Jack Wilshere’s decision to give his Luton Town players Christmas Day off paid immediate dividends as the Hatters swept aside Wycombe Wanderers 4-0 on Boxing Day, despite a growing Covid outbreak ripping through the squad.
The emphatic win, Luton’s biggest of the season, came with several senior players missing through illness and others only declared fit late on. Against that backdrop, Wilshere felt the benefits of time spent away from the training ground and with family outweighed sticking rigidly to football tradition of training on the big day.
Speaking after the match, Wilshere said the call was not straightforward, particularly as it was his first Christmas as a manager, but that he leant on his assistant manager Chris Powell.
“It’s funny, because we were off yesterday [Christmas Day] and, as my first Christmas as a manager, I was thinking, what do we do? Are we going to be in? Are we going to be off?
“Obviously, Powelly’s experience helped me. And I made the decision, and it’s a big thing, I think, that you can do all you can, training and everything, but actually being around your loved ones, being with your family, being with your kids, that gives you so much energy and I think you saw that today. So, yeah, next Christmas off as well.”
Wilshere contrasted that approach with his own experiences as a player, first breaking through at Arsenal under Arsene Wenger, where Christmas Day working was the norm.
“Obviously, the majority of my career was with Arsene and, I don’t know if you know, but the Europeans, the foreign players, they celebrate on the 24th. So their main meal was on the 24th, so he didn’t care about the 25th, so we were all in, always,” Wilshere said.
“I remember my first time with the first team at 16, being in on Christmas Day and then travelling to Aston Villa away Christmas night. I was 16. So since then, that’s all I’ve known.”
That outlook shifted later in his career after a move to Bournemouth, where Eddie Howe took a different view.
“And I went to Bournemouth and Eddie Howe would give us off, give you a GPS, and so I was so torn [now as a manager],” he said.
Wilshere believes his Luton squad responded positively to being trusted with time off, particularly at a time when uncertainty around illness meant preparations were constantly changing.
“One thing I would say about this group is they’re really committed and professional, focused, and I think they appreciate the trust more than everything. You can see today it worked.”
With Covid still lingering in the background and selection decisions taken almost out of his hands, Wilshere’s gamble on rest over routine was rewarded with energy, intensity and a dominant Boxing Day performance, which saw Gideon Kodua bag a brace, with Jordan Clark and Shayden Morris scoring to see the Hatters hit four at home for the first time since beating Brighton in the Premier League in January 2024
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