Jack Wilshere has taken his first steps in management with League One side Luton Town
Jack Wilshere and Eddie Howe during their time together at AFC Bournemouth
Jack Wilshere and Eddie Howe during their time together at AFC Bournemouth
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Former Arsenal and England midfielder Jack Wilshere took his first step into management this week after he was named manager of Luton Town.
The 33-year-old, who has coached at youth level with Arsenal and was previously a first team coach at Norwich City, was given a rude awakening about life in the dugout as his Hatters side lost 2-0 at home to Mansfield Town in his first game in charge at Kenilworth Road.
But Wilshere has a number of top coaches from his playing career to draw inspiration from, ranging from Arsene Wenger at Arsenal and David Moyes at West Ham United.
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And he also played under Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe during a loan spell with Bournemouth in the 2016/17 season and when the Cherries picked up a 2-2 draw away at Liverpool at Anfield that season, Wilshere says Howe's approach to that game 'changed the way I saw coaching'.
"The best coach on the grass I've had is Eddie Howe," Wilshere told FourFourTwo.
"Because of the energy and the detail he put in. He’d get frustrated on the pitch, because he cared and he wanted it to be to a certain level. Eddie affected me tactically.
"What Eddie taught me was, ‘we’re going to Anfield away (April 2017), we're going to play 4-4-2, be hard to play against, hit them on the counter-attack and get a result.’ We drew 2-2.
"Eddie taught me you can look at a game that you want to create and actually create it. Eddie put that seed in my head."
He added: "I love Eddie because he just changed the way I saw coaching," Wilshere added.
"I remember clashing with Eddie saying, ‘Gaffer, I can't keep up with this intensity’. And he was ‘well, we're going to have to pick when you train’.
"I said to him, ‘Some days let's just settle down a little bit.’ It was like I swore at him, he couldn't believe it. ‘No, no, you need to understand it.
"These players, Charlie Daniels, Simon Francis, they've been on a journey with me since League One and we have to work in this way to compete at this level’. And we finished ninth in the Premier League."