TRUCE, FOR NOW: Westwood apologizes to Sanjay Sen for pre-match personal attack

BENGALURU FC HEAD COACH Ashley Westwood has issued an apology to Mohun Bagan coach Sanjay Sen for comments made about him at the pre-match press conference ahead of their match at the Kanteerava Stadium.

During the pre-match presser, Westwood turned up the heat by attacking Mohun Bagan for "receiving favours" from AIFF.

About Sen, he said,

"He's not a good coach. He doesn't have a history."

He also mocked Sen for the comments he made earlier about Bagan's dense fixture list,

"If I had said some of the things the Mohun Bagan coach has been saying, I wouldn't be at the touchline tomorrow."

A number of fans and a section of the media viewed his statement as disrespectful and it was widely criticized online. Things got worse when during the game, Westwood had a physical scuffle with the Mohun Bagan team manager Sanjay Ghosh. The Mariners threatened to pursue the matter officially to seek reprimand against the BFC coach.

Following all that, earlier today, Westwood issued an unconditional apology to the Bagan coach for his words. In an official statement released by the club, he said,

"Much has been said after the game against Mohun Bagan and in retrospect I would like to apologize to Bagan Head Coach Sanjoy Sen for a few comments that I made with regards to him at the post-match press conference. I respect him as a fellow coach and for the work he has done with Mohun Bagan and would like to state that in no way were my statements meant to come out the way they did. I have called up Sanjoy and personally apologized to him over the phone yesterday and as a true gentleman he was very humble and accepted the apology and I believe we can move on and have a good race for the League title as competitors and friends."

The matter between the coaches seems to have been amicably resolved, but the statement, interestingly, does not address the issue of the scuffle with the Bagan team manager.

Whether this apology has any effect on Bagan's intention to seek punishment against Westwood, only time will tell.