Jack Wilshere’s football career has come full circle. Having started out at Luton Town as a boy, he went on to win trophies at Arsenal, represent England at two major tournaments and retire early because of injuries, and he is now back at the club where it all began — this time as manager.
Speaking to BBC Sport’s Kelly Somers for The Football Interview, the 34-year-old reflected on a playing career that brought him two FA Cups with Arsenal, 182 Premier League appearances and 34 England caps. He featured at the World Cup in Brazil in 2014 and at the European Championship in France two years later, before injuries forced him to announce his retirement at the age of 30. He insists he has no regrets. “I loved it, I’m really proud,” he said. “I got to play for my country and represent them at two major tournaments. OK, they didn’t go the way we wanted them to, but I got to do it. I scored for my country, I played for the club I loved growing up, so pride is the biggest thing.”
It is almost a year since Wilshere took charge at Luton, his first senior management role, having previously had a two-game spell as interim manager of Norwich City at the end of the previous season. He has already won silverware with the Hatters, guiding them to the EFL Trophy with a 3-1 win over Stockport County at Wembley in April in front of a crowd of nearly 50,000. “I’m 34 now and probably could still be playing,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong, I loved every minute of playing, but I also really, really love this and I’m fortunate to start my journey early. I’m really grateful to the club and the board for giving me that opportunity because they didn’t need to.”
His move into coaching came immediately after his playing days ended, when he was invited back to Arsenal to work with their youngsters. “I hear stories about people struggling in retirement and I retired on a Monday, and I was in with the under-18s on a Tuesday,” Wilshere said. “When I first went and walked through the door to coaching, I realised this is going to take over my life, and I need to commit myself to this if I want to improve.”
By then Mikel Arteta, who had been Wilshere’s Arsenal team-mate for five years, was first-team manager, and Arteta went on to guide the Gunners to the Premier League title in 2025-26, their first time as English champions in 22 years. Wilshere credits the Spaniard with helping to develop him as a coach. “I got to see Mikel and how he coached and the influence he was having,” he said. “I would ask him questions, why he’s doing certain things, and I started to fall in love with it. I was influenced by Mikel, but then I had to learn how to teach. I had to learn how to get that across, how to plan a session and how to get the outcomes that you wanted. Mikel really made that clear and I was lucky enough to have a relationship where I could say, ‘well, why do you want that?’ And he was open enough to share it with me.”
Wilshere also took satisfaction from Arsenal’s success having coached Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ethan Nwaneri and Max Dowman during his time at the club’s academy. He was only 16 when he made his own Arsenal debut, while Dowman was 15 when he first played for the senior team, and Wilshere spotted his talent early. “Max played for my 18s team when he was 13,” he said. “I remember calling my dad because I played for the 18s when I was 14. I was like, ‘was 13 too young?’ In the first game we could clearly see that he was ready for it. And I remember calling my dad and saying, ‘you need to come watch this kid’. My dad did, and my dad’s very biased, as you could imagine. But even he said, ‘he’s better than you’.”
Now aiming to guide Luton to promotion to the Championship this season, Wilshere believes one of his strengths as a manager is the ability to warn young players about the pitfalls of professional football. Early in his own career he was pictured drinking and smoking, leading to criticism from then Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, but he says he learned from the experience. “Yes, I made mistakes, but I also reflect on that,” said Wilshere, who also played for Bolton, Bournemouth, West Ham and Danish side AGF. “I had a manager that had high standards and he let me know that he was disappointed, but he also gave me another chance. You educate them, you let them know there’s a line and there’s things they can’t do. But also give them another chance. I believe in that.”
His man-management was on show on the opening day of this season, when a passionate half-time team talk went viral on social media after Luton trailed Reading 3-1, only for the Hatters to recover and win 4-3. “You have to build that relationship with the players,” Wilshere said. “Players also want to have high standards. They want to be held accountable. Ever since day one, they’ve been all-in with what we’ve been trying to do. My idea is you have to work really, really hard. I want to give the players clarity in every single moment. I’d like to think I’m really hard-working, you have to be. You have to have a big love for the game because it takes over your life, which I do. Then if you have that blend and try and make it enjoyable for the players, there will be challenges along the way, but you’re on the right path.”
The interview with Wilshere features in the seventh episode of the new season of The Football Interview, available on BBC One at 12:45 BST on Saturday, 3 October, as well as on BBC iPlayer, BBC Football YouTube and the BBC Sport website and app.