Kris Boyd (r), with Derek Rae at Firhill Stadium, Glasgow on Sunday, has set up a foundation to assist with mental health issues
Photo: Ali Gilmore/Prost Amerika
Two former Timbers are making their names in two very different places and in very different ways.
Jorge Villafana left Portland for Liga Mx to start a career with Santos Laguna.
His club closed the 2017 Clausura campaign undefeated at home despite finishing the game against Toluca with just nine men. Their fifth place finish leaves them one place behind Toluca whom they will now face in the playoffs, known as La Liguilla in Mexico.
Villafana had to fight for his starting place but ended the season starting the final eight games and now seems to have won the battle for coach Jose Manuel de la Torre’s favors and first team honors.
“We feel like we could have won the game but at the end of the day we’re in the quarterfinals of the Liguilla, we’re happy to be undefeated at home and we know we need to keep it that way,” he told the press after the match.
The man who won MLS Cup in his last match in MLS added:
“I feel like we have a team strong enough to reach the Liga MX final.”
As fifth seeds, that seems a bold prediction. Tijuana Xolos who topped the table must be seen as favourites. They face eighth seed Monarcas Morelia in the first round.
Villfana in action against Toluca
(Foto: Armando Marin/JAM MEDIA c/o Santos Laguna media)
Kris Boyd starts foundation for those with mental health issues
Meanwhile just hours before that, another former Timber was making a mark off the pitch. Kris Boyd left Portland just after Caleb Porter’s arrival to return to his native Scotland. He ended up back at Kilmarnock in his native county of Ayrshire, where he began his career.
Killie struggled initially this season and failed to make the Top 6 who split off from the bottom six after 33 games and enter two two mini-leagues. However with just two defeats in the last eight games, the Ayrshire club, whose anthem is Marie Osmond’s Paper Roses, seem to be clear of the relegation threat.
Boyd however is making his mark elsewhere. BT Sports who have rights to the Scottish League picked him up as an analyst and he has worked alongside broadcasters Derek Rae and ex-players like former England captain and Prost columnist Terry Butcher, Stephen Craigan and Michael Stewart.
On Sunday he was covering the Glasgow derby between Partick Thistle and Rangers at Firhill with colleagues Rae and Butcher.
Boyd however is doing more than broadcasting. This morning, the Scottish press covered his new project to assist people with mental illness. Kris sadly has recent personal experience of depression after his brother Scott took his own life last year.
“If it saves one person from what myself and my family had to go through with my wee brother, it is well worth it,” he told BBC Scotland.
“If the foundation, once it is up and running, helps one person then it’s a success.”
His timing could not be more relevant after news that Everton winger Aaron Lennon had last week been detained under the Mental Health Act, suffering from a stress-related illness. Boyd told the BBC that mental health problems were a “massive” problem for football and injuries as well as distance from your family are often difficult for players to deal with.
Boyd’s stance is to be bravely applauded.
He follows in the steps of another Scot and former Timber, Ian Joy, who shattered taboos and initiated a discussion among MLS players when he posted an article entitled Once a Cascadian: Depression in Soccer – A Personal Tale by Ian Joy on this site in 2011.
Joy told us at the time that his inbox and cell phone had been inundated by former teammates and opponents who had battled the same issue and had nowhere to turn. At the time, it was Prost’s most read article ever such was the impact of Joy’s courage.
Joy now has a flourishing broadcasting career covering German football for Fox as well as color commentary for NYCFC, Boyd is embarking on his broadcasting career.
If Joy’s experience is any guide, Kris will have and deserves a long and successful career behind the mic.
