Keeper Shea won the competition with Hatters manager back in 2009
Luton boss Jack Wilshere faces a decision over whether to give his FA Youth Cup winning team-mate James Shea his first FA Cup run-out for over three years when Town host National League outfit Forest Green Rovers in the first round at Kenilworth Road this evening.
The 34-year-old, who joined the Hatters back in July 2017, has played five times in the competition for the club, keeping four clean sheets in that time, three of those coming in the 2018-19 campaign, with shut-outs against Wycombe Wanderers (2-0), Bury (1-0) and Sheffield Wednesday (0-0), before playing in the 1-0 loss to the Owls at Hillsborough.
Since then, Shea has found himself either on the bench or not included, as his last outing was a 4-0 third round victory over Harrogate Town on January 9, 2022, Elijah Adebayo, Cameron Jerome, Kal Naismith and Luke Berry all on target that day. With the popular stopper featuring in Town’s cup matches this season, the 1-0 Carabao Cup loss to Coventry City, and all three Vertu Trophy group stage matches, then asked if he could play once more tonight, ahead of Josh Keeley, who has played every single minute of the 13 League One matches to date, Wilshere said: “When I talk about the players and when we change them, I think we’re in really good position with that as well with goalkeepers.
James Shea and Jack Wilshere celebrate winning the FA Youth Cup for Arsenal in May 2009 - pic: Jamie McDonald/Getty Imagesplaceholder image
James Shea and Jack Wilshere celebrate winning the FA Youth Cup for Arsenal in May 2009 - pic: Jamie McDonald/Getty Images
"You only have to look over the years and speaking to Pilks (Kevin Pilkington) the goalie coach and Kevin Dearden (teams operation manager), who has obviously been here for years, there’s always been a stage in the season where James has had to step in and perform, so we’re completely comfortable with that. We have to make a decision. I thought James was really good the other night (against Brighton U21s). We made him skipper, I felt like he deserved it, I didn’t know he’d never been skipper before, but I feel like someone with that presence and leadership skills in the club and how the players look at him, he is someone who we see as a real leader. He might play, we’ll have to make that decision.”
With Shea having had 114 appearances for the Hatters since joining, going all the way from League One to the Premier League and now back to the third tier again, he was well known to Wilshere prior to taking the job at Kenilworth Road, as the pair were part of the Arsenal XI who won the FA Youth Cup back in 2009, beating Liverpool 6-2 on aggregate in the final, ex-Hatter Henri Lansbury also featuring, with Wilshere scoring from the penalty spot in the 4-1 first leg victory.
On that contest being 16 years ago, the boss continued: “I’ll tell you, the night before I got announced I rang James and the first thing he said when he answered was, ‘is that my gaffer?’ It was really weird, but I’ve known James for years and James is a top guy. That (FA Youth Cup) feels like ages ago, you don’t tend to think about that much, but me and James played in the same youth team together. I’ve known him all these years and now I’m his coach so football’s crazy. I think the craziness that happens around football, that also happens on the pitch, but I’m really proud to be representing James as I know what kind of person he is and we definitely need people like him around.”
While Wilshere progressed from the youth team to have a fine career with the Gunners, spending almost 20 years at the club in total and winning the FA Cup on two occasions himself, Shea had to go a different way, as released in 2013, he went to Needham Market and Harrow Borough, before getting his Football League opportunity at AFC Wimbledon a year later and then joining the Hatters.
Speaking about his desire to make a career for himself despite the disappointment of leaving north London, Wilshere said: “He’s been really, really good, he’s someone that I’ve leant on a lot regarding certain things in the environment, what he felt before I came, as even before I got the job I was speaking with him. He’s someone who I respect so much, someone who we came through the same youth team together, but we had a completely different journey.
"When people go on that journey, when you drop down the leagues, when you’ve been at Arsenal, you have to have a real love for the game. I’ve seen players that have gone to non-league teams and never come back from that and they end up retiring at 22, 23. For him to have the spirit just to keep going, it’s because he loves the game. He’s also then been at a place where he’s learned to love the club, so we have a really good leader there that can help us for sure.”
Prior to Wilshere’s arrival, Shea himself spoke to the press following the 3-1 reverse against Cambridge United in the Vertu Trophy, discussing the alarming lack of confidence that was running through the club, stating it almost felt like they were playing against 13 men at times. Wilshere himself made a point of watching that before taking the job and felt like only really the keeper in the current squad had the credit with fans to be able to speak out, as asked if he now thought things had changed under his former Arsenal team-mate, he added: “You’ll have to ask him!
"One thing I love about James is he’ll always say it how it is, he’ll say it to your face. I watched that interview when we were going through the interview process and there’s only certain players within clubs who can say things like that and still have the respect of the players and the staff and he definitely can. The way he works, the demands he sets on the players, he definitely has the respect. I spoke to him in depth about that, it was genuinely from the heart, that’s how he felt.
“It’s not easy for a player to stand up and do that and that shows the level of respect that people have for him and the level of love I think he has for this club. People like that are so important culturally to the fans. They know what it means, another guy who has been on that journey to the Premier League and I love James and hopefully he can help us a lot. I think one thing about James is he’s so emotionally intelligent. He knows the right thing to say at the right time and not everyone has that. When you take a moment and just isolate that moment, some people might think, ‘that’s a bit strong,’ but if you actually know the club and if you know James’s journey with it, it was absolutely fine.”
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