Jack Wilshere tells all on his decision to manage Luton Town: Mikel Arteta's warning to him, the manager who inspired his coaching journey, and what style he is going to play

Jack Wilshere is ready to take the plunge. At least, as ready as he will ever be. He is braced for life as the new manager of Luton Town, for the brutality of a bruising job, for the rigours of League One and remembering the advice of Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta.

'I spoke to Mikel and asked when he knew he was ready?' said Wilshere, who took his first coaching role as Under-18s coach at Arteta's Arsenal. 'He laughed and said, 'You just have to jump in and swim as hard as you can'.

'He's obviously done that really well and I was close to that. This feels a little bit similar to that. Of course it's a different level, but when Mikel went in, it wasn't a nice place at Arsenal, the fans were not sure what was happening.'

Wilshere was unveiled at Kenilworth Road on Monday and will take charge of his first game against Mansfield Town at home, on Saturday.

It is his first permanent managerial role. He was a first team coach at Norwich City last season and stepped in as interim head coach for the final two games of the Championship campaign.

From a shortlist of nine candidates interviewed, Wilshere was the one who caught Luton's attention through a rigorous process of four interviews, with, according to the club's chief executive Gary Sweet, his 'energy', 'ambition' and 'passion for football'.

Luton offered the 33-year-old former Arsenal and England his first permanent managerial opportunity at the end of last week.

Negotiations were swift, helped by Wilshere's Luton connection. Not only is it his first club, where he watched some of his earlier football and started in the Centre of Excellence before leaving for Arsenal at the age of nine, but also the place he came to train after injuries led to him terminating his contract West Ham in October 2020.

'Nathan Jones kindly invited me back [in 2021] and I trained here before Luton were promoted to the Premier League,' said Wilshere. 'I loved every minute. It's probably the reason I started thinking about coaching.

'The intensity Nathan would bring in and around the training ground, with the staff, I really wanted to be part of it but, unfortunately, my body said no. It made me think I can't compete at the level I want to and will have to think of something else.

'I found coaching and I found a real passion for it, a real hunger for it and it's like the more you're in it the more you want to do better and you want to find new things.'

Wilshere completed his Pro Licence coaching qualification earlier this year. And, after leaving Norwich, took a four-week family holiday in Cyprus, came home and coached his son's Under-14s team and an Under-6 team on Saturdays while searching for the right opportunity to launch his own managerial career and test the knowledge he has acquired.

'I'm grateful because it feels like that's what I needed,' he said. 'That's what any young coach needs first of all, an opportunity and then support and I feel like I've got that here. I feel like this has come at a good time and I'm ready for it.'

Wilshere replaces Matt Bloomfield, who was sacked earlier this month after winning only five of 11 games. Luton, who spent a year in the Premier League in 2023/24, have suffered successive relegations and languish mid-table in the third tier.

Luton have tried to offset his managerial inexperience by appointing Chris Powell to assist him but are not concerned.

CEO Sweet said: 'An interesting little bit of data we discovered in this process is that in the last five years, there are eight managers that have been appointed in League One with no management experience at all.

'Four of them got promoted. So, in so many ways, actually, that fresh energy and that fresh approach from somebody without experience can certainly go in your favour.'

Wilshere promised he will come in with principles and standards of behaviour he expects and an idea of the way he wants his teams to play but is wise enough to realise in the short term he will have to understand the strengths of the players available and find a footballing harmony.

'I don't think you can copy and paste,' he said when asked if he intended to play the Arsenal way, like the team he starred in under Arsene Wenger. 'You are who you are as a coach and that's important.

'But I spent my life in the academy at Arsenal so I have a way of thinking about the game. I like the ball, I want to have control of the game but there's things that you have to do before you can get to that.

'My coaches over the years say to me, you have to earn the right. It's probably an old saying in football but it's still there. You have to earn the right to get the ball. You have to earn the right for the fans to cheer you and that's something we'll be looking to do from the start.'

Wilshere is the latest former England star to shun the TV studio and take the leap into coaching.

Among the others, there is Frank Lampard making a strong impression at Coventry, after roles at Derby, Everton and Chelsea twice. Scott Parker is at Burnley after three promotions from the Championship.

Steven Gerrard has pulled out of a return to Rangers after leaving them in 2021 for Aston Villa and a spell at Al-Ettifaq in Saudi Arabia. Wayne Rooney has moved to broadcasting at the BBC after managing Derby and Plymouth.

'I'm happy with the journey I've been on,' said Wilshere. 'People will judge ex-players as probably a little bit of the personality of the player plus now the coach. I want to be clear, the player I was, I can use them experiences but now I'm a coach and please judge me like that.'