Wilshere even more 'motivated' to bring success to Luton after play-off agony

​Luton boss Jack Wilshere is feeling even more ‘motivated’ to lead the Hatters to success next term after falling just short in their attempts to reach the play-offs last season.

Town went into the final game of the campaign having given themselves a chance of finishing inside the top six following a remarkable run of form that saw them win seven out of nine matches. Although they made that eight from 10 when triumphing 3-2 at Bolton Wanderers, it wasn’t quite enough to secure their place in the play-offs, with Bradford, Stockport and Stevenage all winning too.

Having come up just short, a determined Wilshere was clearly looking to go again, saying: “There is a good feeling from me, I’m more motivated than ever. I know so much more about this league now, I know so much more about this club. I know the demands of the fans and work will start straight away, we’ll start looking to next season, trying to improve and trying to find ways we can get out of this division.”

Although Town didn’t quite make it, Wilshere himself has absolutely relished a maiden crack at first team management, having replaced Matt Bloomfield in October. Having been in charge of Arsenal’s U18s and a brief spell as caretaker manager at Norwich City, asked what his eight months in the Kenilworth Road dug-out have been like, he continued: “It’s been amazing. I’m really grateful to the players and I wanted to thank them for the journey as it’s not always been linear where we’ve improved and results have gone our way.

"We’ve had ups, we’ve had downs and I’ve enjoyed every moment. I’ve had the time of my life, the whole time, but especially the last couple of months where the players started to find some rhythm, started to find some momentum and I’m sure that if we’d have got in the play-offs, no-one would have wanted to play us. That’s credit to the players, what they’ve created and how they’ve turned things around because that takes resilience.”

After enjoying a stellar career as a player, making almost 200 appearances for the Gunners, also turning out for AFC Bournemouth and boyhood club West Ham United, winning 34 caps for England too, then asked how different he has found being at the helm to running out on the pitch, Wilshere said: “It’s definitely more mentally tiring, but I’ve genuinely loved it and I’m so hungry for more.

"That’s credit to the players as it’s not always easy. I speak to some coaches who go in and it doesn’t quite work out, but the most important thing is you have a group of players who believe in you. All it is, is I’m trying to convince them this is the right way to play, then they have to execute it and believe in you, so I’m really grateful to them for that.”

When Wilshere was appointed, Town were in an incredibly low place, as having suffered back-to-back relegations, the relationship between players and supporters was increasingly fractured, as Luton weren’t producing the kind of results expected of them in the third tier. The Hatters chief struggled at times too earlier in his tenure, before things clicked into gear from March onwards, as the club won the Vertu Trophy at Wembley and gave some real cause for optimism going into next term.

Although eager to play down his own role in turning things around, questioned just what he felt he was able to do to lift the squad from the doldrums, Wilshere added: “When I came here I saw a group that needed a lot of love, needed an arm around them, but also some direction, some identity of who were trying to be.

"That wasn’t always easy and I’ve got great staff around me to help me with that, but when you’re not getting the results you want and you’re on a bad run, to stick to what you believe in and truly believe in it, you have to do that, and the players have to believe in it as well. So I think we raised standards, I think we increased the level in training. We put more demands physically, slowly, because you have to be slowly, otherwise you’re going to get injuries.

"We improved the availability record, which I think is massively important as in this league you need a settled team that can play Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday. We worked together as the only way you do that is by collaborating with everyone at the club, the medical team, the performance team, the coaches, and most importantly the players as you can only do what you want on the pitch with the players you have, so I think we got that balance really good.

"It wasn’t always easy at the start as we didn’t get the results we wanted. We went on a terrible away run, ultimately that’s probably what cost us, but we’re in a good place now and the most important thing I think is the mentality of the group, the mentality of the club now. We’re positive for next season, I have a better understanding of away games in this league and what it takes and we’ll be hungry for more next season.”

On what he believes was the precursor to things finally starting to go the way he had anticipated, Wilshere added: “It’s really, really boring and cliched to say, but there is no denying that the only thing I’ve learned in this game through playing, through coaching with the 18s, through then going to Norwich and watching a manager that wasn’t successful, not through any fault of his own, but through different reasons and it taught me so much, but it goes back to the same thing, it’s hard work.

"It’s committing to something, it’s being together. It’s even more powerful when you’re together through the tough times and when I came here and stood in front of the group and talking to them, I knew that there was a togetherness and a unity, but it needed a little bit of care. That’s everyone, that’s not just me, that’s the coaches, that’s the environment, that’s the people above, everyone being involved, everyone being together, everyone pushing in the same direction to try and build an identity as well. We’re certainly on the way to doing that, then ultimately winning games, getting success and that’s the best way ever to convince a player when you stand in front of them.

"When you don’t win enough games it’s hard as I’ve been there, I’ve sat there. You want to believe in a coach, you want to believe in the way that he wants to work and wants to play and the best way of doing that is by winning games. We’ve managed to do that, but not consistently enough through the season and then you need to go through those tough moments, you need to analyse. Our away form wasn’t good enough, let’s try something different. The players needed to execute it and we’ve done that.”