Timbers Army History, 2005: When Sunderland Came Calling

The Sunshine Flag from back in the day. A long time ago in a section far away.

Yesterday, I received my 2018 107ist packet with the current membership card. It's always exciting to read about the achievements of our incredibly expansive group, but it also reminds me of how far this group has come since I first joined. While my friend Obi and I attended the infamous Timbers playoff match with Hershey back in 2001, we didn't officially become Timbers Army members until late 2004. It's hard to fathom that 14 years later, many of the friends that I still have are due to getting involved with the Timbers Army. That fact was further emphasized with a recent email I received from another football friend, Gary. For long time Timbers fans, you might know him as Gary SAFC Lamb or Gary the Mackem.

The time was 2005 and the English club Sunderland, just promoted to the Premiership after a long dry spell, was completing the Cascadia trifecta for their preseason training. With all 3 clubs still in the USL, it was quite the tour in late June to start in Canada with the Whitecaps, venture south for a visit in Flounderville to then finish in the Rose City. I remember July 23 greatly as Obi and I started our day with breakfast at the Kingston at 8 AM followed by a full tour of the neighborhood all day before the match. While the game itself ended in a scoreless draw, the atmosphere was electric and the attendance was one of the bigger crowds all year. Little did I know that meeting these soccer loving folks from Northern England would change my life so much over the years in the process.

My collective of 107ist cards. Yeah, I have a few.

Gary had joined our message board, Soccer City USA, and laid out plans for the match. He then extended an invitation to anyone that wanted to come out to Sunderland to see a match the following April. I had been on the fence about going until I got a call Labor Day weekend about my mom. She was declining due to cancer, but in one of our last conversations, I told her about my Timbers Army friends and the chance to go to England to watch soccer. I thought she would tell me it was a stupid idea, which was her usual mode of operations, but instead, she told me to go because you'll never get another chance like this again. She died 5 days later, and I'd made a promise to go. In 2006, I was one of 31 Timbers Army fans that invaded Sunderland for a dizzying trip full of soccer, crazy accents and more alcohol that I could reasonably consume. The trip was indeed legendary, but it was followed up in 2007 when Gary, his wife Jackie and their dear friend Paulie came to Portland for a visit. In 2008, my wife and I visited Seaham on the first stop of our 3 week honeymoon and were treated like true royalty of sorts. While it's been years since I've actually seen Gary, we still talk via email about life and soccer periodically.

We talk a lot about knowing your history, and in Gary's recent email to me, he wanted to share the details of their football tour from their perspective in all 3 cities. For those lucky enough to be part of the Timbers and the Army at that point, it might bring back some memories of a really fun, but tiring weekend. For those that weren't part of this, this tale reminds me so much of embracing the experience of being a soccer supporter and sharing the love of the game with others. Bonding over the love of soccer is one of the true passions of the game, and while Gary's tale is long, it's rich with commentary about our city and fans with some digs about out friends up north. My hope is that this year, I take some time to share these historical stories from my perspective. As much as events get talked about, it's also important to write about them and share the experience, too. Here is Gary's tale in his own words, enjoy!

THE GREATEST FOOTBALL TOUR, EVER!!!

Our club announced that our 2005 pre-season tour would be in on the North West coast of Canada & the USA, taking in games at Wankcouver, Shittle & Portland. As soon as the details were released, flight & travel arrangements were sorted within a few days, and everyone was looking forward to another new adventure.

The rest of our party were flying direct to Vancouver, but I had to fly to Dallas first to accompany a friend (Fraser) who is shit scared of flying. With great planning Fraser & I arrived in Vancouver, just a few hours before the rest of our party, and we all headed straight down to the car-hire desk to pick up the 10 seater mini-bus, so we could get to our hotel.

Prior to leaving the UK I had booked all our hotels through the Ramada Hotel chain, and searched for info on the teams we were playing. When I came across the soccercityusa board, where the response from those on the board was amazing, so much so that we were so glad the Timbers game was the last on the tour, even though a few (Ultras) had told us to keep away, but everyone else told us that when you meet these guys they were really friendly, unless the Timbers were playing Shittle. This proved to be the case.

Anyway back to the adventure, we made our way across Vancouver to our hotel, which was situated only ½ a mile from Vancouver’s ground, arriving on the Wednesday evening around 8.00pm. BUT!!!  We were not aware that we were right in the heart of the red light district, and the girls used our hotel for there clients. It was a bit of an eye-opener, but the hotel had a fantastic sports bar which would stay open all long as someone wanted a drink. So, you can imagine the sore heads the following morning.

This is Swangard Stadium, former home of the Whitecaps in Burnaby BC.

Trying to get the guys out of bed the following day proved a nightmare, due to a mixture of jetlag & drink. Finally at about 3pm we were all ready to hit Vancouver, for a bit of sight-seeing, before we carried straight on for a night on the town. (Taxis back to the hotel at 4am when you’re a tourist and very drunk, WHAT A RIP-OFF)

The next day (Fri) no arrangements had been made, just a lazy day around the hotel pool, something to eat, and a night in the hotel sports bar. During the course of the day lots of familiar faces and accents started arriving at the hotel, as more & more Sunderland supporters descended on Vancouver for tomorrow’s game. By late evening the bar had around 2-300 Sunderland supporters in it, and to make the evening even better the entertainment that night was a beautiful stripper, who was inviting some of the Guys on stage, for a bit of fun. (no names given, but it wasn’t  for the married men, who got on stage, I’ll leave the rest to your imagination)

So game day arrived, and with even more Sunderland supporters hitting our hotel sports bar before the game, it was hard to believe that we were some 6,000 miles from home. The singing & chanting were excellent and gradually got louder as the beers & ciders disappeared. 15 mins before kick-off and the bar emptied as we made our way to the ground (Can I really call it a ground) it was more like a grassed area with a fence around it, and hired in seating. Anyway the game was a bit of a damp squid, and the only entertainment of the day was the Sunderland fans rushing the corporate bleachers behind the goal, to get at some “Dickhead” wearing a Scumcastle shirt. (His brains were obviously up his arse, when he made the decision to wear his “Bar-code” shirt to a Sunderland game, or, he had a death wish)

So it was back to our hotel sports bar after the game, and word had obviously spread about during the game where everyone was going for a drink afterwards, as our bar had ½ hour queues waiting to serve thirsty Mackems. Great weather meant the back doors were opened to the car-park area, to accommodate the Red & Whites. Extra security was called in and the manager took the unusual decision that only Sunderland supporters were allowed in. This had me thinking, has a bar in Canada ever barred the locals to allow it to be taken over by football supporters from England. All I can remember is; “WHAT A NIGHT WE HAD”

Timbers vs. Whitecaps had a much different look back when. 

Next day the mini-bus was loaded as we headed for Seattle (sorry I mean Shittle) but first we had to cross the Canada/USA border, no-one prepared us for this. A 2 hour traffic jam, waiting to cross, and a van full of English football fans, not recommended at U.S. borders. They off-loaded us from the van and ushered us into the checking area while they sent the drug sniffing dogs around us, then into the mini-bus.  Are U.S. border guards told that they are not allowed to smile? We were held for another 2 ½  hours while they checked each one of us over, one by one, not even allowing any of us to go outside for a cigarette once we were cleared. Not until everyone was checked were we finally allowed on our way, where the final guard even had the cheek to say “Enjoy your stay in the U.S.  (It’s a good job he didn’t hear the reply from some of the guys)

So finally we were on the Highway in the USA, heading for Shittle, arriving just in time for the evening rush-hour, anyway after battling horrendous traffic we seemed to be heading well out of the city to our hotel, which was situated in Tacoma (close to the airport) We finally arrived at the hotel around 5.30pm and were greeted by the hotel manager who was a really strange character, a member of some really weird religious group, the guys in our group nick-named him “The Freak”

We settled into our rooms and arranged to meet in the lobby half an hour later, ready to hit the town. “The Freak” told us where to catch a bus into the city, which was a 45min journey, I can remember passing some kind of aircraft museum on the way in, and passing the football stadium, before arriving in town. As time was getting on we simply just had a bar-crawl ending up in some Irish bar close to the fish market, down a small alleyway. Not being a fish eater, the smell in the area was horrendous, almost as bad as the smell when you cross the Tyne Bridge into Newcastle.

Later on in the night the Sunderland players descended on this Irish bar, and we found out that the bar were sponsors of our game against Shittle. After a few more drinks, posters and banners around the pub disappeared as we all wanted a few mementos to take home, and by the end of the night we were up on the tables singing and chanting our songs as the players watched on in amazement. I don’t think the clubs new players could believe how many Sunderland fans had made the journey over, but eventually after a few more drinks we even had them singing along with us, as it was their night off and the manager (Mick McCarthy) had told them they could let their hair down. As you can imagine nights like this don’t happen very often, so we really made the most of it, not leaving the pub until around 4.30am. (Don’t ask me how we got back to the hotel, I haven’t got a clue)

The place still smells after all these years. 

Sometime the following day we decided to go back into town for a bit of sightseeing, taking in a tour of the “football” stadium, a trip up that big tower thing, (I think it’s called the”Needle”) and a look around the fish market area (The smell was still just as bad as before) It was a red hot day and as we were having a bite to eat in a pub quite close to the ground, when we took the decision to go back the hotel for a shower, and have a drink close to the hotel that evening. (BIG MISTAKE!!!!)

After a wash & brush up we gathered in the hotel bar for a drink and then headed out. We asked “The Freak” where the local bars were, but he replied that drinking was against his religion, and he didn’t have a clue where we could find one. So we just decided to take a walk and see where we ended up, as we left our hotel the manager from the hotel next door was just coming out, so we asked him about the local bars, this was when we were given a bit of an insight into the area we were in. He warned us that it was a really bad area for prostitutes and drugs, and advised us not to walk around on our own. But as a group of ten guys we thought we could handle it OK, and thanked him for his advice, but we did take his card, as he had a shuttle-bus, and he said to give him a call if we needed transport.

We were only about 100yds up the road when we came across some drug fuelled prostitute who asked us if we wanted any business, when we declined she told us in no uncertain terms to “F*ck off”

(As most of you are aware, in the area where we live back home, we don’t come across ghetto areas, full of blacks and prostitutes. None of us are racists but we simply don’t have a black population in our area, so this really was a totally different culture, and certainly an eye-opener for us)

So now, we were a little bit more on our guard, and headed up the road, the manager in the hotel next door had recommended a bar to us, and said it was the only “white” bar in the area, but it was approximately 2 miles up the road. As we carried on up we were approached on numerous occasions by beggars, drunks, and druggies all asking for money, so we were a bit relieved when we finally found the bar we were looking for. BUT!!! As we walked in you would have thought we were aliens from outer space, as the whole place went quiet for a few moments and everyone starred at us, but the female owner behind the bar was really friendly, and when she asked us where we were from, she bought a full round of drinks “on the house” and shouted to the locals “Calm down, they’re only tourists” she then told us that the area had many rival gangs, and the locals in her bar get a little on edge when strangers come in.

(Where the hell are we, now we are in the “headquarters of some Hispanic gang”)

This year's color is blue. Not to be confused with bule. Still hideous.

But to be honest we had no problems with them, until myself and one of our guys decided to have a friendly game of pool on one of the 2 “HUGE” pool tables. After 3-4 games of which I won all of them, one of the locals challenged me to a game for $10, I said I would only play for a pint, which he agreed to, he was an unbelievable player, but I beat him on the last ball, and he dually bought me a cider. BUT THEN!!! He wanted a re-match for $200 and his crowd all wanted to put on bets for big money against our guys. I declined and said I only play for a bit of fun, but some big guy in his crowd shouted over words to the effect of “You can’t come in our bar, beat our best player, and turn down a re-match, who do you guys think you are”

Thank God for the female owner, who calmed them all down, and told them they were not going to start any trouble with some guys from England (to be truthful, we were shitting ourselves) The atmosphere in the bar just wasn’t the same after this, and even though we didn’t have any more problems, and had a couple more drinks, you just had that feeling that we were not welcome. We finally decided to head back to the hotel, but first of all we needed something to eat, as we were starving. The female bar owner told us that the only place that would still be open at around midnight, would be the Wendy Burger place just over the road. We thanked her for her hospitality and headed across the road, passing some old tramp on the pavement, who we all gave our loose change too. Well, you always seem more sympathetic when you’ve had a few drinks.

We could see the big sign above Wendy’s advertising “Open 24hrs” so our belly’s were screaming for food, but when we got there the restaurant was closed, and only the drive through was open, and because we were not in a vehicle the snotty nose young kid at the serving hatch would not serve us, even though we offered her a $50 tip between us. So now what were we going to do, while we were trying to decide a Chinese looking guy pulled up to the hatch in a big black S.U.V. with his wife in the passenger seat. SO!!!! We asked him to take our order and gave him the money, he was very obliging and put in our huge order, which the snotty nosed kid agreed to serve as long as it was passed back through his car, before it was given to us. We waited in the car-park while the order was being put together, when we were approached by this HUGE black guy asking if we had any spare change, when we explained that we had just given all our spare change to the old tramp over the road, he said “You guys ain’t cops are you, and pulled out a gun, F*ck me I was shitting myself, we explained that we were just a bunch of guys from England, and not plain-clothed cops, he then said “well that’s OK cos I hate fucking cops and would have blown you away” and then just calmly walked away as if nothing had happened. Jesus I thought this was the “Land of the Free” we were in, not some Gangster movie.

We had planned to walk back to the hotel, but after collecting the food we headed straight back into the pub to use the phone and got the shuttle-bus back.

WE COULD NOT WAIT TO GET THE HELL OF THIS SHIT-HOLE. And we still had the next day (match day) and night to go.

The North End, 2006. Gary is very much a legend but the sign reinforced it.

We were up quite early the next day, still talking about our “experience” from the previous night, and we all agreed that we just needed to be heading out of Seattle ASAP.

The next morning we left the hotel about 10.30am and headed for downtown Shittle, dressed in our colours ready for the game, which didn’t kick-off till 7.30pm, but we wanted to soak up the atmosphere in the local bars around the ground, which were already packed with Sunderland fans when we got there. They were some great scenes during the day with Sunderland fans attracting quite a big crowd of onlookers as we were singing outside the pub, on the terrace area, which took up most of the wide pavement. Eventually it was time to go to the game, and I must say that after visiting the stadium the previous day, it is certainly a HUGE improvement on Vancouver. We had to endure really strict searches before we got in the ground at a security area which seemed to be about 200yds away from the ground. Again we didn’t really have much interest in the game, as we just look on pre-season tours as a big holiday on the drink, and the game becomes a bit of a blur, but I can remember a crowd of about 15-20 guys, one with a drum, trying to out-sing the Sunderland fans, the only chance they had of doing that was “NO F*CKING CHANCE”.

After the game I know we went back to that big Irish pub near the fish market, but that’s the last memory I have of the night (This cider makes you lose your memory)

The next day, we were finally on our way out of Shittle, and all we can say to all their citizens is;- “THIS IS THE SMELLIEST, MOST UNINVITING, SCARIEST, SHIT-HOLE WE HAVE EVER VISITED, ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD” no wonder the people from Portland call it “SHITTLE”

Beating these guys never gets old. Ever.

After our experiences in Seattle, we started to wonder what kind of reception was awaiting us in Portland, and started to thinking about the threats from the “Ultras” prior to leaving the UK. Was Portland as just as bad as Seattle? Were their fans unwelcoming? Would we have a good time? All these thoughts were running around our minds.

We found our hotel close to the airport, arriving around 4.00pm on the Thursday and after settling in we headed into Town in our mini-bus parking up in a car-park somewhere close to the river, and walked into town, guess where we were heading, to the nearest bars but Newt had agreed not to drink as he was the nominated driver. I can’t remember the names of the bars but the first place we went was another Irish bar, where we had some food and you were allowed to smoke in the downstairs cellar area, which had a table footy game. After that we ended up in a bar which had a live rock band on, I remember there was a cover charge to get in, but the big guy on the door let us in for free, when he heard we were from England. Already Portland was giving us a good, friendly welcome, with everyone seeming to want to have a friendly chat. We didn’t stay out to long that night as we were all so tired after so many late drinking nights, but when we found our way back to the mini-bus, we had a parking ticket, and Newt insisted we paid it, even though the rest of us just said “tear it up” I went straight to bed when we got back to the hotel, but, Carl, Marsey, Randle, Carls dad Brian & Keith had a bit of a party back in their room, with loads of bottles and cans from the Liquor store, and they phoned a pizza delivery place, who brought along the biggest pizzas I’ve ever seen in my life. Their hotel room the next day looked as if it had had a terrorist attack, with bits of pizzas and empty bottles lying all over. The cleaner refused to clean it up, THAT’S HER BLOODY JOB, ISN’T IT??? Well she won’t be getting a tip.

The next day (Fri) we got the MAX into town and went looking for PGE  park, and the Bullpen pub, we could see into the ground through the fence and took a few pictures, before we went into the Bullpen, where we were greeted by the friendliest bar-tender I’ve ever met I’m sure her name was Kathy, and she said that she had heard that a lot of Sunderland fans were expected in town, she made a couple of phone calls to a few Timbers fans and invited us back on the evening, saying that a few of them would come along, for a few drinks with us. After a beautiful meal and another few drinks, we thanked her and said we would be back that evening.

We then walked back into town and the fact that we were wearing our colours, everyone seemed to be saying to us welcome to Portland, and enjoy the game tomorrow. Even cars were tooting their horns and waving at us, at last we seemed to be in a City that knew their football, were friendly, and very welcoming, but nothing could prepare us for what would happen that night.

The Bullpen, the site of many drinks during the visit from Sunderland fans.

We did a bit of shopping in town, and a look around, before we got the MAX back to the hotel for a shower & to get changed ready for the night. By this time we were really looking forward to our stay in Portland, what a huge difference from Shittle.

All spruced up and refreshed, it was back on the MAX and heading for the Bullpen, where we were expecting around 20-30 Timbers fans, but when we opened the door we received the best greeting of our lives, with around 150-200 Timbers fans eagerly awaiting our arrival, they adorned us with scarves, pin-badges and numerous other bits of Timbers memorabilia, and they would not let us buy a drink, at one point I had 7 pints of Woodchuck Cider in front of me, and all the other Sunderland fans had pints put in front of them, with every Timbers fan refusing to accept a drink back from us. Your hospitality, friendliness, and fantastic songs and chants are unrivalled anywhere in the world, no matter where we have been following Sunderland. I would like to mention each and every one of you by name, but I think that would be totally unfair as I’d probably miss someone out.      

EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU ARE “GEMS OF THE EARTH”

I can’t remember what time we left the Bullpen, as we were enjoying ourselves so much, but I can remember that Kathy eventually called time, as she was running out of drink. Even so, that wasn’t the end of the night, we were invited back to a house party at big Abe’s house, with it’s own bar/brewery, a live band, lots of nice single girls (just ask Randle) and a Guy called Brian. This was the first time I had met Barnacle, who was wearing a white dress shirt with Black pin stripes. I told him that it looked bloody awful as it looked too much like a Newcastle shirt, (at this time I was unaware that Barnacle/Brian was a “Skunk” ) When he revealed that he was a Scumcastle fan, we ended up having a fun-fight where I tried to rip that awful shirt off his back. (I ended up with gravel burns from Abe’s driveway) Even though a lot of people think that Brian & I hate each other because of our comments on the soccercity board, we are actually very good friends who simply hate each others clubs, and even though this was the first time we had ever met the two of us drank together all night (But you still support a pile of shit, Brian) 2 cases of woodchuck later or 12 bottles later it was suddenly 6.00am and we ordered 2 taxis to take us back to the hotel. BUT!!! the nights adventure still hadn’t ended, as some guy who had left the party earlier, had beat up some other guy up the road, and while we were waiting for the taxis, the cops arrived, guns drawn and lined us up on the pavement outside Abe’s house, they asked us loads of questions and asked what we were doing, after we explained that we were just over for a football tour and were from England, they asked for our names, Randle replied ALAN SHEARER, & Marsey replied PETER BEARDSLEY well I was trying not to laugh, thank god they didn’t know any Newcastle players. BUT! For the second city running we’d had guns pulled on us, poor little Keith didn’t know what to do, at least this time I wasn’t shitting myself with fear, I couldn’t do anything but laugh due to all the beer. The taxis finally arrived and the cops let us go on our way. I’m not aware of how much longer they were at Abe’s house trying to gather information.

THANKS TO EVERYONE AT THE PARTY, WE HAD A BRILLIANT TIME.

Game day arrives, and remarkably I felt really fresh the next morning probably because the adrenalin and the feel good factor was still running through my veins, and we were all looking forward to the Bitter End & The Bullpen before the game (The Bullpen is still my favourite by a mile, it holds so many happy memories) Once again we were overwhelmed by the friendliness of the T/A and the atmosphere at the game was excellent, I can only describe it as if someone has taken football from Europe and dropped it in Portland. You are finally going to get what you deserve next season with MLS football and your fans will be a credit to the league, once again after the game we all went back to the Bullpen for another fantastic night of banter, singing & drinking. Sadly the following day we had to leave Portland and head back across the pond, but the friendships that were born over those few days will last a lifetime.

The pitch at the Stadium of Light from my 2006 visit very up close.

A story for a later date:-

As most of you will be aware, since our visit to Portland in 2005, 31 members of the T/A came over to Seaham (my home town,) the following Easter, to watch Sunderland play away to Man Utd, and home to Scumcastle. I have returned to Portland with my wife Jackie, and our friend Big Paul. Kip & Jen came back over to England the year after that, and we arranged an English wedding reception for them. Then last year Allie returned to England again to watch the Sunderland v Everton game. These are friendships that will never end, regardless of the distance between us.

PORTLAND’S TIMBERS ARMY, MAY I END BY SAYING;-

YOU LEFT AN IMPRESSION ON ME THAT NO OTHER CLUBS FANS ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, CAN COME ANYWHERE CLOSE TOO.

YOU ARE A VERY SPECIAL BREED AND MORE OF A FAMILY THAN A GROUP, YOU PROVED TO THE WORLD HOW SPECIAL FRIENDSHIPS CAN BE FORMED THROUGH FOOTBALL, YOU ARE ALL A CREDIT TO YOUR TEAM, AND THE CITY OF PORTLAND.

I PROMISE OUR PATHS WILL CROSS AGAIN, AS YOU ALL HOLD A SPECIAL PLACE IN MY HEART, AS DO THE TIMBERS.

AND AS ARNIE ONCE SAID;-

“I’LL BE BACK”

BEST WISHES TO YOU ALL,

GARY-THE-MACKEM.

Do I have any regrets about our visit to Portland, actually yes I had 1 regret, I never met the immortal “TIMBER JIM” but I promised myself that would be rectified one day, and you all know the outcome of that, because we met when Jackie and I returned, and all I can say is that he and his family, are very special people.

MY HEART GOES OUT TO ALL OF YOU, AND THANK YOU FOR THE MEMORIES.

Timbers Enter New Era With New Coach Giovanni Savarese

Okay, who went and broke the east side of Providence Park? 

This has already been one weird off season for the Portland Timbers in watching their first ever MLS draft pick leave via trade in December after their coach from the past 5 seasons left back in November. The Western Conference winners from 2017 have been very patient in their search, and right after the Darlington Nagbe trade went official, the team confirmed that they had selected their next head coach, former New York Cosmos coach and MLS legend Giovanni Savarese. Due to varying schedules and construction at Providence Park and the practice complex in Beaverton, Savarese would not officially meet the Portland media until January 8 in the only conference room available, the post match conference area in the deep concourses in the underground of the park. It was standing room only as over 75 media members gathered to hear the first words of the Timbers' fourth coach in the MLS era. While many outlets were reporting this was the third hire, Portland has had 4 men officially coach the team in the MLS era since 2011: John Spencer, Gavin Wilkinson (on an interim basis), Caleb Porter and now Savarese.

Having been at the other two introductory conferences for Spencer and Porter, the energy felt very different between the various announcements were very different. Spencer was an experienced MLS assistant, and I don't think many had put too many expectations forward on a new head coach and a team that was just starting in MLS play. When Porter was officially brought on in 2013, his conference had plenty of intrigue between his background as a successful college coach, questions about the current Timbers roster mostly centered around then Timbers forward Kris Boyd, and firm team expectations starting to be cemented. Savarese comes to Portland with an impressive resume as a player (including being one of the first stars in MLS), youth coach, and coach in lower division soccer. When asked about coming to Portland now after spurning offers from Houston and Minnesota previously, Savarese indicated it was the right time to make the move. Considering the organization, the team and environment, it's hard not to be excited about the potential here.

Something looks off here but I can't place it. 

Savarese mentioned passion, culture and organization several times in his nearly 50 minutes of comments following introductory remarks from Timbers Team Owner and Chairman Merritt Paulson and Timbers Technical Director Gavin Wilkinson that briefly mentioned the interview process. For Wilkinson, it was a matter that Gio "checked all the boxes" for him, which included one surprising addition for many fans - admission that the Timbers had the pieces to be competitive right now. While the Timbers were bounced from the postseason for a myriad of reasons, it's easy to forget that this group finished in the top spot in the Western Conference despite losing several players for extended periods of time. However, Portland isn't exactly the same side either, especially considering Darlington Nagbe is now wearing a red and black hit and playing in the Southeastern United States. At this point of the year, the case could be made that any club could be truly competitive provided the right pieces fall into place, and that's the part that many were concerned about. The Timbers have talent, but they would need fortification in several key areas - most notably center back - to even begin the conversation of being a truly elite side. Paulson talked more about being impressed with Saravese from the first meeting, and the positivity continued in the second interview when Gio brought a full scouting report on the good and the bad of the Timbers, which included ways that he could exploit the current setup and what he would do to mitigate these problems.

Many of the follow up questions talked about Savarese's background - former MLS player, international player, youth coach, ESPN analyst, NASL coach - but everything kept coming back to culture and passion. After listening to him for a few minutes, I wanted to run through a wall for him and I don't think balding 51 year old wingers with a questionable first touch and improving fitness will be high on his scouting list. Granted, most of the discussion falls into the common cliches in sports - every match is a final, we want everyone to play hard and compete, everyone will get a chance but they have to work, the season is a grind - but having a former player who is now coaching helps reinforce the point that depth and fitness will be at a huge premium. MLS is a fairly even league where parity reigns, and with matches starting in February to October, it's impossible to play the same collective week in and out to ensure they are healthy come post season. Gio also indicated he's not married to any one playing system either, so it's entirely possible that we could see differing formations depending on player availability, scheduling and scouting.

Gavin Wilkinson, Merritt Paulson & Gio Savarese address the Portland media.

There will also be input from the Timbers' new assistant coaching group, which underwent some revamping in roles. Sean McAuley, who has been with the Timbers since 2012 when he was hired after the Spencer firing, will remain as a first team assistant, but he will be joined by Carlos Llamosa and goalkeeper coach Guillermo "Memo" Valencia. Cameron Knowles and Adin Brown, assistants in 2016 for the first team, were reassigned to the Timbers 2 team with Knowles being named head coach and Brown joining former T2 Coach Andrew Gregor as his assistants. Familiarity is a big part of these moves by keeping many of the same names and faces, but adding talented and in-demand assistants (Llamosa has been with New England while also being an assistant to Savarese, while Valencia also coached for the Cosmos but had been linked with other jobs) should revitalize the approach, especially since Llamosa and Savarese like to play up tempo soccer building from the back. During his career, Valencia has also been a big advocate and believer in goalkeepers being more than shot stoppers and a true outlet for triggering the offense. In researching the Cosmos, I did see that they varied style and approach quite a lot thus reinforcing the tactic of changing things up to fit the personnel and opponent.

I'm intrigued by some of the talent on T2, but 2016 was less than stellar for the Timbers' top affiliated club in every aspect, so it will be interesting to see what Knowles can do with the group. Due to injuries on the first team, many players that were expected to help T2 were actually on the bench for the Timbers, but hopefully that won't be an issue this year. Savarese has a reputation for rewarding hard work in training and playing a mix of veterans and youth, so I'm expecting everyone to get an equal chance to earn the playing time - but they will need to perform and work hard to continue to play. Perhaps that seems very obvious, but I also feel some players portray an attitude of talent enough should be sufficient for me to be playing - and I don't see this approach happening under Gio. Right now, one goal that I would love to see for the entire Timbers and T2 is to truly build a similar platform and approach for both groups. I know Porter mentioned this on several occasions during his tenure, but in the few times I watched T2 in 2016, it didn't seem like that was the case. Whether it was execution, not following instructions, talent or youth going through learning how to play together, getting T2 back on track is as important a goal to me as figuring out the best mix for the first team.

Diego Valeri was super human in 2017. Will he repeat in 2018?

Savarese admitted the cupboard has some impressive talent, and when you have the reigning MLS MVP on your side in Diego Valeri, that's an impressive building block to start things. But anyone expecting Valeri to duplicate his 2016 output in terms of goals and assists might be disappointed if he doesn't, considering there has been only 2 players in MLS history with over 20 goals and 10 assists in a season. To expect a repeat of that is setting up this side for failure, for as much as I like Diego doing his creative best to aid this team, the Timbers need to establish a truly balanced attack. Getting Fanendo Adi back and healthy is a big start, but integrating him alongside Sebastian Blanco, Dairon Asprilla. Jeremy Ebobisse and the newly acquired Andy Polo is going to be paramount to keeping this attack on target. Polo's deal is intriguing as it's a loan from his parent club Monarcas Morelia for the 2018 season using Targeted Allocation Money with an option to buy; this allows the Timbers to use the TAM acquired from the Darlington Nagbe deal this season without taking on a massive future salary debt until after the season should they decide to exercise the option to keep Polo. I don't think it's possible to completely replace Nagbe within this attack, but having attacking options out wide and keeping Valeri available to patrol the middle and be creative is an idea I like. The Timbers were even able to promote one of their academy products when they signed forward Foster Langsdorf to a Homegrown Player deal this week. Langsdorf finished a productive career in college playing for Stanford University for four years, but Foster also played several seasons for the Timbers academy and for the Timbers U-23 club and was a very good scorer in each stop. As much as having veteran leadership is important, the Timbers must also continue to develop and play their youth by giving them chances to perform when they are earned.

Even with adding Polo, Langsdorf and the previously announced Julio Cascante at center back, there are still several questions that need to be resolved during training camp before the Timbers start the regular season on March 4 in Los Angeles facing the L.A. Galaxy. Who is your starter in goal - Jeff Attinella or Jake Gleeson? Does Cascante immediately move into the starting eleven at center back, or do we see Larrys Mabiala and Liam Ridgewell as the starting duo? Behind Cascante, Ridgy & Larrys, who are the main backups at center back, especially since I feel this is a position where the Timbers will need to add more reinforcement. I like Lawrence Olum a lot and he played very well at center back all year, but the club originally signed him as depth in central midfield and I actually think he's a better player there. Does Alvas Powell get the immediate nod to start in defense, or do we see a rotation of Vytas, Valentin, Farfan and Powell depending on who is most fit and fits within the attack strategy? It's actually nice that camp is nearly ready to start and we will start to see some of the answers to these questions, although the aforementioned construction means most matches for the 2018 preseason will be played in Arizona. At this point, it's just nice to see the beginnings of the season start to take shape and fans can all dream of another potential MLS Cup run.

Bringing On The New Year

It will be weird to see this guy in any other kit color than green. 

I hate writer's block. Seriously. It's got to be the worst things affecting anyone that ever tries to be creative with words, but honestly, there is plenty of reasons for this malady for me. The Timbers season ended rather abruptly, and the worst possible playoff schedule known to sports led to a rather disjointed end of season for most MLS fans not from Toronto. How the league can continue to put forth this plan year after year is beyond me, but then combine that with work frustration, world frustration and just common malaise, and it's hard to put words down. I realized I haven't written anything in this forum since mid-November, which is frustrating as anything because I've had ideas that I even started to put down and write. Then again, this is the twenty-eighth different version of this post after I've edited, reread and started over, mostly because thoughts are effectively all over the place.

Some of that could be attributed to social media, which has alternated between being fascinating and excruciating in a matter of seconds. While there are benefits about sharing information worldwide and being connected with people all throughout the world, it also brings the reality of issues right to the forefront. Instead of being more collaborative and inclusive, social media has also contributed (in my opinion) to much of the fragmentation going on right our. Our current leader spends so much time spouting off about whatever random thoughts he has for the moment, and it causes shockwaves for hours until something else happens. But this pattern repeats itself over and over again with several other accounts, and as much as folks try to rally and come together, it seems like it gets pulled apart again as quickly. And trying to vet out what is actual news and information is its own challenge - because effectively social media has given everyone a platform to share their ideas and world view with whatever audience finds them. I've spent a lot of time on Twitter providing my thoughts about Timbers, politics, cats and whatever else is going on, so then when it's time to write in a more long term format, the ideas stall. And I think I've finally figured out why.

What can this guy do for an encore after his 2017 season?

Social media allows ideas and information to flow quickly, but it's terrible at providing thoughtful and detailed analysis. Our world is so complicated and fast moving that analysis is hugely important, yet who really has time to figure out whether something is important, impactful or otherwise. This opens the door for opinion pieces and sites that will in part do the thinking and interpretation for us, but allowing that skewers the narrative, especially if those outlets have their own agenda and viewpoint. Within months, many news outlets have sprung up to put their voice out in a very loud and crowded marketplace, and for myself, I got overwhelmed by it all. As someone who works in media albeit part time, it's terrible for me to watch good people and great outlets constantly being run through the ringer for simply trying to report news. But several outlets simply appear not to care of the ramifications of their actions and are simply in it for the clicks and attention, letting the affects of their posts do what they may. Even in trying to focus on happy thoughts like sharing soccer and cats, it's hard to block out the rest of the world. I'm realizing though that instead of trying to stop it, it's time to start modifying the reality of it - or at least my small part of it.

I've never been party to talking about rumors, especially when it comes to the Timbers. Our club has grown from a mere afterthought in the USL/A-League/D2 days to part of the world collective of soccer, and if you really wanted to, there would be dozens of factoids about players that are interested in Portland, going to sign, not going to sign, or any combination of that. The ideas are started by agents, players, interested parties, or just other fans, and the credibility of those varies depending on the source. As an outlet, you could get totally bogged down trying to flesh all of this out and speculate for days upon end, but in the end, the end result is the reality of the roster. I'd absolutely love it if Messi decided to come to Portland, but it's likely never going to happen for a number of reasons - mostly money. And even if he did come at some point, it's likely that he would be here in the bare fringes at the end of his career. Yet it seems like every year during the Timbers offseason, the list of player wishes for signings always include the outlandish. Maybe it's supposedly funny, ironic, sarcastic, or some other idea, but for me, it's just plain stupid. I don't want to squash any ideas in that thinking because there have been several recent developments that I never thought I would see, and that keeps me humbled in knowing that while some events might be unlikely to happen, that doesn't mean they can't.

Team Tortie will be back in 2018 with some content.

I didn't see Caleb Porter leaving, but he made a decision to walk away. There's been rampant speculation about reasons and the why, and honestly, nobody outside of Caleb will ever truly know the truth. I've tried to analyze it from every angle - from current roster to the inability to hire his own assistants to the future to other job offers - and nothing comes up truly concrete. But I know him well enough to know one simple fact - when he's made up his mind to do something, he does it without hesitation. Something, whatever that is, told him it was time to move on and he did. As someone who hasn't always listened to those voices, I admire that conviction to stick with the thought even if it might not appear to be the right path. Sometimes the unexpected path is the right choice, or at least that's what they tell me. Portland now brings in Giovanni Savareese as their newest coach and the 4th individual of the Timbers MLS era (John Spencer, Gavin Wilkinson as interim, and Porter). Of the names bantered around ad nauseam by various outlets, Savarese was the most intriguing when I did the analysis - former MLS player, experienced coach, successful player on the club and international level, youth coach for years - and that's not counting his success with the New York Cosmos. After joining the organization in 2010 as a youth academy director, Gio took over the senior club in 2012 and proceeded to win 3 NASL titles until he left at the end of 2017 to pursue other coaching options.

Savarese had interviewed for MLS coaching jobs in Houston (2015) and Minnesota (2016), and was very close to becoming the Loons' first ever coach until the 2 sides couldn't reach financial terms for a transfer. Despite being in serious financial trouble, the Cosmos paid their coaches reasonably well and had a large transfer fee associated with Savarese put in his contract. Frustrated by the financial issues with the Cosmos and the league in general, Gio's contract expired at the end of 2017 which allowed him greater flexibility to find an ideal fit. Sure enough, the Timbers came calling and the sides were able to work out acceptable terms. Savarese has an extensive group of contacts from his many years in the game, and I feel it's only a matter of time before those names and links produce awesomeness. If you follow the rumors - and while I may not report on them, I still follow them to see what is going on - there are several names appearing that would vault the Timbers' roster from very good to exceptional. On January 8, the Timbers will have Gio's introductory press conference, and I'm curious to hear not only what he has to say, but if some of the rumors turn out to be factual or not (and I do expect some nuggets to be shared). I don't know if the conference will be streamed, but I will be there to cover it for my first official press appearance for 2018.

I hope he is healthy and ready for 2018.

That's another reason why a lot of player discussion going on in November and December seemed really odd, considering Porter left on November 16, 2017 and Gio wasn't officially hired until December 18, 2017. Many long term decisions about players were being made without having a true coaching philosophy in place, much less input from coaches about potential player options. Portland did make several moves after being eliminated from the playoffs by Houston, starting by announcing the go-forward roster to start 2018: goalkeepers Jake Gleeson, Jeff Attinella & Kendall McIntosh; defenders Marco Farfan, Vytas, Alvas Powell, Zarek Valentin & Chance Myers; center backs Liam Ridgewell, Larrys Mabiala, Roy Miller, Rennico Clarke and Gbenga Arokoyo; defensive midfielders Diego Chara, David Guzman & Lawrence Olum; attacking midfielders Sebastian Blanco, Dairon Asprilla, Diego Valeri (2017 MLS MVP), Darlington Nagbe, Jack Barmby & Victor Arboleda; and strikers Fanendo Adi & Jeremy Ebobisse. Bill Tuiloma and Darren Mattocks were offered 2018 contracts with Portland and Lucas Melano remains on loan, but Amobi Okugo and Ben Zemanski were not retained. Okugo went through the 2017 MLS Re-Entry draft and was not selected thus making him a free agent, while Zemanski was made a free agent once his deal with the Timbers expired. This put the Timbers roster at 24 signed players.

The next move saw Mattocks traded to D.C. United for an international spot, but the biggest shock of the offseason saw Portland trade their first ever MLS Super Draft pick to Atlanta in a record setting deal. Nagbe had asked the Timbers for an increased salary, but Portland decided to move him and Arokoyo to Atlanta United FC for 2018 and 2019 General Allocation Money (available for any salary use), 2018 Targeted Allocation Money (used to reduce salary on selected players) and another international spot totaling $1.65 million. Additional TAM could be included to Portland depending on how well Nagbe performs, but after watching Porter leave, it was tough for many fans to see Nagbe depart. There is nobody better in MLS in my opinion at moving a soccer ball in traffic from box to box than Darlington, and Timbers fans were spoiled to watch his absolute creativity and deftness on a regular basis, but for me, the question has always been will we see him make the leap from really good player to upper echelon. There were glimpses of the talent at times with rocket goals, dizzying passes and aggressive play, but to me, Nagbe's career with the Timbers always seemed to be steps behind where it might have been. Played as a wing early in his career under Spencer in a very direct system, Nagbe appeared to struggle to find comfort in the attack until Wilkinson took over upon Spencer being dismissed, and Darlington could roam more. Reunited under his coach in college, Nagbe alternated between both wings, central attacking and defensive midfielder, but I wondered at points if he was truly in the right spot.

I really am excited to see what Sebastian Blanco can do in 2018.

We saw a more aggressive Nagbe during USMNT duty, but even there at times, it was making safe passes and often disappearing in the offense. Even before Porter left, I had a question of was Nagbe an eventual successor to Valeri's role, or would he continue to play alternating wing and attack centrally when opportunity presented? Now with a new coach, what role would Darlington fill in a revamped offense? Well, Atlanta gave the Timbers 1.65 million reasons to make a move, and with the trade, Portland's roster officially now sits at 23 with the acquisition of Saprissa center back Julio Cascante. Cascante's arrival was fostered by a relationship between the Timbers and Saprissa, several scouting trips by Wilkinson, and the ability to use some of the Targeted Allocation Money to acquire the 24-year old center back. Considering that Portland's center back core consists of a newly acquired player that joined midseason (Mabiala), their best center back who has been consistently knicked up with injuries (Ridgewell), a guy who suffered an Achilles injury during the postseason (Miller), a player who couldn't stay healthy enough to play for either Timbers or T2 (Clarke) and a player who was originally signed for defensive midfield depth (Olum), Cascante's addition is huge. And I expect there to be more defensive additions as well now that Savarese is fully on board.

Nagbe's departure shocked me for several reasons - most notably, he was one of the longest tenured players on the side and there were no inklings that he wanted to leave that were indicated. He's become identified with the team very closely, especially now since being added to the USMNT roster regularly. Having a young family here as well that had established roots, I honestly thought Nagbe was a Timbers lifer until the trade was officially done. The big question in Atlanta won't be if the offense will score goals, as they have a collective of strikers that would scare most sides, but what will Nagbe bring to the attack if the coaches can inspire him enough to display it? Atlanta essentially needs a creative box to box midfielder for distribution, and in that respect, Nagbe will fit that role very well. If they need for him to contribute more goals, however, that remains to be seen whether he can do more than score the highlight reel variety efforts. Look, I'm not disputing that Darlington has talent, that's never been a question, but whether he is able to put all of it together to dominate a match. In my opinion, we only saw glimpses of him doing that in Portland during his tenure. When he was fully on and engaged, it was a treat to watch but I honestly wished we would have seen it more.

This view will be dramatically different coming soon.

The attention now turns to the second week of January, and with Savarese's introduction happening, the next few weeks include this year's MLS Super Draft and MLS Combine. Los Angeles FC is joining MLS for 2018, and while Portland escaped the expansion draft in not losing a player, the addition of a 23rd club altered the 2018 MLS schedule slightly. All teams will play 34 matches; Portland will play each Eastern Conference team once, and every Western Conference side twice (1 at home, 1 on the road) except for one side where they play a third time. For the Timbers, the schedulers gave them the Seattle Sounders FC as their selected team, so the Sounders will visit Providence Park twice in 2018 while Portland ventures to C-Lunk just once in 2018. Due to stadium construction, the Timbers will play their first 5 matches on the road, but get a very favorable draw in late July through August of home matches. There is some significant travel late in August with 2 midweek matches and 2 cross country trips between August 15 and September 1, but otherwise the layout seems very balances. The Timbers have just 3 Wednesday matches all year with most matches falling on Saturday and Sunday, so most fans should be able to watch either in person or on TV. I anticipate all matches will be televised, and at this point, 12 of the Timbers' 34 matches are on national TV (ESPN, ESPN2, Fox, Fox Sports1 or Univision) so finding them should be relatively easy. Honestly, I'm excited for this coming season and can't wait to see what happens over the next few weeks.