Jack Wilshere, futbolculuktan Luton Town teknik direktörlüğüne uzanan yolculuğunu anlattı

Jack Wilshere won the FA Cup with Arsenal as a player in 2014 and 2015 and guided Luton Town to the EFL Trophy in April

The Football Interview will be available on BBC One at 12:45 BST every Saturday during the Premier League season, as well as on BBC iPlayer, BBC Football YouTube and the BBC Sport website and app.

In the seventh episode of the new season, Kelly Somers sits down with Luton Town manager Jack Wilshere.

Jack Wilshere's footballing career has gone full circle.

From starting out at Luton Town aged seven, Wilshere went on to win trophies at Arsenal and represent England at two major tournaments, before having to retire early because of injury problems and moving into coaching.

Now, he is back where he began, at Luton, this time as manager.

Sitting overlooking the pitches he used to play on as a youngster, the 34-year-old spoke to BBC Sport's Kelly Somers for The Football Interview and discussed his career - and how he hopes he can use his experiences to improve his players.

An exciting attacking midfielder with an ability to spot a pass or dribble past his opponent, Wilshere twice won the FA Cup with the Gunners.

He played in the Premier League 182 times and represented England on 34 occasions, appearing at both the World Cup in Brazil in 2014 and the European Championship in France two years later.

But injuries plagued the latter part of his career, with him announcing his retirement at only 30.

"I loved it [my career], I'm really proud," he said in the interview, which can be watched on BBC One at 12:45 BST on Saturday, 3 October.

"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."

Arteta helped me understand the game - Wilshere

On 13 October it will be one year since Wilshere became Luton boss, his first senior management role - although he had been in interim charge of Norwich City for a two-game spell at the end of the previous season.

He has already won silverware in his time with the Hatters, guiding them to the EFL Trophy, beating Stockport County 3-1 at Wembley in April in front of a crowd of nearly 50,000.

"I'm 34 now and probably could still be playing," he added. "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 [management] journey early.

"I'm really grateful to the club and the board for giving me that opportunity because they didn't need to. I was a young coach wanting to make my first step into the game."

Immediately after his playing career ended, he was invited back to Arsenal to coach their youngsters and instantly knew management and coaching was for him.

"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," said Wilshere. "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."

Wilshere 'proud' of playing career despite injuries

By that time Mikel Arteta, who had been Wilshere's Arsenal team-mate for five years, was first-team manager.

Arteta guided the Gunners to the Premier League title in 2025-26, their first time as English champions in 22 years, and Wilshere felt the Spaniard had played a vital role in developing him as a coach.

"I got to see Mikel and how he coached and the influence he was having," said Wilshere. "I would ask him questions, why he's doing certain things, and I started to fall in love with it and how he started to prepare training sessions.

"I'd get an opportunity to practice that with the 18s in the afternoon and it was something I wasn't that good at, and I felt uncomfortable at times.

"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.

"I played under some good coaches and was quite good at understanding what a coach wants, but I never dived into 'why is he asking me to do that?' 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."

Not only did his former club Arsenal become English champions, but Wilshere gained extra satisfaction as he had coached defender Myles Lewis-Skelly, winger Ethan Nwaneri and midfielder Max Dowman during his time at the club's academy.

Wilshere was only 16 when he made his Arsenal debut, and Dowman was 15 when he first played for the Gunners senior team, with Wilshere spotting his talent early on.

"Max played for my 18s team when he was 13," added Wilshere. "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'."

Jack Wilshere on his half-time speech against Reading

Wilshere, who is aiming to guide Luton to promotion to the Championship this season, felt one of his managerial strengths was being able to warn his young players of the perils of professional football.

Early in his career he had been pictured drinking and smoking, leading to criticism from then Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, but Wilshere said he learned from the experience and passes that knowledge on to his players.

"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."

Wilshere's man-management skills were shown when he delivered a passionate half-time team talk,, external which then went viral on social media, as Luton trailed Reading 3-1 on the opening day of this season, only to recover and clinch a dramatic 4-3 win.

"You have to build that relationship with the players," said Wilshere. "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."

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Kaynak: BBC · Özgün metin İngilizcedir.