Going back to an old club is special: Westwood on his return to Bengaluru

Ashley Westwood doesn’t distinctly remember the last time he was in the dugout at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium. “Would have been the final game of the season when we won,” he tells The Hindu.

The ‘we’ here is Bengaluru FC, a club he helmed with distinction for three campaigns from 2013 to 2016, winning the erstwhile I-League twice and the Federation Cup once. It is the same club that he will return to this Saturday, albeit as the head coach of Kerala Blasters FC in the Indian Super League.

Westwood’s final bow in the Garden City came exactly a decade ago, in April 2016, during a 2-1 win over Lao Toyota which sealed an AFC Cup round-of-16 berth. Funnily, Westwood was sent off in that match. Ten days earlier, in his final home fixture in the I-League, BFC had beaten Salgaocar FC 2-0 to clinch its second National crown in three seasons.