Jack Wilshere believes there’s no greater appeal than sinking his teeth into his first managerial club than at a club that he knows as well as Luton Town.
Our new manager is no stranger to these parts. A local lad, he spent time in our Centre of Excellence as a young boy before going on to Arsenal – and trained with the team under Nathan Jones in the summer of 2021.
It’s that connection that drew Wilshere back and why the Hatters board picked him to take up the reins – starting at home to Mansfield on Saturday at Kenilworth Road.
“It feels amazing, I think the first thing that I want to want people to know is that it's an absolute honour to be here, to represent this club, to represent the people, the fans, the players, the staff at the club,” Wilshere said in his first interview.
“It's extra special with being Luton with me as well. I'm so glad to be here.
“As for coming back to the area… well, I never really left the area, I'm still living in Hitchin, I was born and bred in Hitchin, nine miles from here, and I obviously had a two-year spell in the Academy here, which set me up to give me the potential of the opportunity, and the potential to go to Arsenal and have the career I did.
“So I've always I've always been in touch, I've always been grateful to this club and I always kept my eye on this club as well. That attracted me, but as well as that it was the journey this club has been on in the last five or six years and the ups and the downs that tells me that there are some serious people here that want to win and that want to want to climb the leagues that are ambitious, and that suits everything that I'm about, so I'm really excited.
“When I came back to train with Nathan I felt there was something special building and I wanted to be part of it, but I couldn't, my body wouldn't allow me to.
“I feel what we need is a little bit of that feeling back. Of course, the club’s been in the Premier League, you have to keep hold of that, but as I said there's, there are not many clubs that can go on that journey and it tells me that there's something special here, and you have to be a family to create that, and hopefully I can fit into that and add something as well.”
After meeting the media, Wilshere’s next port of call was to address his squad at The Brache.
And the new boss’ first message to the players will be simple.
“The Luton fans have always been nice to me, always been good to me, and the fans are so important, so my message to the players will be that: we need to get the fans on board.
“The fans need to see our energy, and we'll try and create that for them, and hopefully they can see that in us and they'll give us that energy transmitted.
“If we can transmit energy, they can transmit energy to energy to us, we can create something, especially here at home, where we become hard to play against.”
