I was walking around the city with Nat Borchers and we stopped to have a chat. It’s wicked to see supporters' passion, and they carry that throughout the matches. The atmosphere is special.

On game day I love the national anthem at the start. It’s not mine but it really gees me up. The fans swing their scarves and sing. It’s an honour to play in front of them.

We beat Dallas 3-1 for our first victory of the season, which was especially pleasing as my children Luca and Eva were over visiting with my parents Bob and Linda. Nice to get up and running.

It’s been raining quite a bit but one day we got the paddle boards out, and the kids had a splash on the lake behind my house.

Luca, who’s nine, came into training with me every day. He pottered about, spoke to the lads, and kicked the ball around. I don’t know about having his old man’s talent – can we call it that? – but he loves it. There is a lot of pressure on younger kids now, I don’t want to be too pushy, let him enjoy it.

He went training with the Timbers Under-9s one day and met Gavin Wilkinson, the general manager, and the owner Merritt Paulson. He was asking loads of questions about how much he’d spent and how much various things cost, as kids do. There were no boundaries. Merritt was lovely and had a bit of banter. Perhaps Luca will pursue a career as an agent!

Either that or a personal trainer. He spotted a dodge ball court at the local play centre so we had a game. After 20 minutes my thighs were burning. It is nothing like the film, there are trampolines and it’s tiring bouncing from one to the next. Luca wanted to keep going. I tried to teach him the dodge, dip, dive, and duck routine but he wasn’t having any of it.

My kids have now left and watching them go at the airport is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. It seems to get worse every time. They are coming back in July and I’m excited already.

The whole family of 12 is flying out and I had Dad doing some jobs around the house to prepare. He’s sorted the outdoor parasols and kegerator, which lets you have beer on tap. I’ve been practising the table tennis ready for a comp with my brothers.

One of them, Gavin, is a travel freak and he’s already bought a book on what to do. There are a lot of vineyards we can visit and we want to trek up Mount Hood, the highest point in Oregon.

It is technically an active volcano, though I read the chances of an eruption in the next 30 years are about three per cent, so I think we’ll be alright. You can ski its slopes and canoe its rivers.

I’d like to stay in a log cabin on a night off. There is no TV and you’re right out in the wilderness, surrounded by woods. Hopefully it will be a good summer.

I’ll be wearing my Thomas Royall shorts when the sun shines. We have just designed our summer 16 range, and had more enquiries from shops. I give my input when I wake up.

To organise the current range we went to a hotel in London (during the MLS winter break) and sifted through thousands of prints laid out in front of us, more or less going off our instincts. Your eyes are popping out by the end of the meeting. Hopefully we’ll see the shorts out in Vegas.

A lot of the success is down to our model Stephen James Hendry. We picked him because we needed to stand out and project the funky hairstyles and tattoos you see around Shoreditch and Hoxton. Our photographer Adam recommended him. He was very much in demand.

He’s a lovely fella. We went out for a meal and he likes to talk football and we like to talk fashion. It’s been great.

After Dallas we lost at home to Orlando, who were inspired by Kaka. He kept it simple with one-twos and his presence on the pitch was clear.

(dailymail.co.uk)