I’m not going to lie. I spend way too much time refreshing the live construction cam at Providence Park, but for the past few weeks all the assembly action has been happening out of frame. The official Providence Park feed doesn’t update daily, but I did find another Twitter feed from @bobthebuilder4u that’s got some gold in it. Welding and semi trucks driving around on the pitch look so… wrong. Bob makes more updates than Providence Park. He’s a construction guy so he’s chiming in on what’s going on. After you’ve watched a few of his videos you realize he’s not on the actual crew, and he’s just a guy who belongs to the MAC club. Yes, I said “MAC Club,” But at least I didn’t say “The MLS.” On a side note, it drives me nuts that Bob holds his phone in portrait mode while he shoots those videos, so I drove downtown to try and get my own photos. I ended up slinking into Providence Sports Care Center until I was politely, asked to leave. All the photos from inside the park were taken behind the glass.

Jamie Goldberg has written a very interesting piece on Caleb Porter in The Oregonian that talks about what it’s like for him to get back to work, and how he feels about watching Portland from afar. He watched the first 5 away games, but could not bring himself to watch the home opener, and is not looking forward to that first Crew match in Portland, come 2020.

Our Timbers are hot tonight, watch them boom the Thunder out of sight! Check out this NASL era Timbers tifo, as seen in the Phil Soar book Soccer: The World Game, published in 1978.

– Thanks to Aaron Cullen for the tip, photos.

Looks like a case of mistaken identity, or a complete fabrication. No American newspaper is reporting this, and it makes zero sense from a Timbers standpoint.

American newspapers: Management of the American Portland Timpers Club approves a offer from the #الأهلي Saudi club to annex the Argentine games maker (Sebastian Blanco/Sebastian Blanco) 🔶 Portland Administration waiting for the player approval

Twitter

UPDATE: Debunked by Jaimie Goldberg on Twitter on more than one occasion.

I added 18 new tattoos to the Timbers Tattoo Gallery, bringing the total up to 64!

The Portland Timbers posted a gallery of construction pics on Facebook. from all kinds of angles your average poacher can’t provide. Definitely worth checking out.

It seems like we’re the only team in MLS that hasn’t announced a new roster addition, outside of the SuperDraft. Today we have confirmation of the addition of center back Claude Dielna from the New England Revolution, and the unconfirmed addition of goalkeeper Aljaz Ivacic from the Slovenian top division side NK Olimpija Ljubljana. Reaction ranges from excitement over adding another French speaker to the back line with Larrys Mabiala, or lack of excitement over picking up someone that the lowly Revolution doesn’t want anymore. As for the goalkeeper, I guess Gavin and Gio still aren’t ready to recall Kendall McIntosh from his development loan to T2.

Eagle-eyed Bruce Eaton noticed what appears to be a discrepancy in the original renders and the live construction shots. The original renders show what appears to be a 4th row of seats at the very top that are missing from live construction cams and newer renders.

UPDATE:  Added a few new renders and a link to the 3d model that shows the new additions.

More construction action not visible form the security cam. This picture was shot from a crane by Walt Jensen.

– Thanks to Travis Glenn Blankenship for the tip.

Portland Timbers and Liam Ridgewell have mutually agreed to part ways. Liam’s comments in late 2018 implied he didn’t want to have to battle for his position. The Timbers have unquestionably been better with him on the filed for us, that match against the Red Bulls not withstanding. However, he was expensive, and missed a lot of games injured, as well as a handful after butting heads with Saravese. When he was on the pitch and fully engaged we loved him. I’ll remember him for his great distribution, a good hard foul every now and then, and an occasional Ridgy Roll. Well, that and the swimsuits and boating. Richard Farley has nice recap of Ridgy’s tenure on Timbers.com.