West Brom fans were greeted to a health and safety nightmare of a celebration in a pre-season friendly against the Portland Timbers, as the MLS side’s mascot sliced through a massive log with a chainsaw after each goal.

Timber Joey does his stuff: Slice through the gigantic log behind the home goalposts (Getty)

Despite claiming a second victory of their North American tour with a 3-2 success against the Oregon-based team on Wednesday night, Baggies fans’ over-riding memory of the game is likely to have been the opposition’s unusual mascot.

Timber Joey, the pitch-side caricature of the team’s hardcore fanbase known as the ‘Timber Army’, celebrated both goals against the Premier League side by slicing his way through a tree log.



The mascot – a fully paid-up member of the lumberjack’s union – uses a real-life chainsaw to cut all the way through the slab and raise aloft a six-inch thick piece.


Portland Timbers fans give it large against West Brom (AP)

The strange tradition then sees the bit of wood passed through the crowd after the goal and presented to the relevant goalscorer after the match.

A far cry from Swindon’s portly red ‘Rockin’ Robin’ or non-league Cambridge United’s famous Marvin the Moose (well, maybe not that far from the moose), Timber Joey certainly succeeded in raising eyebrows.

‘It makes one hell of a racket,’ one travelling Baggie toldMetro.co.uk.

‘When the guy started up his chainsaw it almost drowned out the noise of the crowd celebrating the goal.’

Portland Timbers supporters, whose home city is sometimes known as ‘Stumptown’ because of the prominence of the logging trade, are well known for their unusual and quirky traditions.

Declaring themselves the ‘King of Clubs’, another pre-game ritual sees them pass round a replica of a playing card which is the same height as the stand.

Portland Timbers’ King of Clubs banner on display at the Jeld-Wen Stadium