It is strange that we have already seen so many incarnations from Jack Wilshere with someone who is so young.
First came the wildly talented football player who, at just 19, pulled the midfield of Barcelona in a now legendary match for Arsenal supporters, before he retired at 30 from a career that is cruelly reduced by injury.
Then the young coach, who took at the age of 31 in Arsenal's younger than 18 -with Myles Lewis -S -SKelly and Ethan Nwaneri -came to the FA Youth Cup final in his first season before he came to Norwich's Senior Staff last year.
But Wilshere also had to take on the only role that we all hope that we will never fall for us; The terrified parent, forced to pay attention, helpless while the life of their child is in the balance. His daughter, Siena, was only five years old when she underwent a five -hour longer operation to repair a gap in her heart, the result of a congenital defect last year.
“As a parent to continue that, it was difficult,” says Wilshere Mail Sport Sports as part of Sky Bet's every minute Matters campaign in collaboration with the British Heart Foundation, with the intention of inspiring football fans throughout the country to learn life -saving CPR.
'As a football player, everything you do, you have control over. You have a plan or a schedule and you have control over it and then suddenly something happens where all control has disappeared and you have to put trust in the doctors.
'Giving up the control of probably your most valuable possession is difficult, but luckily we got through with the great doctors in the British Heart Foundation.
“It was difficult. If you are the father and the husband of the family, it is probably more difficult for everyone else at home and your task is to try to make sure everyone feels good. It was a difficult time. '
Becoming a concept at the age of 16 and finding yourself in the spotlight, you would forgive a considerable ego and an atmosphere of rights, but instead there is no emotional intelligence and self-consciousness in some coaches in Wilshere twice of his age.
He speaks about the sacrifices that his parents made to help him pursue his dream, and is refreshingly aware of his own shortcomings and freely describes how he struggled to give a speech on his first day that is in charge of Arsenal Under 18s, before he wanted to give his own wisdom a new career in coaching.
“What I would say is that you don't rip everything you learned while playing because you need it,” he says. “But you go back to the start of that trip. It's just a completely different skills.
'Everyone's journey is a bit different, but one thing that I would encourage and my message to players who want to go to coaching is just to take your time and learn.
'There are so many basic things that you think, if you have been a player, it will come naturally to you. It's not, you have to learn, you really have to be clear in a playing style, in a way that you see the game at any time. It takes time, but I am really happy that I decided to make this trip. '
Wilshere is in the children's shoes of his coaching career, but it does not take long for both his passion for his profession and its determination to shine on.
After a successful stint at the Emirates, he joined the coaching staff of Johannes Hoff Thorup in October 2024 and enjoyed the challenge.
'My ambition is to become head coach, and I said that from the start. When I went to Norwich, I sat down with the manager and the technical director, I wanted to make it clear to them that I see myself as head coach and that is my journey.
“I want that pressure to feel it and experience it now without being the real chief, is great and I just try to record as much as possible.”
The transition from youth team to senior coaching is demanding. The 'Tempo of Work', as Wilshere says it, is ruthless and goes from the last whistle to complete Debrief and preparation for the next challenge within 12 hours. Yet there is no hint of a complaint. If there is something, exactly the opposite is true.
“I am really happy because it's all that I need and what I want to do,” says Wilshere about his new life.
For someone in their first senior post he has impressive faith in his own view of the game.
Like a former teenage quarter, who offers paths for young players at an individual level supports his entire coaching ethos.
'I am very passionate about the development of players and how you can develop, whether you are 16 or 30. There are always areas where you can develop. And my big thing is that players must experience something before you explain it to them.
“Of course you can say:” Exactly, this is what could happen “, or” this is what will happen “, but for a player to actually experience it and realize the challenges, the pressure, is more important.
'The largest thing I see is the development of the individual within the playing style. Of course you want to play like the first team, but you also have to understand that if they don't arrive, the end of the road is not for them.
'So you have to coach them in mind and understand that yes, the ultimate ambition could be to play for Arsenal, for example, but what should we do to give them a career to the game? So that is why I think that developing the individual in the playing style really helps. '
It is hardly a surprise if you think about Wilshere's influences in coaching. Arsene Wenger, Mikel Arteta, David Moyes, Eddie Howe – you couldn't really ask for much better custody, and a new lesson from every Wilshere.
He tells, in typically impressive details, the mistake he made during his full Premier League debut, which led to Liverpool's equalizer in a 1-1 draw on Anfield, and the Wenger dealt with it.
'I look at someone like Arsene Wenger, and I try to take him a little in my coaching, because he had the opportunity to give me that confidence back. He was not intense in training, but he had a way about him. The next week I was back in the team, and as an 18-year-old it was a big message.
'From Arsene I try the way he was as a leader and man manager and the conviction he gave me. When I think of Eddie Howe, I think about really, really in the development of the individual.
'I went back to Arsenal when I was on my A license, and I saw Mikel Coach, and how passionate he was about developing the individual and also developing a playing style and coaching every moment, it really inspired me.
'I try to take a little bit of everything, even from bad experiences. When I was with Manuel Pellegrini and David Moyes came in and I didn't play, I spent six months with him and people would probably think I have bad things to say about it. But he was such a good coach.
“That is something that every coach can take away. You are not going to keep everyone happy because people want to play and you can only choose 11 players.
“But actually creating an atmosphere, a culture where people want to be, training is good, it is competitive and you can keep everyone inspired – that is what I have taken from David Moyes.”
Life in football, for Wilshere, is about the lessons learned and that can still be taught. Beyond is the teenager who once delivered a front of Sergio Busquets, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta. In his place, a pragmatic, deeply thinking young man is now devoted to improving not only the people around him, but also himself.
It is part of the reason why he will run the London Marathon for the British Heart Foundation later this year, another challenge for him to struggle and find a new way to involve body and mind and take responsibility.
'Probably the last three years I started running a little more – when I say, I mean 5k, 10k and so I was quite confident there, but when you have to run 20k, 25k, 30k, that is physically difficult, but probably the hardest thing I would say is mentally.
“But it's going well, I'm more confident now. 25 km as most I have done, so there is probably 18 km more that I have to find, but training goes well.
“I try to do it, I try to keep myself responsible, which is sometimes difficult.”
At the age of 33, Wilshere has already passed enough setbacks, both on and outside the field, for a whole club, let alone one only coach. Yet there is never a mention of what he has missed or has been robbed, only what will come, and that with an unwavering trust.
And if there is one thing that you take from 25 minutes in the company of this emotionally intelligent, driven and self -conscious young man, it is that you would be a fool to bet against him that he will find that extra 18 km – and something else.
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