Jack Wilshere is such a smiling character that it is occasionally easy to forget how competitive he is. Short of stature but not willpower, Wilshere was training with Thierry Henry at 14, in Arsenals first team at 16 and survived a decade in physically and mentally demanding midfields, winning two FA Cups and winning most of his 34 England caps in the era of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard. He ran the London Marathon this year on two damaged ankles.
Wilsheres now pouring all his competitive spirit, and experience gained working under such differing managers as Arsene Wenger, Owen Coyle, Eddie Howe, Fabio Capello, Roy Hodgson and David Moyes, as well as training under Mikel Arteta, into becoming a head coach at Luton Town. At only 33.
Sitting in his training-ground office yesterday morning, Wilshere reflects on his competitiveness and particularly recalls an incident with Granit Xhaka. The left-footed Swiss midfielder, now still excelling at Sunderland, arrived at Arsenal in 2016 effectively as replacement for Wilshere, who was dispatched on loan to Howes Bournemouth. So there was a feeling from the outside that he's taken my space, Wilshere says. I came back the next year, and we just connected straight away and this is why I love Granit.
He explains. I'll tell you a story: away to Milan, Europa League, first leg, round of 16 (March 2018). 2-0 up. Granit receives a ball about 40 yards out, tries to shoot what do they call it? Xhaka Boom - and it went up into the crowd. I was playing left wing and I said, Granit, come on, we need to (keep the ball). We had a little bit of an argument on the pitch, and we were face-to-face in the dressing room. But I loved him for it because he just cared so much. He had the same passion, the same hunger as me. He'll be a top coach because of his experiences with Mikel, but also of who he is and what he stands for.
Wilsheres the same. Hes been influenced by managers but is very much his own man. You can't copy and paste from Pep (Guardiola), from Mikel. You can be inspired by their ideas and try and shape it in your way, but you have to know who you are. You can't fake it. The players will feel it, the staff will feel it. You have to bring who you are. I was talking about this to the players and I showed them some slides about who I am.
Wilshere spoke less to his new Luton players about his vaunted career and more about his values. Enjoy working hard, he told them. Be competitive in every moment. Be the hardest working team in the league and it is a unity within. That's what probably attracted me to this club is the unity. The players have been on that journey to the Premier League (and dropped back to League One) and they are hurting.
And he feels for them. He cares. The big lesson I took from the coaches that had most influence on me was the way they make you feel. The best manager I've had overall is Arsene, it's the belief he gave you, the way he made you feel, the environment he created. Arsene gave us a lot of freedom.
Wilshere reminisces about a famous Arsenal team goal against Norwich City in 2013 voted BBCs Goal of the Season. The move flowed between Mathieu Flamini, Wilshere, Kieran Gibbs, Wilshere, Santi Cazorla, Olivier Girouds sublime flick before Wilshere finished it off. People say there was a little bit of luck in there, and there was, but this is this type of training we used to do and that was almost like Arsenes vision coming into life.
To vary his footballing education, Wenger sent Wilshere on loan to Bolton Wanderers. At Bolton, it was finding a way. Owen Coyle was a top, top coach and he gave you a lot of belief but the players on the pitch found a way to win and survive in there. Wed run hard, win the ball back, play a bit longer and Id try and play off Kevin Davies. We found a way. It taught me a lot going there.
He had a loan at Bournemouth in 2016/17 and another spell in 2021. The best coach on the grass I've had is Eddie Howe. Because of the energy and the detail he put in. Hed get frustrated on the pitch, because he cared and he wanted it to be to a certain level. Eddie affected me tactically. What Eddie taught me was, were going to Anfield away (April 2017), we're going to play 4-4-2, be hard to play against, hit them on the counter-attack and get a result. We drew 2-2. Eddie taught me you can look at a game that you want to create and actually create it. Eddie put that seed in my head.
I love Eddie because he just changed the way I saw coaching. I remember clashing with Eddie saying, Gaffer, I can't keep up with this intensity. And he was well, we're going to have to pick when you train. I said to him, Some days let's just settle down a little bit. It was like I swore at him, he couldn't believe it. No, no, you need to understand it. These players, Charlie Daniels, Simon Francis, they've been on a journey with me since League One and we have to work in this way to compete at this level. And we finished ninth in the Premier League.
Wilshere likes honesty in his managers. When I look at my time at West Ham, Moyesy came in, I knew I wasn't going to play. He wanted to create a different team. He wanted to play a little bit longer. People would say, oh, you must not like David Moyes. I love David Moyes. I love the way he spoke to me, the respect he gave me, the environment he created and the training sessions that were fun, competitive. I took so much from Moyesy because of that. It was a big lift on when (Manuel) Pellegrini was there. Pellegrini left me out and wouldn't explain why or couldn't give me a reason why.
So much of Wilsheres talk revolves around care for players, and inevitably returns to Arsenal, to Wenger and Arteta. In 2014, Wilshere was publicly lambasted in the media after pictures were published of him on holiday in Las Vegas. The paternalistic Wenger supported and advised. About getting pictured smoking, that was awful but the way Arsene managed that, the way he spoke to me and just calmed me down, was amazing. He really, really understood me, knew me and knew that I really cared about the perception and I wasnt the way I was portrayed. I didn't want to let him down. It was the way he made me feel in difficult moments.
There were two photos of him smoking. Yeah, and apparently I've been smoking for 20 years! Everyone makes mistakes. But when you're in a fortunate position I was to be a professional footballer, everyone judges. I've made a lot of mistakes but I was always very driven in what I wanted to do. I went to Vegas (in 2014), had a good time with my friends but I also prepared really well for what was to come in the season. If anything, I was always a guy to prepare more because I had either an ankle issue or an injury somewhere.
Towards the latter end of his career, Wilshere returned to Arsenal to keep fit and saw Artetas work close up. Mikel has this love for the game. There will be times where it's hard and I've heard Mikel say it's a lonely job. Mikel's ability to inspire when he came through the door was amazing. To create a vision, but then to keep connecting the players, the staff, the whole environment with the vision was amazing. And then when I saw him on the grass, it was his detail, his way of coaching, how he makes the players feel.
I spent time with the lads (in 2021). Kieran Tierney was in the team, and then he wasn't. Rob Holding was nowhere near the team. You have to manage those situations and Mikel is very good at that. They (Tierney and Holding) all said the same thing, similar to what I said about Moyesy, that with the environment Mikel creates, the level of competition in training, they felt like they were getting better because of that. Mikels a leader.
Its about handling players with care. Fabio Capello was criticised at times for his lack of man-management with England but Wilshere has nothing but praise for the man who gave him his debut in August 2010. Fabio probably said, all in all, 50 words to me! But I love him. He spoke so highly about me at a crucial point after the 2010 World Cup. I remember being like a fan with my friends watching it, Germany scoring, being disappointed to then fast forward four, five, six weeks after pre-season, I'm in the squad. I felt Fabio really supported me. He said, he can be the defensive midfielder for us for years and he's like Pirlo. That gave me loads of confidence.
As our conversation meandered through Wilsheres England career, a player who wore the No.10 shirt three times in his 34 appearances, touched on Jude Bellingham, perceived to be out in the cold. The head coach Thomas Tuchel is apparently sending a message about team ethos. I love Jude, Wilshere says. Big personality. We need players like that. He can get better as a player. He'll agree with that and he will.
But he's a superstar. He's hanging around with (Kylian) Mbappe and Vinicius (Junior at Real Madrid). He's feeling what they feel. Why are we not embracing that and trying to tap into that and use that? I think we will eventually. The feeling in the team in England... they love Jude. The players like him. He fits in. So that's more important to Jude but, yes, I have some sympathy for him (in the way hes being depicted).
But back to his own England career. Wilshere played five times for Capello. His other 29 appearances came under Roy Hodgson. I love Roy as well. He frustrated me at times and we had some really good conversations. One thing I always respect about Roy is he was honest.
Before the 2014 World Cup, it wasn't quite sure if I was going to play or (Jordan) Henderson. I remember two days before the first game (against Italy) Roy pulling me and telling me that Henderson's going to play. Of course I was disappointed but when I reflect on that now, I'm a little bit older and Im a coach, I just think how well Roy handled it.
Having been released by Bournemouth in 2021, Wilshere was looking around for a new club when Hodgson called. It was really random when people think about me going to Denmark but it actually started with Roy. Roy rang and said, I've got a coach there. Hodgsons old first-team coach at Crystal Palace, Dave Reddington, was assistant manager at AGF in Aarhus at the time. You should go there, Hodgson told Wilshere. If not the trust and the respect I had for him, I wouldn't have taken that.
On July 6, 2022, AGF decided against renewing Wilsheres contract. Within a week, the 30-year-old had announced his retirement and started working as Under-18s coach at Arsenal where he helped develop Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ethan Nwaneri. Hes developed his own coaching career, moving to Norwich City a year ago to work with their head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup because he wanted the first-team environment again.
Jack Wilshere will take charge of the first team on an interim basis for our two remaining Sky Bet Championship fixtures.He will be assisted by Tony Roberts and Nick Stanley. pic.twitter.com/9BheuWfbvFApril 22, 2025
It was, man, this is real and there's pressure and you can talk about how you're going to build up but how are we going to win the game? How are we going to get the crowd with us?
When Hoff Thorup was dismissed, Wilshere took over for the final two games of the season. His first was a draw at Middlesbrough. It was after the game at the Riverside that Wilshere rushed home, and got the train early on the Sunday into London to run the Marathon. Wilshere is an ambassador for the British Heart Foundation after his daughter, Siena, needed open-heart surgery last year. So he ran for the BHF despite the pain in ankles damaged during his career.
My ankles arent great. There were times when I thought, no, I can't do this, this is too hard. It got to about halfway, I'm just limping. What made it possible was the support and the amount of times I heard, what do you think of Tottenham?! Wilshere was too out of breath to repeat his pithy reply to Arsenal fans during their FA Cup victory parade of 2015.
On the long, painful run for home, Wilshere saw Siena at Mile 21 near Limehouse. She had a big sign that said GO DADDY GO and she drew a heart for the British Heart Foundation. I needed that. I was done, nothing left. It was emotional seeing Siena. The run was all for Siena. I was crying. My wife was crying. My kids and my wife are everything. When you go through things like I did with my daughter it changes your approach to things.
My mum and dad had been there throughout my whole career and they tell me when they're proud. And I could see it in them as well when I ran. My son (Jack Jr) was completely opposite! He was like, how long, dad? Wilshere ran with his friend and advisor, Duncan Ross, and both finished in 5hr 2min. We were so proud. What a day! I didn't know I had that in me.
Then, with a shining medal and an aching body, Wilshere returned to Carrow Road, took training and Norwich beat Cardiff City 4-2. To get the opportunity to be the head coach for two games really helped me, gave me belief to leave Norwich to try and explore being a head coach. He would have liked an extended run at Norwich but the club moved for the more experienced Liam Manning. I felt a big disappointment. The players were great. The staff were great. But I also left there with a lot of belief in the way I see things, not just on the pitch and how the team plays, but how I'd like to lead. I felt like I was ready.
Wilshere feels that probably not enough young English coaches get these managerial chances. So he feels gratitude to Luton. I needed someone whos going to take slightly more of a risk than someone else would, someone whos going to give me all the support I need, someone whos going to embrace me because of what I am, a young English hungry coach who's really ambitious. Luton gave me that. Maybe it is because of my connection here. Wilshere was in Lutons centre of excellence from eight to 10 before moving to Arsenal.
When I think about clubs that I've been involved with, none quite have the same feel as Arsenal and this place. I was invited back here to train by Nathan Jones (in 2021). I was invited back to Arsenal. Both at a time where I was in self-doubt. There's only two clubs that Id feel completely comfortable walking in and saying hello to everyone and that is Arsenal and Luton. The biggest thing is the family feel. How I would explain that is one word: Unity.
This weekend brings Wilsheres first test, Mansfield Town at home, 11th v 12th in League One. Alongside him in the dugout will be the experienced Chris Powell. Chris has all the values I like: humility, respect, the discipline that he has. He's also, the last few days, really helped me. When we were out on the pitch yesterday he stepped in and made a coaching point and reminded me of when I was coming through in the youth team days, strong, non-negotiable, this is us. Its his presence. When he talks to players, they listen.
This is where I started. I grew up nine miles away from here. It would be a treat to go to the Arndale (shopping centre, now Luton Point). My mum would, if I was lucky, give me a tenner to go to the Arndale. That's an important message for the club to not forget who we are, not forget where we come from, not forget what made Luton successful and really what Luton are. Luton is a town of hard workers, honest people that really care about their football club. As the returning Wilshere does.
