Ashley Westwood asked for advice from Alex Ferguson when weighing up his Hong Kong job offer, but the Englishman has said he knew he could not resist trying to improve an “underperforming” team.
In a wide-ranging interview with the Post six months after replacing the popular Jorn Andersen as the city’s football head coach, Westwood also said he was “under pressure to deliver results and performances”.
After winning six straight matches, Hong Kong’s best run since 1985, Westwood’s decision has been validated. The 48-year-old’s team are likely to make it a record-breaking seven wins in a row against Macau on March 19, six days before beginning their 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualifying quest in Singapore.
Westwood accepted some of Hong Kong’s recent scalps had been “weak”, but pointed out his side reserved their best performance of his reign for a victory over higher-ranked Philippines.
He called his Football Association of Hong Kong, China (HKFA) employers “demanding … but very supportive”, and revealed they were seeking to naturalise more players, based at home and abroad.
