We spoke to Ashley Westwood, 48, coach of the Hong Kong national team, ahead of the game against Premier League giants Manchester United on Friday. The match is part of the club’s post-season tour. Westwood, 48, was on United's books as a young professional.
How does a Manchester lad end up coaching Hong Kong?
There are always different routes. If you want to go from Manchester to London, there are different ways of doing that, and coaching is the same. Arsene Wenger ended up at Arsenal after going around the houses and being in Japan. Ange Postecoglou ended up at Tottenham Hotspur via Australia, Japan and Scotland.
I started in England as a player and played in the top five divisions, then I became a coach in England at Portsmouth, Blackpool and Blackburn, then went to India, where I won the league twice. Malaysia followed, then the Afghanistan national team, and then Hong Kong, where I am now. I had national team experience, which was one of the criteria, the others were experience in Asia and being successful. That’s what the Hong Kong football federation wanted.
How has it been?
Results have been good. When I arrived, Hong Kong were ranked 159 in the world and had lost seven of the previous nine, drawing two. Things had been bad for five years, and sometimes it’s hard to stop a downward trajectory, but we’ve managed it.
We won seven games on the trot and drew our last game. We’ve kept six clean sheets in those eight.
On a personal level, it has been about adjusting to living in a different part of the world.
What’s it like coaching Hong Kong?
Challenging. In a lot of national team jobs you have players scattered around the world who are eligible to play for your country. You can find new talent.
For Hong Kong, the rules are that you must be in the country for seven years before you can apply for permanent residency. Once you have that, you can apply for a passport, and you must surrender any other passport that you have. So, you must have proper ties to a country, which is how it should be.
Most of our players, probably 65%, play in the Hong Kong league. Then we have nine or 10 players who are in the Chinese Super League or first division. One, left-back Shinichi Chan, is 22 and starting every week for one of the best teams in China.
So we’re reliant on the Hong Kong Premier League doing well. There are only nine teams at present, and they play each other three times. I’d like to see more teams and competition, but they do the best they can in a small, densely populated part of the world.
You have Asia Cup games against India, Japan, South Korea and China coming up ...
India were ranked 96 in the world not so long ago, but have dropped, while we’re now 153. Japan, South Korea and China are major Asian football powers who’ve played regularly in World Cup finals. But the reason we’ll play against them is because we were successful in our three Asia Cup pre-qualifiers, winning the East Asia Cup pre-qualifiers. It’s not normal for Hong Kong and it’s our reward, and I can’t wait. As a coach you want to be involved in these games and test yourself against the best in the region so see how good you are.
How do you feel about playing Manchester United?
Proud. I was at United as a young footballer in the Class of ’93. I won the FA Youth Cup at United and had a great time there before making my way at other clubs.
I don’t want to feel overawed because I’m not. I feel like that’s where I want to be every week, that I should be aiming to be the best coach I can be against the best teams possible. I’m sure that if you’d interviewed Graham Potter 10 years ago when he was working in Scandinavia, he might have had the same kind of feelings. But he did so well that he got to the Premier League.
I kept in contact with people from United. I speak to Sir Alex Ferguson a couple of times per year. He’s always incredibly helpful to me, and we have a nice chat – even though I left under a cloud because he wanted me to stay and I thought I knew best and wanted to play first-team football. He laughs about that now. He’s a great man.
How did it end at United?
I played lots of reserve games and was making progress. Sir Alex Ferguson asked to see me and praised my progress. He said he wanted to offer me a new two-year deal. I was on £210 a week. The new deal was £275. I replied: “I can’t be doing that well if the increase is only £65.”
Ferguson was doing things the right way, but I was telling him that I needed to buy a car to get to training. I told him that I needed a £5,000 signing-on fee to buy a car. He laughed and said, "Get in my team and I’ll look after you." I replied: "How am I going to get in your team? When there’s a flu epidemic?"
My mentality was ‘I’ll go somewhere else and teach him.’ I didn’t have an agent, just a demon in the back of my head. A demon telling me the wrong information.
“I’ll leave!” I told Fergie.
“There’s the door,” he said.
“Can I go for free?” I replied.
“No chance,” he said. “You’re a Man Utd reserve team player. It’s £75,000.”
“Well, is that not going to make it hard for me?”
“Yes, of course it is! Who’s going to pay that for you?”
That made me want to prove him wrong.
Crewe were interested in me. They were happy to buy me for £75,000. I went back to see Ferguson. He already knew about Crewe’s interest. He knew everything. I still thought that he’d agree to a signing-on fee and I’d stay at United, but because I was pig-headed, I didn’t ask him. So I left the room again. Crewe then told me that United wanted £500,000 for me. A tribunal was needed to sort out my transfer.
Looking back, even though I was 10th-choice defender I was still ahead of Wes Brown – who I expect to see this week in Hong Kong as he works for United. But I hate ‘what ifs’. There are loads of people in football pinning the blame for not making it on someone else. Wes had a great career at United, and I went to Crewe.
Looking back, I probably needed Alex Ferguson to say: ‘Come on, son, trust me’. But he was a tougher man then, and he was right to be tough.
Years later, when I was a manager myself, I went to Sir Alex for advice about a problem I had with a player. I texted him on the off chance. He called me back from a cab in New York. He told me to explain honestly to the player why I was leaving him out. I did that and the player understood. It helped that I told him the advice had come from Sir Alex.
I’ve gone to him several times since and appreciated his help every time. And I’ll do my best this week. United are sending a strong team to Hong Kong, and we’re expecting a big crowd. There will be full application from both sides, and I hope fans will be entertained.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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TEACHERS' PAY - WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Pay varies significantly depending on the school, its rating and the curriculum. Here's a rough guide as of January 2021:
- top end schools tend to pay Dh16,000-17,000 a month - plus a monthly housing allowance of up to Dh6,000. These tend to be British curriculum schools rated 'outstanding' or 'very good', followed by American schools
- average salary across curriculums and skill levels is about Dh10,000, recruiters say
- it is becoming more common for schools to provide accommodation, sometimes in an apartment block with other teachers, rather than hand teachers a cash housing allowance
- some strong performing schools have cut back on salaries since the pandemic began, sometimes offering Dh16,000 including the housing allowance, which reflects the slump in rental costs, and sheer demand for jobs
- maths and science teachers are most in demand and some schools will pay up to Dh3,000 more than other teachers in recognition of their technical skills
- at the other end of the market, teachers in some Indian schools, where fees are lower and competition among applicants is intense, can be paid as low as Dh3,000 per month
- in Indian schools, it has also become common for teachers to share residential accommodation, living in a block with colleagues
more from Janine di Giovanni
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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UAE
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Japan
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Canada
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Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
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Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
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Director: John Madden
Cast: Colin Firth, Matthew Macfayden, Kelly Macdonald and Penelope Wilton
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six
Power: 650hp at 6,750rpm
Torque: 800Nm from 2,500-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
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Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
How the UAE gratuity payment is calculated now
Employees leaving an organisation are entitled to an end-of-service gratuity after completing at least one year of service.
The tenure is calculated on the number of days worked and does not include lengthy leave periods, such as a sabbatical. If you have worked for a company between one and five years, you are paid 21 days of pay based on your final basic salary. After five years, however, you are entitled to 30 days of pay. The total lump sum you receive is based on the duration of your employment.
1. For those who have worked between one and five years, on a basic salary of Dh10,000 (calculation based on 30 days):
a. Dh10,000 ÷ 30 = Dh333.33. Your daily wage is Dh333.33
b. Dh333.33 x 21 = Dh7,000. So 21 days salary equates to Dh7,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service. Multiply this figure for every year of service up to five years.
2. For those who have worked more than five years
c. 333.33 x 30 = Dh10,000. So 30 days’ salary is Dh10,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service.
Note: The maximum figure cannot exceed two years total salary figure.
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A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
- 2018: Formal work begins
- November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
- November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
- October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
- November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
THE BIO
Ms Davison came to Dubai from Kerala after her marriage in 1996 when she was 21-years-old
Since 2001, Ms Davison has worked at many affordable schools such as Our Own English High School in Sharjah, and The Apple International School and Amled School in Dubai
Favourite Book: The Alchemist
Favourite quote: Failing to prepare is preparing to fail
Favourite place to Travel to: Vienna
Favourite cuisine: Italian food
Favourite Movie : Scent of a Woman
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
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Manchester United 1 (Fernandes pen 2') Tottenham Hotspur 6 (Ndombele 4', Son 7' & 37' Kane (30' & pen 79, Aurier 51')
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Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
Company profile
Company name: Nestrom
Started: 2017
Co-founders: Yousef Wadi, Kanaan Manasrah and Shadi Shalabi
Based: Jordan
Sector: Technology
Initial investment: Close to $100,000
Investors: Propeller, 500 Startups, Wamda Capital, Agrimatico, Techstars and some angel investors
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs: 2018 Ford Mustang GT
Price, base / as tested: Dh204,750 / Dh241,500
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Gearbox: 10-speed automatic
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Like a Fading Shadow
Antonio Muñoz Molina
Translated from the Spanish by Camilo A. Ramirez
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Director:Anthony Hayes
Stars:Zaf Efron, Anthony Hayes
Rating:3/5