Wilshere shares why he and Naismith got involved in angry clashes with Luton fans
Town’s players are jeered off once more after Burton draw
Hatters boss Jack Wilshere has explained exactly what went on in the aftermath of Town’s 1-1 draw against Burton Albion at Kenilworth Road yesterday that saw both he and skipper Kal Naismith involved in some heated exchange with their own supporters after the full time whistle.
With the jeers starting as early as the 97th second of the contest when Luton played the ball around their defence, the hosts looked to have relieved the pressure they were under as Nahki Wells was sent clean through by Joe Johnson to break the deadlock. However, rather than push on from that opener, the Luton players, clearly bereft of confidence following four defeats from six, although on a 10-game unbeaten run at home, set about trying to protect their advantage rather than push on and put the game to bed.
They paid the price in the second minute of stoppage time as well, when Davy van den Berg failed to clear his lines, which allowed Udoka Godwin-Malife to arch in a cross that saw Fabio Tavares nod home at the back post and earn the League One strugglers a point, as the mood around the stadium instantly darkened. Further boos followed from the Town fans during the final stages of injury time, with the volume cranked up at the final whistle as Luton dropped points once more to fall six adrift of the play-off places.
With Jordan Clark going round to thank supporters by himself, the long-serving midfielder was motioned back to join the rest of his team-mates who were called together for a huddle by Wilshere, and asked what he had told them, said: “My message was stick together, stick together. I thanked them for their efforts because I can really see that they're trying and I see it every single day. They're challenging each other, so my message was, ‘right, let's be together, let's go and thank the fans.’
“I know they probably don't want to hear us thanking them, but we need to try to get them with us. We really do because that's not an easy environment to play in for anyone, let alone if you're coming off the back of two defeats where you haven't been good enough and you're lacking confidence. So that was my message, be together, let’s go and thank the fans, but make sure we stick together when we do it.”
When the players did make their way round as a collective group, the frustrations intensified, with skipper Kal Naismith having to be held back from going over to remonstrate with someone in the home stands by Wilshere. On that incident, the boss continued: “I’ve said it before about Kal that I love him and I think he's a great leader. I know that's quite controversial at times, but I can't quite get my head around that. If I was a supporter of this club then I'd want someone like that leading it, because he really cares, he drives standards every single day.
“He doesn't want to accept that we're in the level we're at, as I know that he came back to the club to try and get the club back. We can have questionable performances, but it still needs to be respectful and Kal was always respectful, always. But it has to remain that way and I think probably Kal thought they crossed the line. I said, ‘Kal, ignore it, let’s stick together’.”
Meanwhile, when the players got to the tunnel, it was Wilshere who had to be ushered off the pitch as he got involved in a heated exchange with supporters who appeared to be letting him know in no uncertain terms what they thought of the result. Sharing what happened from his point of view, the manager added: “I was just trying to hear what he was saying, I've done it before. I think he was questioning the tactics, which is fine. Fans come, they pay their money and they watch and they have an understanding of football, so I was just trying to find out what he didn't like about the tactics, find out that.
"Maybe a bad moment, but I also think I want to be respectful to the fans as well because I can see the frustration. We're trying so much, so much, to turn it around and we'll keep trying. There's no entitlement to just win games. I know we're playing against a team that are lower than us, but I said it before, they're not just going to turn up and give us anything. We have to fight and fight and fight. We did that, but unfortunately we fell a bit short.”