‘It’s his team, his club’ – Chris Powell on why Jack Wilshere can thrive at Luton

Chris Powell’s new managerial partnership with Jack Wilshere will be built on mutual respect and shared values — with the new assistant believing their combination of youthful energy and experience can help Luton Town thrive again.

The former Charlton, Southend and England coach, joins as assistant to the new Hatters boss, which will be the 33-year-old’s first permanent managerial role, taking over from Matt Bloomfield who was sacked last week after a difficult start to the League One campaign.

And while new man Wilshere has previously only coached Arsenal under-18s and took temporary charge of Norwich at the end of last season, his number two has a wealth of coaching experience from the lower leagues through to the England national team, where he was with Gareth Southgate for four years until 2023.

It’s clear that Powell, who was most recently on the coaching staff at League Two Walsall on an interim basis, will be both a mentor for and a collaborator with Wilshere.

“It’s a two-way relationship,” Powell said. “I’ve been in the game a long time, many experiences as a manager and assistant. But it’s great to be part of someone’s journey and someone embarking on the next chapter in their career. He’s got a lot of knowledge already, and it’s now about imparting that onto a group and being balanced in how we do things.”

He added: “Something like this energises me and energises him. He wants to coach, he wants to be on the grass with the players. If anything, with myself, my relationship with players is good because you have to create an environment that they want to come to, they want to work, they want to get better. And we’ll do that with our staff.”

Powell, 56, also stressed that his role will be supportive, not supervisory, saying: “There’ll be times where I might just have a quiet word with him with regards to how we approach things. But it’s his team. It’s his club. I’m here to support him, support the players, support the wider staff, get to know people, get to know the crowd. I think that’s important that we understand what they want.”

While Wilshere’s pedigree as a player was at the elite end, largely with Arsenal and England, Powell too won caps for the Three Lions, which he built towards having established himself at Southend United from 1990, when the Shrimpers were in the third tier. His first managerial job was with Charlton in 2011, when the Addicks were also in the third tier, and he steered them back to the Championship the following year.

“I’ve managed in League One, my first job, and was successful, so hopefully I can replicate that,” said Powell, adding of Luton’s mid-table position in the division: “This is where we’re at at the moment, but we have a challenge that lies ahead and we’re going to embrace it.”

He praised Wilshere’s commitment to standards and togetherness., saying: “Jack will have some real core ideas and principles that won’t change – what he demands from the group on a regular basis. It’s about understanding them as people and players and getting to work as soon as we can. Because it’s all about match day, but it’s how we get there.”

Powell summed up the mood at the club by saying: “It’s exciting. Jack wants to build something, and we want to give him and the players and the environment to make that happen.”

Wilshere said of his new assistant: “He’s going to be a big help to me. When we when we talk about experience, there are some things that you can’t get without actually going through it and living it and feeling it. And there’s probably no one better in the country in English football than Chris Powell to to understand that.

“I said to Gary [Sweet], he’s probably forgotten more than most of us know about football. So [it will be] his know-how, his experience, his presence at the training ground.

“I spoke to Chris last year, we played against Sheffield Wednesday. I was at Norwich. I went into the manager’s room after and Danny Rohl [then the Owls boss] wasn’t in there actually, but Chris was there and we were chatting and I spent probably ten minutes talking to Chris. All Chris did was tell me how good Danny Rohl was, and I just thought, what a guy.

“Danny’s not here, he’s talking to me about him, telling me he’s good at this, telling me he’s good at that. When Gary mentioned him to me, I had a little smile. And we’ve had some conversations since, and we’re going to build that relationship even more.”