for the Sunderland job, and got very little in return for doing that. So I know that there are challenges, but I feel that I am ready to do it and by doing that I need an opportunity,” said Yorke.

He also pointed to what he sees as a clear bias in how things are done in that country.

“You can say you need experience, but I have seen the likes of (Steven) Gerrard and the likes of (Frank) Lampard, who are younger than me with no managerial experience, but yet being given opportunities, so there is something that is happening out there that we need to change,” noted Yorke.

But the man who represented Trinidad and Tobago at the World Cup in Germany in 2006, says he believes the wind of change is beginning to blow.

“I know it’s down to owners and chairmen to give people opportunities, but I haven’t got that and I know that three are other black players, but hopefully something is in the pipeline.

“I am confident that something is about to happen and we wanna see everybody get a fair crack at the whip. If I am good, I am good, and if I am not, then I just walk away like everybody else. I’m certainly ready to go into management now; I think that is the way to go,” Yorke concluded.

Yorke, who currently does a lot of work in media, is ready to trade in the comfort of the air-conditioned rooms he now works from for the pressure of being pitch side on match days as he stays in touch with his life’s passion.