Charlotte FC captain Ashley Westwood excited about 2024 season

WCNC Charlotte's Ashley Stroehlein sat down with Charlotte FC's captain Ashley Westwood to take a look forward to the 2024 season, how his family has adjusted to life in Charlotte and and how impressed he is with the new manager.

​Environment at The Bank
"I know what to expect now from the from the stands there. The stadium is going to be hopefully full again. We just need the win now. That's what we need to give the pay the fans back. So we're really excited. New manager. Lads are in high spirits and it's a feel-good factor about the place."

"It's incredible, and I always go back to last year. It was raining on a Wednesday night, and we still have 35,000 there, so they turn up in the numbers. Like I've said, we've got one of the biggest fan bases in the league and even outnumbers a lot in a lot in England, which is unbelievable. So, it's down to us to give them a show, and we need to, like I say, we need to go back to working hard for them because they work hard and they pay their money to come and watch us, so we need to give some it back and have that connection."

How's Dean Smith?
"It's been everything I expected. He's come in, and he's been a breath of fresh air ... I've never worked with him, but I spoke to a lot of people back home, spoke very highly of him. So, he's come in, he's lifted the place. He's brought a good spirit, he's talkative. He wants everyone on board, and the lads are buying into it."

"I'm a good person so I've wanted to come in and be a good person and connect everything up. I said that when I first came out, I wanted to connect the first thing to the academy so the academy lads know they can come to me for anything if they need any advice. And the manager has done that. We've seen the academy staff out there, watching training, he wants everyone, he wants them playing in a certain way how we play, so he's just coming in, connecting the whole club up, and it's what we need. The foundations are starting to be built for this football club."

"He loves his tea. He's old. He's got a great aura about him. He's joking around the place, and then, the one thing I've noticed is the way he uses voice in team talks. He's very, you se him around the place, and then, the minute is team talks come, he switches his voice, and you're like, 'wow, it's easy.' He gets it. He really grabs your attention. So that was the big thing for me. He really grabs your attention in the team talks."

Acting as captain again
"It's massive for me. I take great pride in it. I took great pride in it last year. I didn't expect it last year, but, like I said, the last manager to give it to me, it was a real honor, and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here at the minute, and I want to stay for many more years."

His expectations for 2024
"Well we want to go further into the playoffs. We achieved what we wanted to achieve last year, we just come a little bit short. We were disappointed with that, but this year, it's gonna be tough. It's gonna be really tough. We know that. We've got to work hard, but we want to go deep into the playoffs, and that's what this club, this fanbase deserve."

"Yeah, to do to do better than last year. To go that one step further. And, for me, it's just to keep doing what I'm doing. I had an injury at the start of last year, which was disappointing. So I want to for my personal thing, I want to play every game. That's my standards: Play every game and lead the lads forward and set the standards, and like I said, hopefully that takes us into deeper into the playoffs. "

"We can't get carried away, honestly, it's still in year three, so it's we don't want to get too carried away. The expectations are are going to be high within ourselves. I know a lot of the national media have written us off already, but we'll thrive on that. That's we that's what we do. We'll come out here, work hard, and we want to show everyone what we can do. And I know a lot of people be talking about the two DP spots available, but for us, it gives other people a chance, to lads who have come up, we want to promote the legacy team. We want to promote everyone who give the youngsters a chance, and that's what this manager does. It's up to them to take it, and, for me personally, I think we can go we can take this club very far."

"I think it's more of a prove people wrong. As footballers, I certainly have grown up with proving people wrong. I was constantly getting told 'you're too small. You're not good enough.' And it gives you an extra belief inside that now I've got something to prove. So that's one thing we'll be working to do. "

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