He was born in the Bristol area on 11 June 1947, with the birth registered at Thornley.

Boxing & Amateur Football

He boxed as a bantamweight when young and won the Western Counties Championship.

He played for Lawrence Weston Boys and for National Smelting. Then in 1967/68 he played 9 games, scoring 3 goals, for Bath City as an amateur.

Bournemouth

He then joined Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic on 27 April 1968. He played in 247 League and Cup matches for them, scoring 12 goals.

Norwich City

On 13 August 1974 he signed for Norwich City from AFC Bournemouth in exchange for Trevor Howard, subject to approval from the Football League management committee. City’s administrative records show his having signed on 14 August. The transfers were reported as a simple exchange. However, City’s account ledgers show a payment to Bournemouth of £48,600. Powell had been reported as valued at £50,000.

(Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic had adopted ‘AFC Bournemouth’ as their trading name in 1972. The company name ‘AFC Bournemouth Limited’ was incorporated on 27 June 2008 and ‘The Bournemouth and Boscombe Athletic Football Club Company Limited’ was dissolved on 3 January 2012.)

He played for City in midfield on joining the club but was usually a centre-back. He was in City’s team that lost 1-0 to Aston Villa in the Football League Cup Final at Wembley Stadium on 1 March 1975.

He was awarded the Barry Butler Memorial Trophy for being voted City’s ‘player of the season’ for 1978/79 by the club’s supporters.

San Jose Earthquakes

In the summer of 1979 he played for San Jose Earthquakes on a temporary basis. He then returned to City. On 11 March 1981 he agreed to join San Jose Earthquakes. The transfer from Norwich City was completed on 18 March 1981. He played in 48 matches for them in the North America Soccer League, scoring once, in the summers of 1981 and 1982. (While he was with them they were renamed Golden Bay Earthquakes for the 1982/83 season in which he played for them in 43 matches, scoring 5 goals.)

He then played 19 matches, scoring once, for Seattle Sounders from May 1983 to August 1983.

Remained in the USA

He remained in the United States of America and was a hotel manager in Hollywood.