Jack Wilshere on Arsenal's doc and why he is a fan of 'intense' Arteta

EXCLUSIVE: Arsenal youth coach Jack Wilshere reveals he’s copying Mikel Arteta’s wacky methods by watching All or Nothing – and how an old boss took his squad to play FOOTGOLF instead of training!

• Jack Wilshere called time on his playing career in July at just 30 years old
• The former midfielder was thrust into the spotlight at an early age at Arsenal 
• But now he is on a new path and is the head coach of the Gunners’ Under 18s side
• Wilshere chats to Sportsmail about his new role and learning from Mikel Arteta 

Amazon’s All or Nothing: Arsenal documentary is billed as a ‘behind the curtain’ insight into the deep workings of the football club that fans do not normally see.

Jack Wilshere is not an Arsenal fan by birth, but you will not find someone with a keener interest in the club than the Tottenham-hating, self-proclaimed ‘forever Gooner’. 

Sportsmail is talking to Wilshere the day after the release of the first three episodes of the documentary and the now retired midfielder has already sat down to watch.

Sportsmail spoke to Jack Wilshere the day after the release of Amazon’s All or Nothing: Arsenal

‘I watched the first one last night and it was really good,’ Wilshere reveals, speaking at the UK launch of fantasy football app SPITCH. ‘I’ve watched the All or Nothings for all of the clubs and I think it’s a really good insight for fans but also for people like me who are learning to be a coach.’ 

Much more than previous series focusing on Manchester City and Tottenham, Arsenal’s All or Nothing revolves around their manager: Mikel Arteta. 

The Spaniard catches the eye with his unorthodox coaching methods, like asking the team to rub their palms together before a game against Leicester and playing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ in training ahead of the Gunners’ trip to Liverpool. 

He has certainly split opinion, with Piers Morgan labelling Arteta as ‘weird’ and criticising his handling of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in later episodes.

But Wilshere, who played with the Spaniard for five years and has since watched him coach first-hand, is a fan. 

‘Playing with him, he was a guy who was very focused, very intelligent with the way he trained. As a coach he is very similar. He is very intense, very hands on with the players and trying different things, new techniques to try to help them. 

‘I like it. He’s a modern coach. Sometimes it will work, sometimes it won’t. You’ve got to try these things to see that.’

Mikel Arteta has split opinion with his unorthodox coaching methods in the documentary 

Wilshere, who played with Arteta for five years and has watched him coach first-hand, is a fan

The most unusual training session that Wilshere experienced as a player? ‘I remember one day at Bournemouth under Eddie Howe, he told us we weren’t training and were going to play footgolf. That was as bizarre as it got.’ 

Sportsmail asks Wilshere how he thinks he would have coped with a documentary team following his every move as a player. His answer is surprisingly hard-hitting: ‘I felt like there was always a camera there anyway.’

It feels rather poignant and captures the whirlwind that players experience when they are catapulted into the public spotlight at a young age as Wilshere was. The pressure of knowing that someone is waiting to catch the next slip up, on or off the pitch. 

Wilshere became Arsenal’s youngest-ever league debutant when he played against Blackburn at the age of 16 years and 256 days. He was a full England international at 18 and had made a century of appearances for the Gunners by the time he was 21.  

From an early age, Wilshere was aware of the levels of expectation placed upon him and how, like many young English prospects, they were set at a bar that was impossible to reach. 

That he has now retired from playing at the age of just 30 is the result of a career full of glorious highs but also gut-wrenching lows, which Wilshere himself has struggled to explain at times. 

Wilshere was catapulted into the spotlight at an early age after his breakthrough at Arsenal

The midfielder announced his retirement from playing in July after a spell with Danish side AGF

But he is now on a new journey. Following a three-month spell at Danish side Aarhus in the second half of last season – which came after nearly a year of being without a club – Wilshere had offers to continuing playing this summer but had firmly caught the coaching bug. 

He confirmed that he had hung up his boots on July 8 and three days later it was announced that he had been appointed as head coach of Arsenal’s Under 18s. 

‘I had conversations with a few people about keeping on playing, but I was so interested and intrigued in the coaching world,’ Wilshere says.

‘I spent a bit of time coaching in the academy at Arsenal last season and I fell in love with it. The more I was there, the more I learned and the more that I wanted to throw myself into it. 

‘So my thoughts on wanting to be a coach started before I went to Denmark. While I enjoyed my time out there, I also spent a lot of my time studying coaching and thinking about coaching. 

Three days later, Wilshere, 30, was appointed as head coach of Arsenal’s under-18 team

‘Once you start doing that, you have to commit yourself one hundred per cent to it. The opportunity at Arsenal came up and I put my name forward. I’ve got a goal of being a manager and this is a good place to start.’ 

Wilshere believes that knowing the pathway at Arsenal helped him when applying for the role

Arsenal is Wilshere’s home. He joined at the age of nine and ended his retirement statement last month with ‘COYG’ (Come On You Gunners). He is loved by fans, former team-mates and club legends.

Midway through Sportsmail‘s interview with the 30-year-old, Ray Parlour sticks his head around the corner to find out how Wilshere is getting on in his new role. ‘The Romford Pele’ has just arrived at the event and his fellow Gunners alumni was the first person he wanted to see.  

Meanwhile, Wilshere says that Per Mertesacker, his team-mate of seven years who is now Arsenal’s academy manager, played a key role in his decision to become a coach. 

‘Per was a big part of the conversations that I had and was really influential, really supportive. The whole club have been great. I was a guy who had no experience with coaching and they’ve given me a really big role. It’s a journey I’m sure they will be on with me the whole way.’ 

So, as Parlour wants to know so desperately, how is Wilshere finding the coaching life?  

‘I’m really enjoying it. I’ve done four weeks now and my staff and I have tried to implement our style. I’ve learned a lot. It’s been quite intense with a lot going on, but this is what I wanted to do. 

Wilshere has long-term ambitions as a manager but does not want to get ahead of himself

‘I have an understanding of what I think the pathway should look like and how players should be treated, while I’ve also got two coaches with me who experienced different sides of the youth system.

‘There’s Adam Birchall who was in the Arsenal academy but didn’t quite make it so he’s got that experience and then Julian Gray who came through to play in the Premier League and have a good career. So we have that blend.

‘Ultimately, we’re trying to get all of the kids in the first team but we know that’s not going to happen so we want to give the boys the best chance of getting a career in the game at any level.’

Wilshere believes that knowing the pathway at Arsenal helped him when it came to applying for the role, but also admits that there has been a shift in focus since he was in the club’s U18s team himself 15 years ago.  

‘There’s a much more holistic view of how we need to develop a player. It’s not just developing on the pitch, it’s developing the person. The focus is more broad than when I was coming through.’ 

It is these different sides of the game that are influencing Wilshere’s personal coaching philosophy. 

‘What I’ve learned in a short period is that a big part of being a successful coach is being able to adapt to the players that you’ve got,’ he says. 

Wilshere has picked his SPITCH fantasy football team for the new Premier League season

‘I’m blessed at Arsenal that we’ve got really good young players who can master the ball and keep possession. But it’s also important to be good out of possession, be aggressive and play with passion. 

‘I like to think I was a player who played with a lot of heart and I want my team to do that. That’s just as important as being good on the ball.’ 

Wilshere is keen to stress that while he has long-term ambitions as a coach and manager, ‘it would be stupid to look too far ahead as you might forget the learning along the way’.

You feel that the 30-year-old may have drawn on his experiences as a player for that particular line.  

But with the way that he speaks about his coaching passion, the way he thinks about situations, there is a feeling that while the path he is now on might have been unexpected, it is undoubtedly the right one.   

Jack Wilshere was speaking at the UK launch of SPITCH’s all new Season Mode. SPITCH is a fantasy football app where you compete for the chance to win a £50,000 prize pool. Sign up for free here: https://bit.ly/SPITCHUK. 18+ only. 

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