He’s all right JACK!
Workaholic Wilshere already has the fans singing his name at Luton
JACK WILSHERE spent Thursday evening second screening. On his television in the background, England beamed live from Wembley Stadium against Serbia. On his laptop there was a recording of his first game as Luton Town boss.
That was a home defeat against Mansfield, his only loss in five games. His eyes are constantly drawn to focus on the smaller screen in search of answers.
What had gone wrong? Was it relevant to the next game, another home game, today, against Rotherham? Was there something he had to do differently to extend a sequence of four victories?
Just over a month in the job and Luton has consumed his life. ‘In a good way,’ Wilshere insists, before joking about his failing eyesight and the need for glasses if his viewing habits don’t change. ‘If we’re going to do something, we’re going to do it properly.’
Wilshere is, as he often likes to say, ‘all in’. His WhatsApp messages fly around late into the night and new colleagues had a glimpse of his work ethic when their phones buzzed before 7am on his first day because he had forgotten the code to the gate at the training ground.
‘Jack is authentic,’ says Luton legend Mick Harford, still part of the club’s fabric as a senior scout and ambassador, despite stepping back from his role as chief recruitment officer in the summer.
‘He’s got an aura about the place. He’s had 30-odd caps for England and rightly so. He’s got a presence. He doesn’t use it.
‘He’s a good guy, very knowledgeable, very diligent. Clarity, communication and commitment, that’s what I see every day in training.
‘Being here at seven in the morning, leaving at eight in the evening, that in itself doesn’t make you a good manager, but he is setting good examples and the first month overall has been really, really good. Results prove that.’
Four wins in a row after Wilshere’s team were booed off following the Mansfield defeat at Kenilworth Road culminated in a 3-0 win at League One leaders Stockport County last weekend. Travelling fans serenaded the 33-yearold with a chorus from a time when they stormed through the divisions under Nathan Jones.
After two years on the slide, it felt like a moment of salvation for those who went through it, and the emotion was not lost on the new manager. ‘I don’t like saying it, but when I played it was easy at times,’ said Wilshere. ‘I was good at it. I knew I was good at it from a young age.
‘It wasn’t always like that, of course, I went through tough times, but I was really confident when I was playing because I had a lot of faith in my ability.
‘I do now as a coach, but this is my first experience of being first-team manager and whereas I’ve faith in my ability you never know until you’re that guy sat there making decisions.
‘To hear the fans sing my name as a coach was honestly one of the best things.’
Wilshere admits there were butterflies before he addressed his players for the first time and appreciates it will not always be bouquets of roses from the away end. But he has made a positive impact on many people since arriving in mid-October.
Elijah Adebayo, out longterm with cruciate knee damage, is under orders to report to the manager’s office once a week on the pretence of helping his new boss understand the club with stories about the Luton journey.
After his own career, cut short prematurely, Wilshere might be expected to have an affinity with the injured and he appears to be bringing a fractured club back together.
‘This wasn’t an easy situation to walk into,’ explains Harford. ‘Not considering where we were and where we want to get to.
‘We’re in a fantastic place in terms of the new stadium, we’re just in the wrong league.
‘Our drive and ambition is to get back into the Championship and Jack understands that.
‘But we’re not going to get there just because Jack Wilshere is our manager, we’re going to get there because Jack Wilshere is going to take us forward.’
Like Adebayo, Teden Mengi looked at home in the Premier League and was accused by fans at times of sulking through the Championship slump, when they did not clinch a move back to the top flight and were relegated as niggling injuries disrupted form.
Mengi, an England Under-21 international signed from Manchester United in 2023, was a target for racist abuse on Instagram after a mistake in the FA Cup win against Forest Green Rovers last month.
Wilshere sprang to his support, effusive with praise and defiant on matters of unity, and Mengi responded, producing an outstand displaying at Stockport, visibly lifting players around him and swinging fans back onside.
These are small but significant victories for a rookie boss, little signs that he has the emotional intelligence to handle big personalities in the dressing room and can reach out to the disenchanted. He has convinced his players this is a clean slate and restored confidence.
‘Jack has brought back a good feeling, I can’t speak highly enough of him since he came in,’ says James Shea, Luton’s back-up goalkeeper, who has known Wilshere since they were aged 10 in Arsenal’s academy.
‘He was always the golden boy. You could tell he was good, always going to be something and he hasn’t changed. He’s grown up and matured, but he’s still that cheeky chappie.’
Albeit one who now spends his downtime agonising over defeats on his laptop. Welcome to management, Jack.