2023 Charlotte FC Ashley Westwood Home Jersey

I love Ashley Westwood. I saw him his first season after he was transferred to Aston Villa in a friendly against FC Dallas. He came on in the second half and I remember saying to myself, “Who is this guy?” A lot of people would say his time at Aston Villa was a disappointment, but those people are idiots. He is a deep lying playmaker, and is actually a guy who I try to model my game after when I come out and play in field instead of standing between the posts.

After Villa he went on to Burnely where Ashley really came into his own. At one point, Ashley was statisically one of the top 15-20 midfielders in all of Europe. No, not just the Premier League, ALL OF EUROPE. He has been criminally underrated his entire career. But people who play his style of play, like a Paul Scholes or Michael Carrick tend to. So needless to say, when I saw he signed with Charlotte I was crazy excited and was trying to figure out how I could go and see him play. Then FC Dallas drew Charlotte FC in Leagues Cup. It couldn’t have been more perfect.

Not gonna lie, I’m not a huge selfie or photo with players guy, but the way everything just fell together to see one of my all time favorite players actually come here to Dallas, I couldn’t resist. Ashely is a wonderful dude. I told him that I was a huge fan of his and he laughed and said, “Wow, theres not many of those around.” You wouldn’t know he has played the game at the highest levels possible. Ashley is also a bit of a tea afficionado and his recommendation is Yorkshire Tea for those of you keen to give it a whirl.

We had a couple great views of Ashley taking corner kicks during the game. This is indeed the very jersey I was to get. FC Dallas and Charlotte tied 2-2 and PKs saw Charlotte stomp Dallas 4-1. After the match Ashley Westwood walked off looking specifically for me. It was amazing to see him remember. He finally spotted me and walked over and handed me his jersey. A truly amazing dude. My wife didn’t believe me so I had my son take a photo to text her.

Alright, enough of me, now lets get to what really matters.

I know they’re a newer team, but Charlotte does a pretty good job of their kits. They actually just dropped their 2023 Explore kit earlier today as I write this. So far they are 3 for 3. The nice Carolina Blue makes for a wonderful jersey and they were right to make that the star of the jersey.

The AW5 patch is prominent right in the center of the jersey. This of course is done in tribute to Anton Walkes who tragically lost his life in a boating accident during preseason of the 2023. I spoke to several of the support staff of the team for some time before the game. Both of them told me that Anton was the heart and soul of the defense and was a big presence in the locker room. The defense really struggled without him anchoring the back line.

The screen printed MLS crest and Apple TV don the right sleeve while Leagues Cup 2023 and Centene adorn the left sleeve. The Leagues Cup patches from the first game generated a major talking point to many of us in the MLS game used community. These patches were falling off everyone during every teams first game of the tournament. Several players lost theres on the field in each game, and when Ashley gave me this one it was indeed falling halfway off. Once the jersey dried out though, the patch actually stayed stuck on. I noticed this changed league wide for the second game and it was much less of an issue. So either kitmen decided to glue them on better or a change was made to the patch.

The bottom of the kit has both North and South Carolina in silver. The inagural kit is called, “The Carolina Kit” as Charlotte FC aims to unite the 2 Carolinas together in a passion and love for MLS.

The backside keeps it pretty plain. I feel as if the team was trying to make the beautiful shade of blue the star of the show.

A nice silver CLT FC adorns the top of the backside of the shirt, just beneath the collar. It sticks up off the shirt and has an a very satisfying tactile feeling to it. Note that the 3 stripes that go down the shoulders are screen printed on this kit. This is not the case for the away kit which you will see posted below.

Ashley kindly signed this for me post game. Even with the jersey still wet, the signature showed up rather nicely.

Game use is really intersting. There is a real lack of it aside from this loose thread. In fact it would be easy to get this jersey and think it was never game worn. But Ashley ended up on the ground several times during the match and even had the jersey pulled at as well. It’s a real testament to how tough these jerseys really are and what all they can go through. It made me feel a lot better about certain jerseys I’ve gotten over the years that don’t seem to show much game use.

This is without a doubt one of the most treasured jerseys in my collection. To get to interact with a player that you love to watch play the game and not only that but to learn that he’s actually an awesome dude…. that’s just amazing. For him to then remember you and look for you so he can toss you his jersey after the game is even better. Ashley is a criminally underrated player and next time you watch Charlotte I highly encourage you to watch him play both on and off the ball. He is Charlottes engine and doesn’t get the respect he deserves.

If you read above you already heard me go on and on about how amazing Ashley Westwood is. And I will spare you that again as long as you agree with me. If not, just go up and read the first post over and over until it really sinks in. These Purple away jerseys are absolutely insane. I got to see Charlotte FC beat Cruz Azul here in Dallas during Leagues Cup thanks to a Beyonce concert going on the same day in Charlotte. Charlotte wore there purple jersey that day and let me tell you, these things are slick!

Charlotte again knocks it out of the park with their kits, and the purple one is no different. Called the “Crown Jewel Kit” this kit pays homage to the citys moniker as “The Queen City.” Charlotte got this nickname after naming itself after King George III wife Charlotte. Thus the regal and royal purple that this kit adorns.

As you can see the color palette of this jersey is just pristine. A wonderful combo. The kit designers brought their A game on this design.

Something I never noticed from watching Charlotte on TV or even in person was the design of the crown spread throughout the jersey. I’m not sure if this gets lost when the jerseys get wet from sweat or if I just never noticed it, but it is a really nice touch that points to the cities royal roots.

Again similar to the home jersey above, the AW5 pays tribute to Anton Walkes. And the colors on Adidas and Ally seem slightly different to the color in the crest, however that is just a photo aberration as the colors are all the same beautiful shade of blue.

The bottom of the jersey has the same CLT FC that is on the back collar of the home jersey. Reusing a logo like that isn’t my favorite thing I admit, but when you’re an expansion side and trying to come up with new various logos, it can be difficult. I understand the difficulty at least. But again, that is the only bad thing I have seen from these 2 kits.

Again a color matching MLS logo was done very well. And notice the shoulder stripes on this kit. On the home jersey, they are screen printed, the same material used on the Ally and Apple TV sponsor. However here on the away jersey, the stripes are embroidered and actually stick up away from the jersey.

The back of the jersey really pops with the pink and Carolina Blue outlines. The crown pattern is not present on the back, only on the front.

The crown at the base of the collar is the same design as the one on the pattern on the front of the search. It is a rubber type material and touching it is extaordinarily satisfying.

Now comes the weird part of this jersey. I have several of Ashley Westwood’s autographs, he signed a lot of the cards that I had of him and I’ve seen his autograph many times over the year. When I first got this jersey I looked at it and thought, “That AW is NOT Ashley Westwood’s autograph.” You can see the autograph I got from him several times earlier in the season.

Then, a friend of mine got his autograph at the beginning of the 2024 season and sure enough, Ashley changed his autograph! Really neat and kind of funny to have 2 game used jerseys from the same player in the same season with 2 different autographs.

Overall though, this is a wonderful addition to the collection. Charlotte crushes it with their kits so far and I really wanted to get the away jersey and I was over the moon to find Ashleys still sitting their waiting for me.