Jack Wilshere Spotted a 13-Year-Old Max Dowman and Now Manages Luton Where His Own Career Began

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Jack Wilshere spotted Max Dowman playing for his Arsenal Under-18s team when Dowman was only 13, two years before the winger made his senior debut for the Gunners.
Wilshere retired from playing at 30 because of injuries, started coaching Arsenal’s academy the very next day, and is now in his first year managing Luton Town, the club where he began playing at seven.
He has already won the EFL Trophy with Luton, beating Stockport County 3-1 at Wembley in front of almost 50,000 fans, and is trying to get the club promoted to the Championship this season.

The Phone Call to His Dad That Still Makes Him Laugh

Jack Wilshere called his dad the moment training finished. He had just watched a 13-year-old play for Arsenal’s Under-18s and needed someone else to see it. “You need to come watch this kid,” he told him. His dad went down, watched, and delivered a verdict Wilshere still laughs about: the boy was better than Wilshere had been at that age. The boy was Max Dowman, who made his senior Arsenal debut at 15. Wilshere was only 16 himself when he first played for Arsenal’s first team, so he knew exactly what he was looking at.

Now 34, Wilshere has swapped the Emirates for Kenilworth Road. He is managing Luton Town, the club where he started playing at seven. His career has folded back on itself. The boyhood club became the place he returned to lead.

Full Circle at Kenilworth Road

Wilshere won two FA Cups with Arsenal, played 182 Premier League games and earned 34 caps for England, appearing at the 2014 World Cup and Euro 2016. Injuries cut the career short. He retired at 30, having also played for Bolton, Bournemouth, West Ham and Danish side AGF, but with no regrets.

“I loved it, I’m really proud,” he said. “I got to play for my country and represent them at two major tournaments. OK, they didn’t go the way we wanted them to, but I got to do it. I scored for my country, I played for the club I loved growing up, so pride is the biggest thing.”

The gap between playing and coaching lasted one day. Arsenal invited him back to coach their youngsters immediately after he retired.

“I hear stories about people struggling in retirement, and I retired on a Monday, and I was in with the 18s on a Tuesday,” Wilshere said. “When I first went and walked through the door to coaching, I realized this is going to take over my life, and I need to commit myself to this if I want to improve.”

Learning to Coach From Arteta

Mikel Arteta had been Wilshere’s Arsenal teammate for five years and was first-team manager by the time Wilshere started coaching the academy. Arteta led Arsenal to the Premier League title in 2025-26, the club’s first in 22 years, and Wilshere credits him with shaping how he teaches.

“I got to see Mikel and how he coached and the influence he was having,” Wilshere said. “I would ask him questions, why he’s doing certain things, and I started to fall in love with it and how he started to prepare training sessions. I’d get an opportunity to practice that with the 18s in the afternoon, and it was something I wasn’t that good at, and I felt uncomfortable at times.

“I was influenced by Mikel, but then I had to learn how to teach. I had to learn how to get that across, how to plan a session and how to get the outcomes that you wanted.”

Spotting Dowman Early

Wilshere coached three players now in Arsenal’s first team: Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ethan Nwaneri and Dowman. Dowman played for Wilshere’s Under-18s side at 13, two years below the usual age.

“In the first game we could clearly see that he was ready for it,” Wilshere said. “And I remember calling my dad and saying, ‘you need to come watch this kid.’ My dad did, and my dad’s very biased, as you could imagine. But even he said, ‘he’s better than you.'”

A Trophy and a Viral Team Talk

Wilshere took permanent charge of Luton last October, after a short interim spell at Norwich City. He has already delivered silverware, guiding the Hatters to the EFL Trophy with a 3-1 win over Stockport County at Wembley in April in front of almost 50,000 fans.

His man-management drew wider attention on the opening day of this season, when a half-time team talk went viral after Luton came back from 3-1 down to beat Reading 4-3. Early in his own career, Wilshere had been pictured drinking and smoking, drawing public criticism from Arsene Wenger. He says the experience shaped how he handles his own young players now.

“Yes, I made mistakes, but I also reflect on that,” Wilshere said. “I had a manager that had high standards and he let me know that he was disappointed, but he also gave me another chance. You educate them, you let them know there’s a line and there’s things they can’t do. But also give them another chance. I believe in that.”

Wilshere is trying to get Luton promoted back to the Championship this season, one year into a management career he began the day after his playing career ended.

“You have to build that relationship with the players,” he said. “Players also want to have high standards. They want to be held accountable. Ever since day one, they’ve been all-in with what we’ve been trying to do.”

WRITTEN BY

Jarrod

Jarrod Partridge is the Founder of Futbol Chronicle and an accredited journalist with over 30 years of experience following international football. A member of the AIPS International Sports Press Association, Jarrod has covered matches at stadiums around the world, bringing first-hand insight to every match report, player profile, and tactical analysis he writes.