Jack Wilshere on becoming a manager, Mikel Arteta’s influence and the key to making it at Arsenal | OneFootball

Jack Wilshere still wasn’t sure he even wanted to be a manager, until he witnessed former Arsenal midfield partner Mikel Arteta work.

“I’d never seen someone coach that way,” the 33-year-old says now. “I’d never seen his passion, I’d never seen how he would try and teach the players, both in meetings and on the pitch.

“I was on my A license at the time, and it kind of inspired me to do it.”

And then some. Wilshere is speaking at a key step of his coaching journey, as he sits in St George’s Park for his Uefa Pro Licence. Part of the module involves selected journalists grilling candidates in mock press conferences about extreme scenarios, and the 33-year-old evidently handled it so well he has agreed to sit for a proper chat.

He also talks freely about how it was Arteta’s impact that changed his mind on all of this. Even two years ago, Wilshere wasn’t sure. Now he’s adamant.

“I want to be a head coach,” he says. “Coaching is not something that, as I started my career… [I’m] not thinking about that. But Mikel was the one.”

His journey, from becoming Arsenal under-18 coach just four days after retirement in 2022, is unusual for an ex-player of his reputation. Most could have fast-tracked into senior jobs, as some of Wilshere’s peers have. He worked as an academy coach for two years, before taking the decision to go to Norwich City as first-team coach under Johannes Hoff Thorup last summer.

“I had a decision to make, whether I was going to hold on at Arsenal a little bit to try and get something as a head coach, or whether I was going to go and get into a first-team environment, where I’ve got a head coach who sees the game really similar.

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Jack Wilshire while coaching Arsenal under-18s (Getty Images)

“And I'm enjoying watching [Hoff Thorup] as well, watching him, how he delivers to the players, how he sets up the team, how he sets up a week - all these things that you're involved in as a player, but it's completely different when you're the guy who's leading it and trying to create something.”

It means Wilshere has essentially gone through two different education processes. Having trained as a player, he is now going through the more modern coaching pathway where young candidates try various different levels and assistant roles. It makes them more rounded but can be much longer.

“It is like starting anew,” Wilshere says. “But I think if you ask someone, for example we’ve got Nick [Stanley], a set-piece coach at Norwich, who’s really top, but he didn’t have the playing background that I have. He would probably say ‘yeah, you get a little bit more respect from the players’. And don’t get me wrong, that doesn’t last long. As soon as you go there, maybe they go ‘OK, he’s had a good career, we’ll listen to him’. But if you’re not good enough and the players feel that, then they’ll quickly work you out.”

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Mikel Arteta with Jack Wilshere during their time playing at Arsenal (PA)

Given his career as a high-quality midfielder, Wilshere found some players couldn’t do things he could, but a key part of his journey has been figuring out how to manage that.

“When I first went in as 18s head coach, I couldn't quite understand why they couldn't do certain things. My assistant at the time, a guy called Adam Birchall, he's now took the job when I left, he helped me massively. He was a guy who came through Arsenal, a similar journey to me, he went and had to make a career in League One, League Two.

“I think we had a really nice balance of me understanding that, what it takes to get there, but then him understanding, number one, stages of development, because he coached all the way through, but number two, the requirements needed to have a career at the lower level.”

There were never such issues with Ethan Nwaneri or Myles Lewis-Skelly of course.

“They were just doing things that none of the other players could do. That helped me understand, these two are probably going to go on and play for Arsenal, and then this group of players here - which is just as important - we need to find a way of making them have a career.”

An obvious question is what the difference with Nwaneri and Lewis-Skelly was in real terms.

“Of course their ability, like they could pick the ball up in any situation, that is under-15s, under-16s, under-18s, and make something happen. But, more importantly, Ethan and Myles are very team-orientated, and Myles more of a natural leader, and he wants to bring everyone with him, whereas Ethan was just really driven, and really, ‘what do I need to do?’ He'd come and seek advice.

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Norwich City first team coach Jack Wilshere with set piece coach Nick Stanley (Getty Images)

“And now in the world we live, with social media and all this, I think it’s harder, and you see some players get distracted by that. Ethan and Myles were never like that, they were just ‘I know where I want to get to, what I want to do’, and they’ve done it.”

That does raise a theme that is big right now, over the decline of individualism in the game. It’s going to be relevant to Wilshere’s own coaching career too.

“I was taught to play in a certain way. It was very much Arsene giving a lot of responsibility and the academy playing the same way as the first team. But it wasn't really, ‘this is how we play, this is what you need to do’. It was like, well, ‘we’re going to put you in a position, and your own understanding of the game, your own insight, will create moments for you’, whereas now everyone plays the same.

“At the moment it's very structural. ‘You're going to play in this pocket, this is what you can do’. And as much as I like that, because that's what I've coached, I do think there's a little bit more room for players to express themselves. I was reading about dribblers the other day, and there's not that many dribblers now. I was the type of midfielder who liked to dribble, and I definitely think we need to keep that in the game.”

Wilshere has shown this similar grounding in his own coaching career, given this willingness to try anything. He also insists pathways are still an issue for English coaches. When asked whether Gareth Southgate’s progress with the national team has helped the credibility, he flatly says “no”.

“I see my ex-teammates, [Wayne] Rooney, [Frank] Lampard, [Steven] Gerrard, I think the best advertisement for young English coaches is them guys,” Wilshere maintains. “It's them guys doing well. I'm really happy for Lampard at the moment, because I do think situations like that will create a pathway for people like myself, for the next generation of young England coaches.

“I think, when I look at Gareth, and Gareth's done an amazing job… but I see him more as a national team coach. Maybe I'll be wrong, and he'll go on to have a club career, but I feel like his situation, his journey, his experiences, they kind of suit that a little bit better.”

Wilshere now has his own planned destination clear, as he is working towards being a head coach. “Probably the type of person I am, I like to have an end goal in sight.”

That is also why he is doing a marathon, in aid of the British Heart Foundation given his five-year-old daughter Siena had five-hour surgery on a congenital heart defect last year.

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Jack Wilshere during the Championship match vs Coventry City (Getty Images)

“It felt like a natural thing to do. But it's difficult. The training and everything is really tough,” Wilshere concedes.

“I listen to mainly Stick to Football. The other day I ran 20k, it took me two hours. It's probably harder mentally. Because I'm not going fast enough to make it hard for me in my lungs. But obviously your legs start to feel heavy. But mentally it's the toughest.”