Career
He has also worked as a manager, predominantly in south-east Asia. The highlights of his career came at Aston Villa, where he was a key player in the Football League title triumph of 1980-1981 and scored his side"s only goal in their 1982 European Cup Final victory. The lynchpin of a strong attack, the big bearded Liverpudlian scored 17 goals and added 7 assists in 22 games to lead the Timbers to first place in their division and a tie for the best record in the league at 16–6.
Withe"s knack for scoring goals that summer made him a favourite of the Portland supporters, who nicknamed him "The Mad Header" and "The Wizard of Nod." In August the Timbers played two home play-off games in front of more than 30,000 fans each, numbers unheard of for United States soccer at the time.
They advanced to Soccer Bowl "75, the League Championship, in San Jose, California on August 24, where they lost to the Tampa Bay Rowdies 2–0. The Magpies were Withe"s ninth club in less than eight years.
Ron Saunders took him to Aston Villa on the eve of the 1980-1981 season when the Birmingham club forked out £500,000 on the 29-year-old striker, the club"s record signing at the time. After five years, he eventually moved on to Sheffield United, in what he later described as "the biggest wrench of my career."
Capped by England 11 times, Withe scored once, and was the first Aston Villa player to be selected in an English World Cup Finals squad (in España 82).
Withe had a brief spell as manager of Wimbledon, being brought in from the position of reserve team coach at Aston Villa in October 1991 following Ray Harford"s resignation.
Withe"s time in charge was not at all successful, winning only one game out of thirteen in the league, and he was replaced after just 105 days at the helm by the club"s youth team coach Joe Kinnear. Withe went into management and, after propelling the Thailand national team towards some success, managed Indonesia until 18 January 2007. He was given a brief touchline ban as manager of Thailand for wearing shorts during an international match against the United Arab Emirates.
The head of the Thai Football Association said he should be wearing a suit.
He managed English non-league club Stockport Sports from April to November 2012. Withe"s son, Jason, also became a football player, coach and manager.
As a player
Portland Timbers
North American Soccer League: 1975
Nottingham Forest
First Division: 1977-1978
League Cup: 1977-1978
Aston Villa
First Division: 1980-1981
European Cup: 1981-1982
European Super Cup: 1982
As a manager
Thailand
Association of Southeast Asian Nations Football Championship: 2000, 2002
Indonesia
Association of Southeast Asian Nations Football Championship: 2004.