The Oregonian's Geoffrey C Arnold has reported via Twitter that "Eddie Johnson sustained another concussion during training Monday and has returned 2 [sic] Portland."

Merritt Paulson has also tweeted: "eddie's out indefinitely. His health and well-being are the #1 priority for everyone in the organization"

This news is a huge setback for the team.

"We Actually had the highest corporate sponsorship revenue ever in Major League Soccer out of the gate. In year one for an expansion in Portland.

Question: You guys turned a profit in your first full season in MLS

MP: Yes. I mean it will be a long time before we are profitable when you look at the money we sunk into this thing.

Here's an interesting early morning trade for everybody. It appears that the Portland Timbers have traded with D.C. United for an international roster spot for the 2012/2013 seasons in exchange for an unknown amount of allocation money.

Naturally one would expect that this would be used on a new signing and it may very well be for the 2013 season, however, not for the season because.

As everyone by now knows, Kris Boyd will officially be a Timber sometime in the next few weeks, barring any unforeseen circumstances. Regardless of how we really feel about that, it sure was exciting to see Merritt Paulson bounding out of the tunnel on his way to us members of the press waiting on the side of the field.

On Monday, the Portland Timbers announced the signing of Scottish striker Kris Boyd, the all-time leading scorer of the Scottish Premier League, with 164 goals in 296 matches.

The deal was completed pending the completion of a team physical and receipt of his visa.

The 28-year old forward appeared for Kilmarnock FC from 2000-05 before joining Rangers FC midway through the 2005-06 season.

A lot of thought/homework going into Valencia...earliest we will have detail will be Wednesday

Any player the Timbers sign is always subject to the player passing a full physical exam

The Player is our priority #1 and I am optimistic Valencia will still be a part of our future

Three Tweets concerning Valencia from Merritt Paulson

I will end the ambiguity on foreign spots...currently 2 spaces free

From Merritt Paulson

JWF notes:1) TVs intstalled in concourses week of 2/13 (you won't miss goals on food/broom trips but you'll still wish u saw it live)

2) new N. End points of sale added to concession stands and likely conversion of a line or two as beer-only.

3) Lastly, South Deck overhaul (including a bit more capacity) and upgraded field seats and club restaurant/bar all completed in Feb

3 tweets from Merritt Paulson concerning the changes to Jeld Wen Field in the off season

The Portland Timbers held a lively practice today, playing some of what could actually be called soccer for the first time this preseason. After the usual warm-ups and passing drills, the Timbers played games of 9v9 which was a deviation from last season which saw the Timbers doing purely fitness and passing drills for their first several weeks together.

2 players have received green cards...a third player's GC coming shortly. Details once all are done. May get a 4th done but TBD #RCTID

Via Merrit Paulson's Twitter.

Was asking about this during today's training. Happy Merritt said something on Twitter.

Ahead of the Supplimental Draft this morning, the Timbers announced the signing of Colombian defender Hanyer Mosquera. The signing has long been rumored and is likely one of the "significant (international) defensive signings" that Merritt Paulson hinted at before the Superdraft.

A central defender, Mosquera's highlight reel shows a player who is good at breaking up plays in the air or on the ground and one who is able to get forward and contribute a goal on occasion.

Merritt Paulson @MerrittPaulson

@kipkesgard @Finn_aka_Jeremy @shebainpdx just cause am in twitter mood today..fair to expect couple of significant int'l defensive signings

MP's Twitter account

This is kind of one of those good news-bad news posts. The good news is that David Horst has finally gotten the surgery he needed all last season. According to Merritt Paulson, via Twitter, Horst suffered from issues all last season with regards to this specific injury and it needed to get taken care of.

Back in November, Major League Soccer revealed they are shifting back to an unbalanced schedule for the 2012 season after using a balanced one for the past couple of years. Eastern Conference clubs will play seven of their conference opponents three times each (21 total games) and the remaining two conference opponents twice each (4 games).

So here's a hot topic for you guys: as I was preparing for today's TTB (which is going to be daily again from now on) I saw this little tweet from Merritt Paulson:

Finalized 2013 kits today-tough as I like current so much. Pleased still. Hopefully no leaks; if so,at least decent image unlike past leaks

So we now know that we will get a refreshed primary and secondary kit in 2013, but more than that we know that it's different enough that owner Merritt Paulson put special emphasis on his love of the current ones in his tweet meaning that there's a reasonable assumption we could see some fairly big changes.

Their Words One of the greatest strengths of the Timbers is the rich history of the club. With this third kit, we are paying homage to the teams and players that inspired our city to become Soccer City, USA. Portland Timbers president Merritt Paulson. Other Sources U.S. hopefuls get one last chance in January to impress Klinsmann - from SI.

So you guys have already seen the new third kit. Personally, I'm very impressed not only with the design (which we already had an idea of anyways) but with the way they went about making the kit. But more on that a little bit below...

First some pictures! You guys have already seen all the pictures from the official Timbers site and the store I'm sure, but I've gone ahead and took some of my own.

Merritt Paulson on a Radio Show, Soccer Today

Merritt discusses the unbalanced schedule, his interaction with other owners, which fans to target, and more. He comes on at the 22nd minute.

The Cascadia Summit will be taking at least a one-year hiatus. The news about the preseason, round-robin tournament between the Seattle Sounders, Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps was officially broken by Timbers owner Merritt Paulson in this tweet:

piltdownman7Brett Graham @MerrittPaulson Will there be another Cascadia summit this season?

Young DP player signed soon. world-class potential..big addition for us and league. turning 20 soon. no announce until ITC approved #RCTID

Via Merritt Paulson's twitter.

Word on the street is that it is José Adolfo Valencia. I believe he would be the youngest DP in the league, though correct me if I'm wrong.

Behind the Axe looks at various Timbers news from GM Gavin Wilkinson's love of airports, Owner Merritt Paulson appearing on local sports radio, and an epic mustache growing competition amongst two of the Timbers center backs. We also talk a bit about the MLS playoff picture and the results of the matches up to this weekend's conference finals.

Well the Portland Timbers were officially eliminated last night by an own goal by the Philadelphia Union. Quite a disappointment if you ask me, but ultimately after giving up two very important home wins to San Jose and Houston it probably should have been expected.
So tomorrow is the final Portland Timbers game of the season.

Last Friday the Timbers experimented for the first time this year expanding the seating capacity beyond 20,000. Merritt Paulson said they were going to analyze the data, but that early reports were positive.

What was your anecdotal experience?

Here's mine: As part of the betting game, I timed my halftime bathroom wait.

The Portland Timbers trained at Jeld-Wen Field on Monday in positive spirits two days removed from their 0-0 draw in Philadelphia.

Futty Danso appeared to be at near full strength as he participated in the short field 8v8 two-touch scrimmage. Also participating in the scrimmage was John Spencer, which is reportedly a regular occurrence at the practice after a match.

The first team won't be playing again until the 10th, and the next home match is almost three weeks away. It's a good opportunity to check out a reserves match this Thursday night at 7:30pm. The last reserves match drew over 10k fans (including over 2000 sales on Groupon), so it will be interesting to see how many come out this Thursday.

well deserved recognition for one of our most creative supporters: http://t.co/MjabgNk. i just got 2 of his prints incl "scarface" #rctid

Merritt Paulson

Love to our own BDiskin straight from the top. Plus link to a video of our friend at work.

@RobotDeathSquad testing another 1500 seats at 2 upcoming games for concourse load impact. likely more s deck seats and 200 east side #rctid

Merritt Paulson's Tweet

Three takeaways from this clip of Timbers bankroller Merritt Paulson signing stickers for Portland fans.

1. Portland may be about to sign someone big. That or they are F-ing us.
2. Merritt Paulson has a little thug in him. Or at enough to listen to "Forever" at the office.
3. Somebody in the Rose City understands the importance of "Helvetica.

Merritt Paulson hints at more changes

Merritt's tweet (was tweeted last night but I realized I had not followed him so it is little late):

"will be disappointed if our gk doesn't score tonight. also, several likely announcements in coming days #rctid"

Dirty Tackle shows Wayne Rooney singing karaoke on holiday (which comes with a health warning).

Surreal Football takes a dim view of our transfer policy.

The Daily Mail report on Cristiano Ronaldo's claims that he would never join City.

Danny Merritt from Peterborough is the winner of the Manchester United book which has newspaper clippings on United since 1909.