Hutch, Hard Work and Belief by Kevin Shannon;Tommy Hutchison;

Author:Kevin Shannon;Tommy Hutchison;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Independent Publishers Group
Published: 2022-09-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

Carefree in Seattle

RON WYLIE had worked at Villa with Bruce Rioch who was now playing in the US. I never asked either Ron or Bruce if they arranged my move but, a couple of weeks after my raising the prospect of me playing in America, Ron told me that I would be signing for Seattle Sounders and that everything had been sorted with Gordon Milne and the Coventry board. I would be on double my Coventry wages for my spell abroad. What I earned would also be tax-free, so it was going to be a lucrative trip. I would miss the last game of the English season and the first few games of the following one. By the time I arrived, the NASL season would be a few matches old. From a football point of view, it wasn’t ideal missing games in two leagues over what was in effect three seasons. However, all of us as a family were excited at the prospect of living in America for a few months.

As soon as we arrived, we liked the set-up and we liked the city. Everything was sorted by the club. For a couple of weeks, we stayed in a hotel by the stadium, while our club house in the Bellevue district was being freshly furnished. We moved out there alongside most of the Sounders squad and their families. It was a lovely area and we soon got to know the families of my team-mates. Roy Greaves from Bolton, John Ryan from Norwich and the Derby centre-forward Roger Davies were all close by. The accommodation was immaculate, a lovely house. The club also supplied us with a car. My team-mates and I took it in turn driving in to train at the stadium each day.

Irene, too, enjoyed the social life; there was always something going on in someone’s house where we lived. Irene had never been a sporty person but Liz Davies, Roger’s wife, introduced her to running and she would be out for a two-mile jog every day. The children had a great time too, including David, once he had overcome a bout of measles. After school, there were always some activities or visit to take part in. They might go out on the Sound, go salmon fishing in one of the rivers or visit a Native American village. They loved it too.

Everything seemed to be on a large scale. While we were there, Roger and Liz Davies bought their own house. It needed to be renovated and it had this huge, dusty basement, big enough to play five-a-side football down there. The kids were in there playing all the time. They would emerge sweaty and with faces black enough to rival Jock the chimney sweep back in Dundonald.

We shared the stadium with the local baseball, basketball and NFL teams. Because it had an artificial surface, any amount of activity could take place. Depending on who was playing in there, one type of surface would be rolled out and another one fitted that suited the sport.

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