Sherwood ponders the decision-making at Kenilworth Road

Former Premier League winner and England international Tim Sherwood has declared he is ‘sceptical’ about the appointment of Jack Wilshere as Luton manager, questioning whether the club really knew what they wanted when they made the decision to give the job to the ex-Arsenal midfielder on Monday.

Once the Hatters had made the decision to relieve Matt Bloomfield of his duties just over a week ago, Wilshere was immediately installed as one of the favourites for the job, with his main competition coming from Leyton Orient boss Richie Wellens. The ex-Manchester United youngster is 12 years older than Wilshere and has been a manager since 2017, taking charge at Oldham Athletic, Swindon Town, Salford City and Doncaster Rovers, eventually moving to Brisbane Road in 2022, promptly taking the O's back into League One that season.

With those two appearing to battle it out for the top job at Kenilworth Road, betting suspended on a number of occasions with each man as the frontrunner, then speaking to Sky Sports, Sherwood, who won the top flight with Blackburn Rovers and has had brief spells as manager of Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa couldn’t work out why Town were going after such different candidates.

Despite Chris Davies (Birmingham City), John Mousinho (Portsmouth), Stephen Schumacher (Plymouth Argyle) and Kieran McKenna (Ipswich Town) all winning promotion after being handed their first jobs in League One without any prior experience, speaking to Sky Sports, Sherwood said: “The only reason that I'm sceptical about it is Richie Wellens and Jack Wilshere, it’s chalk and cheese. We’re talking about a man who’s lived his whole life in League One in Richie, who knows it upside down, inside out, and Jack, his first managerial appointment, so did they know what they were looking for? It's not a like for like.

“I remember speaking to West Brom about a job and leaving the talks, going home, waking up the next morning, expecting to go there and sign a contract and then my phone was going mad and Tony Pulis had got the job. I couldn’t believe it after speaking to them as a new manager in a similar situation, Tim Sherwood and someone who’s been there and done it and is a safe pair of hands in Tony Pulis. It was ridiculous to even suggest it as you would expect someone like for like, so they do actually know what they want? I hope he does well, I really do.”