Hatters chief's decision to give Town's players Christmas Day off works a treat

Luton boss Jack Wilshere admitted he had been torn when making the decision to give his players Christmas Day off, but was left more than happy with how it turned out as after the Hatters delivered a Boxing Day cracker of a performance when hammering Wycombe Wanderers 4-0 at Kenilworth Road yesterday.

Having played before the rest of the League One sides after being beaten 3-2 by Reading at the Select Car Leasing Stadium on Thursday night, Town’s squad had eight days in which to build up for the contest, as they searched for a first league success in four matches. To give them the best chance of doing just that, Wilshere let his players spend December 25 with their families and it proved to be the perfect preparation as Gideon Kodua’s first half double, plus goals from Jordan Clark and Shayden Morris saw the Hatters romp to their biggest league success on home soil for almost two years, that when beating Brighton & Hove Albion by the same scoreline in a Premier League fixture on January 30, 2024.

Going through the process of making his mind up about what was the best thing to do, then speaking after the game, Wilshere said: “We were off yesterday and as my first Christmas as a manager I was thinking, what do we do? Are we going to be in? Are we going to be off? Obviously Powelly’s (Chris Powell, assistant) experience helped me and I made a decision that I think is a big thing. As you can do all you can, training and everything, but actually being around your loved ones, being with your family, being with your kids, that gives you so much energy, and I think you saw that today, so next Christmas off as well!”

Wilshere, who had a playing career that spanned just under 15 years, much of it being spent with Premier League giants Arsenal, stated it was a change of tack for himself too, having been used to coming in and training on Christmas Day when he was at the Emirates Stadium, adding: “The majority of my career was with Arsene (Wenger), and the European, foreign players, they celebrate on the 24th, so their main meal was on the 24th. He didn’t care about the 25th, we were all in, always.

"I remember my first time with the first team at 16, being in on Christmas Day and then travelling to Aston Villa away on Christmas night. Since then that’s all I’ve known and then I went to Bournemouth and Edddie Howe would give us it off, with a GPS (global positioning system), so I was so torn. One thing I would say about this group is that they’re really committed, professional, focused and I think they appreciate the trust more than anything, and you can see today it worked.”