Indian adventure

Sky Sports speaks to Ashley Westwood about his new role as manager of Bengaluru in India.

Ashley Westwood has had a hectic 18 months. In the spring of 2012 he was in temporary charge of Kettering, battling to keep the club in the Conference. After signing a playing contract with Lincoln for the following season, Westwood then embarked on a series of coaching adventures as Michael Appleton's assistant at Portsmouth, Blackpool and Blackburn. You could forgive him a rest. Instead he's now managing Bengaluru FC in Bangalore, India. It's quite the task. Owned by JSW Group, the club has been awarded a franchise in the Indian I-League and is undergoing a frantic transformation in order to meet the infrastructure demands of the competition. Talking to Westwood, it is clear he is a man absorbed by the challenge ahead. When asked the seemingly innocuous question of how he is finding life in Bangalore, such is his commitment to the cause, the 37-year-old is momentarily thrown by the thought of a world away from the football club. "To be honest, the scale of the job has been so big and so time consuming - I basically get in at 6am and I don't leave until 9pm every single day - that I've only been to a handful of places," says Westwood. "I've been to the mall and different restaurants with the CEO but in terms of popping out for a bite to eat I've not really had time to look around. I'm out here on my own at the minute. My family are coming out shortly but this has been a hectic 10 to 12 week period where we what to do everything we could to be ready for the start of the season. I wanted to be solely concentrating on my job and doing the best I can to make this a success." The reason for these long days is that this is far more than just a coaching role. The former Crewe defender is helping to construct a football club in a matter of weeks. "They purchased the franchise to go straight in at I-League level," he explains. "With it being a brand new football club with no infrastructure whatsoever it's been a big project and a big challenge getting everything up and running." "First and foremost we've been allocated a ground which is jointly-owned at the minute with the KSFA (Karnataka State Football Association) and the BDFA (Bangalore District Football Association) so we've come in to share that stadium. The second thing was to organise the facility - our offices, rooms, gyms, dining rooms, kitchens etc. Once we have been able to get that into place we've had to put a normal football structure into place regarding training times, breakfast, nutrition, recovery drinks, gym sessions, training sessions." "We have put into place the certain stipulations that were made by the All India Football Federation. To be able to have entry to the I-League there are criteria that you have to agree to meet over the next three years. That's the academy from Under-7s right through to Under-19s and your first team. We also have to supply a team to play in the state league." While Westwood has experienced most things in a club career that started at Manchester United, tasted Premier League football at Bradford and saw the other side of the game down the divisions, he freely admits that life as de facto project manager is a world away from his English experiences.

Huge job

"It's huge," he says. "If you're in England then you might get an assistant manager or first-team coach role. Here I have a CEO above me who takes care of operations and an assistant for off-the-field issues but the next step is me and I've been driving things in terms of certain European standards that we want to put in place. It's certainly a 24 hour hands-on operation. It's been good to get involved with not only the coaching and team-building side but also make sure all the standards are set that are required to run a successful football side." With so many challenges, events on the field might feel like an afterthought. But Westwood has devoted considerable energy to getting this area right in time for the I-League kick-off on September 22nd. Former Middlesbrough defender John Johnson, a team-mate from his Northampton days, has signed for the club. Ex-Reading and Wimbledon player Curtis Osano has made the move as well. With experienced Liberia international midfielder Johnny Menyongar also in the squad, the plan is that these players can be a positive influence on the young Indian footballers. "Obviously, we've also got the first team issues in terms of getting our squad together and getting into some kind of shape to get a team assembled to start the league," says Westwood. "I wanted to bring in a couple of good professionals from England who I thought could be adaptable to Indian conditions. I wanted people who'd come through English academies - one has come from Middlesbrough and one has come through the Reading academy so they know the sort of pedigree that's expected. I want them to act in the correct manner and for the Indian guys to follow suit really. "I've also got an assistant coach here called Pradyum Reddy who has done 10 years in England, 10 years in America and seven years in India so he's got the background and has helped put the Indian boys together. We have made sure that we've got the right characters who all want to buy into our project on and off the field." They include captain Sunil Chhetri, star striker with the national team and one of the few Indians with experience of the game overseas. Chhetri is already on record praising Westwood's impact and the man himself believes professionalism is the key to the club's success.