'Never any chance' Wilshere would leave Luton after Foxes approach

Hatters boss Jack Wilshere insisted there was absolutely no chance he was ever going to leave his role as Luton manager over the summer, despite the rumoured interest from now League One rivals Leicester City.

The former Arsenal and England star took over at Kenilworth Road back in October after Matt Bloomfield was sacked, given the first opportunity in his fledgling coaching career of being a number one, and saw his stock rise steadily during the final stages of the campaign, winning the Vertu Trophy by beating Stockport County at Wembley and almost masterminded Town to the final play-off berth following a run of eight wins in their last 10 matches, only to fall short by a solitary point.

It saw the Foxes, who were relegated out of the Championship last term, just 10 years on from winning the Premier League in 2016, reportedly approach Wilshere a few weeks ago to take over from Gary Rowett who left the King Power Stadium at the end of the season, only to be rebuffed by the Hatters boss.

Ex-Swansea and Rangers manager Russell Martin has since taken over, but asked about the speculation this afternoon, the Town chief said: “I don’t think it would be fair for me to comment on that, number one because of how happy I am here and how grateful I am to everyone here, especially the board and Gary (Sweet, chief executive) and Moons (James Mooney, operations director) for giving me that opportunity when no-one did.

"My focus is completely here and it always has been. I loved last season so much, there was never any chance that I was going to step away from what we’ve created here and that’s because I’m excited about what we’ve built here, what we can build and how grateful I am for that opportunity."

It’s quite clear by the work that Wilshere, who did spend time with Luton as a youngster before heading to the Emirates Stadium to join the Gunners, has put in during that close season that he is fully committed to his role in trying to return the Hatters to the second tier of English football next term.

He continued: “Genuinely, this summer I had a week away, I went to Cyprus with my family and then had a few days in New York as well with my wife, but apart from that I’ve been here every day. And listen, this is not me saying I’ve been working really hard, it’s just how committed I am and how much potential there is here. We started to see that towards the end of last season, and the most important thing for me is we start in the same way and the only way we do that is trying to improve things.”

In order to go about doing that, Wilshere has made some small alterations at the Brache as Town look to leave no stone unturned in their preparation to give their squad the best chance possible of achieving their goals. Being able to make his own imprint on the surroundings is something he has definitely relished too, adding: “While we didn’t have the players in to try to improve them on the pitch, we made big steps in there (the Brache).

"We changed the canteen, small things, but the players come back and they start to feel, okay, now it’s starting to feel a bit different and you want them to feel that way. I love my time and I love being here every day. I love the staff, I love the coaches and I want to be successful here. That’s when I talk about being grateful to everyone and the people above me, because first of all they gave me the opportunity, then they said to me pretty early, ‘okay this is yours, this is your training ground, you make the improvements.’

"With the squad in January we went through that together, then we changed the canteen, we changed the gym and that was me asking and they were like ‘yes, let’s do it, let’s change the feel.’ It might seem like small, little things, but they make a big difference. I spoke about when I first came in here that the players and the staff to be fair, needed a direction, needed an identity.

"Good people, but they just needed something to hold on to. There were some tough times, but I always, always felt like every single person in there was with me. Then in the summer when you ask for a few different things and people just say, ‘yes let’s do it, you can do that, you can do this.’ It makes you feel like you belong somewhere.”