Timber! Portland Heroes Who Refused To Be Felled

Barry Powell, Peter Withe and friends are still buzzing following the 50-year reunion of the Portland Timbers heroes who rocked football in America’s first halcyon era in the sport.

The duo and two other former Wolves men, Chris Dangerfield and Jimmy ‘Seamus’ Kelly, attended the week-long get-together in Oregon of a squad who blazed a glorious trail in their first year after formation by winning the Western Division of the NASL and reaching the final of Soccer Bowl.

That spectacular occasion ended in disappointment and defeat against Tampa Bay Rowdies in San Jose but the memories and pride live on.

“Seems like yesterday,” wrote Withe on Facebook, the 1982 European Cup final winner having thrown himself into the ‘legends that left a legacy’ celebrations and stayed behind for several more days following the emotional farewells.

“It has been a fun week,” he added. “We’ve had a cocktail party at Tony Betts’ home, a dinner at Mick Hoban’s place, a q&a with the Timbers Army, a coffee morning and a tour of the Nike hq which was amazing.”

There was also a nostalgic walk-on to the pitch on match-night at the visit of San Jose Earthquakes, with the players wearing green and white club scarves as they were introduced to the crowd.

The 1975 Timbers had a huge West Midlands influence, with the various loanees from Molineux being mixed and matched with several Villa favourites headed by Brian Godfrey (now deceased) and Willie Anderson under the management of Vic Crowe and Leo Crowther.

The side were inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame five years ago – the first football team to receive the honour – and Withe and Powell were named in the NASL All-Stars second team for 1975.

“It was a fantastic trip,” Powell said after returning to his Warwickshire home. “It all seemed to be organised and finalised at short notice but I was the first to touch down there and Mick Hoban took the trouble to greet me at the airport, which was a lovely gesture.

“Withey came in shortly afterwards, so we had a few hours together before the others arrived – and then I don’t remember getting much sleep after that!

“There were lads there, like Mick, who did a lot of the organising, who I don’t think I had seen for 50 years, so you can imagine the stories were flowing.

“It’s quite fitting that we weren’t sure we were going until a few days before because, when the club were formed in 1975, we were basically thrown together a couple of days before the league season began.

“We gelled perfectly, though, and we all agreed that we would have beaten Tampa in the Soccer Bowl if we had played them on a bigger pitch. We had excellent wingers in Willie Anderson, who hs worked over there in TV and radio for years, and Jimmy Kelly. But the lines were pulled in much tighter and that didn’t suit us.”

The reunion line-up also included two other former Villa youngsters, Barrie Lynch and Betts, but organisers had to admit defeat in their efforts to also persuade along Wolves’ first black player, Don Gardner.

Tipton-born Hoban went to St Chad’s College in Wolverhampton before being signed by Villa as a youngster. He didn’t reach their first team but has had a glittering career in football and business since moving to America. 

Portland, now coached by Phil Neville, have a montage of the reunion on their www.timbers.com website.

*Ulster-born Jimmy Kelly, who played 23 first-team Wolves games in the mid-1970s, including the title-and-relegation decider at home to Liverpool in 1976, is now known among his Portland contemporaries, at his request, as ‘Seamus’.