There's not too many players who can boast that they rubbed shoulders with the likes of Pele, George Best and Bobby Moore during their football career but Adrian Webster can do just that.

The former Colchester United player and coach played his part in the famous United States soccer revolution of the seventies, when the star-studded North American Soccer League was in its pomp and paved the way for the sport’s rise in popularity in the States.

After moving to the famous Seattle Sounders in 1974, he captained them in the Soccer Bowl three years later.

Four decades on, Webster has published a 134-page illustrated book to commemorate the 40th anniversary of his side’s showpiece game against New York Cosmos, who won 2-1 in front of a crowd of nearly 36,000 in Portland.

“My first book (‘Eternal Blue Forever Green’) was about my journey growing up in Colchester and then going to North America,” said the former Monkwick School pupil.

“The second book came about after I’d been out for dinner with my family and I’d been talking about the first book.

“I got thinking about the 40th anniversary of the Soccer Bowl – there’s a lot about my journey again in the second book but much more about the actual build-up to the Soccer Bowl and playing in it, the players I played with and the team itself.

“It’s a commemorative book and when I started it, I knew that the 40th anniversary was coming up,” said the former Monkwick School pupil.

“I didn’t necessarily want it to be about me but more about my team-mates and the players who were playing at the time.

“There were some big names who came over to the US to play at the time, people like Bobby Moore, Pele, Franz Beckenbauer and Mike England.

“When I came into the league, it was mostly people who had not quite made it like me and at that stage, I don’t think anyone knew how big it would be.

“When Pele went to play there, the crowds just doubled and that then attracted the likes of George Best and Franz Beckenbauer – it had a snowball effect."

“There were some big characters, people like Best and Rodney Marsh.

“It was a different era then, when a beer after the game went very much hand in glove and that’s one of the areas where the game has changed the most.”

Webster is set for an emotional return to Seattle next month to attend his old club’s anniversary celebrations, with the Sounders side of today still basking in the glory of winning their first-ever MLS Cup last month.

“I wondered if I was the right time to do the book and I didn’t want to rain on their parade but in the end, they went one step further and won it,” said Webster, who signed professional terms at Colchester United in 1968.

“I’m hoping that the new generation of Sounders fans will pick up the book because they are interested in the history of the club and want to know someone who was there at the beginning.

“It’s a different ball game now - if you look at the origins of the Sounders, they were attracting 40,000 per game and for the bigger games, sometimes crowds of 60,000.

“It’s taken off in a different direction now and I’m very pleased to see that.

“In talking to ex-team-mates, there’s a pride that we were there from the beginning and laying the foundations for soccer in Washington.

“The Sounders recognise the role we played 40 years ago but I think there’s also an element that that was then.

“I’m going over to Seattle next month and it’ll be emotional going back there.

“I’ve not been back there in 25 years and I’m really looking forward to it.”

“I have friends there and people that I played with in that team and I’m looking forward to seeing them again.

“I think being over there will give me a better indication of how the structure is over there now.”

After leaving the Sounders in 1979, Webster played in the Major Indoor Soccer League and coached in Arizona and Phoenix.

But after nearly 20 years in the States, he returned to Essex in 1991 and linked up with former club Colchester, undertaking several roles including Centre of Excellence Manager and within the youth set-up, at Layer Road.

He spent a decade working at the Colne Academy in Brightlingsea, until his recent retirement.

Webster added: “I’ll be 66 this year and I’ve been involved in the game for 50 years. I’ve been back from the US for 25 years now and worked at Colchester for 13 years in the youth set up and then the Colne College for ten years.

“I’ve worked with thousands of kids in that time and they all have ambitions of being a professional footballer but unfortunately, not many make it.

“I hope the book will inspire one or two.

“You have to have talent, enthusiasm and also a bit of luck of being in the right place at the right time - I knew that I had to stick with it and believe in myself.

“I had a lot of knockbacks but you keep plugging away.”

‘Soccer Bowl ’77: Seattle Sounders v New York Cosmos’ is published in paperback (£5.30) and as an-e-book (£3.94) and can be purchased online via Amazon, with all proceeds going to the Kids with Cancer UK charity.