Ashley Westwood exclusive: On the verge of second Indian League title in three years
In his latest exclusive blog, former Crewe and Sheffield Wednesday defender looks to cap off another great I League season as manager of Bengaluru
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Results have been good since my last blog and Bengaluru have moved to the top of the Indian I league. We need two points from our last two games to be crowned champions of the world’s second most populous country for the second time in three years. We finished second in my other season.
I’m concentrating on the job, but I just took a day off to watch a cricket match here in Bangalore. Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Sunrisers of Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League. It’s among the best cricket in the world and 50,000 watched players like AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli, Shane Watson and Stuart Binny. Cricket is huge here and Kohli alone has over 10 million followers on Twitter. It was boiling in the stadium and I left before the end. After three years in India, this northern Englishman is still adjusting to the climate.
Football is growing in popularity too and we’re hoping for a crowd of 24,000 for our final home game this Sunday against Salgaocar. Win and we’re champions. We’re in form, we’re only carrying one injury and we’re focused.
Our main rivals are two teams from Calcutta: East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, the current champions. They get crowds of 100,000 when they meet in the derby and Calcutta is called the home of Indian football. That grates and I’ve done all I can to make sure that the best team is in Bangalore. We beat East Bengal 3-1 at the weekend in a vital match. The crowd was 12,000. Those there were loud and they sang songs and waved flags. They’re inventive and enthusiastic and make me feel at home in their country, but I want more fans at our games.
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East Bengal would have gone top had they beaten us, but we came up with our best performance of the season. Games between us are usually scrappy, but I decided that we wanted to play a bit of football and put an 18-year-old lad called Zuala in front of the back four. He’d only played four games for us and when he made a mistake which led to an East Bengal goal, people were probably questioning me. Then he scored a 30-yarder. Get in!
I believe in youth. The Indian Federation makes it compulsory for all teams to start at least one player who is under 22. Some teams start young lads and then take them off after 15 minutes. That defeats the object of the good intention to promote young Indian players. I’ve regularly been starting with three under 22 players and I’ve got seven in the 23-man Bengaluru squad.
We’re a functional side and our top scorer, a big North Korean striker Kim-Song Yong, has only got five goals. That’s because the goals are shared around the team. I’ve got three players from England: Curtis Osano and John Johnson, who played league football, are my central defenders. Michael Collins, who played most of his football forHuddersfield Town, plays in central midfield and never lets me down. So I can count on a solid spine.
People at my former clubs including Blackburn, Northampton and Bradford ask me what level we’re at. With the foreign lads in the team, we’re probably a good League 2 side, if not League 1. The Indian players, including the country’s captain Sunil Chhetriwho plays for me, are good technically and I’ve made sure they’re fit and that the sports science side is advanced to help them. They just need to improve their football intelligence, their movement and reading of the game three passes away rather than one or two. It’s coming.
I hope another title is coming too. We’ve had a tough season, with some serious injuries in the squad and difficult away games in Laos and Burma. There are no direct flights and we usually change in Bangkok or Singapore. The flights leave at midnight and you end up losing a night’s sleep. But we’re still in the AFC Cup, the Asian equivalent of the Europa League. In fact we have a game tonight against a Burmese team.
.
I don’t speak any of the Indian languages. I’ve learned phrases and key words, but most of the people here speak English. The problem is that they learn American English or Queen’s English and I have a thick northern accent. I think they’d laugh at me if I tried to speak in their mother tongue.
I have to think about my future too. I’m out of contract at the end of May. The club have offered me a new contract to stay in Bangalore, but I’ve been approached and sounded out from elsewhere. I’m enjoying life here and the fans are brilliant, I just need to weigh everything up at the end of the season before I finish my UEFA pro licence and head to the Toulon tournament to spot the talents of the future. But first, the small matter of winning another league title in India with the mighty Bengaluru.
He will not go anywhere. BFC season is short as they do not have any Local league commitments with Full team. They will not pay salary till December to him. Ashley always has TV expert job at ISL. Just like BFC place players in ISL for a "CUT", I wonder if any such arrangement can be done for their Coaching Staff also.
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Ashley Westwood exclusive: On the verge of second Indian League title in three years
In his latest exclusive blog, former Crewe and Sheffield Wednesday defender looks to cap off another great I League season as manager of Bengaluru
Results have been good since my last blog and Bengaluru have moved to the top of the Indian I league. We need two points from our last two games to be crowned champions of the world’s second most populous country for the second time in three years. We finished second in my other season.
I’m concentrating on the job, but I just took a day off to watch a cricket match here in Bangalore. Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Sunrisers of Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League. It’s among the best cricket in the world and 50,000 watched players like AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli, Shane Watson and Stuart Binny. Cricket is huge here and Kohli alone has over 10 million followers on Twitter. It was boiling in the stadium and I left before the end. After three years in India, this northern Englishman is still adjusting to the climate.
Football is growing in popularity too and we’re hoping for a crowd of 24,000 for our final home game this Sunday against Salgaocar. Win and we’re champions. We’re in form, we’re only carrying one injury and we’re focused.
Our main rivals are two teams from Calcutta: East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, the current champions. They get crowds of 100,000 when they meet in the derby and Calcutta is called the home of Indian football. That grates and I’ve done all I can to make sure that the best team is in Bangalore. We beat East Bengal 3-1 at the weekend in a vital match. The crowd was 12,000. Those there were loud and they sang songs and waved flags. They’re inventive and enthusiastic and make me feel at home in their country, but I want more fans at our games.
East Bengal would have gone top had they beaten us, but we came up with our best performance of the season. Games between us are usually scrappy, but I decided that we wanted to play a bit of football and put an 18-year-old lad called Zuala in front of the back four. He’d only played four games for us and when he made a mistake which led to an East Bengal goal, people were probably questioning me. Then he scored a 30-yarder. Get in!
I believe in youth. The Indian Federation makes it compulsory for all teams to start at least one player who is under 22. Some teams start young lads and then take them off after 15 minutes. That defeats the object of the good intention to promote young Indian players. I’ve regularly been starting with three under 22 players and I’ve got seven in the 23-man Bengaluru squad.
We’re a functional side and our top scorer, a big North Korean striker Kim-Song Yong, has only got five goals. That’s because the goals are shared around the team. I’ve got three players from England: Curtis Osano and John Johnson, who played league football, are my central defenders. Michael Collins, who played most of his football forHuddersfield Town, plays in central midfield and never lets me down. So I can count on a solid spine.
People at my former clubs including Blackburn, Northampton and Bradford ask me what level we’re at. With the foreign lads in the team, we’re probably a good League 2 side, if not League 1. The Indian players, including the country’s captain Sunil Chhetriwho plays for me, are good technically and I’ve made sure they’re fit and that the sports science side is advanced to help them. They just need to improve their football intelligence, their movement and reading of the game three passes away rather than one or two. It’s coming.
I hope another title is coming too. We’ve had a tough season, with some serious injuries in the squad and difficult away games in Laos and Burma. There are no direct flights and we usually change in Bangkok or Singapore. The flights leave at midnight and you end up losing a night’s sleep. But we’re still in the AFC Cup, the Asian equivalent of the Europa League. In fact we have a game tonight against a Burmese team.
I don’t speak any of the Indian languages. I’ve learned phrases and key words, but most of the people here speak English. The problem is that they learn American English or Queen’s English and I have a thick northern accent. I think they’d laugh at me if I tried to speak in their mother tongue.
I have to think about my future too. I’m out of contract at the end of May. The club have offered me a new contract to stay in Bangalore, but I’ve been approached and sounded out from elsewhere. I’m enjoying life here and the fans are brilliant, I just need to weigh everything up at the end of the season before I finish my UEFA pro licence and head to the Toulon tournament to spot the talents of the future. But first, the small matter of winning another league title in India with the mighty Bengaluru.
Trying to get more money from the Child steel baron owner
Love him or hate him , he is a good manager