As they climbed the metal staircase behind the Main Stand at Kenilworth Road, a Luton supporter’s spectacles slipped from the top of her head and clanged against the steel.
‘Excuse me, you dropped your glasses,’ said the gentleman behind her, who stooped to collect and return them. ‘Could have done you a favour,’ he added with a grin. ‘You don’t want to watch this, clearly.’
I shuffled up the steps beside them to join 3,500 Luton fans for their EFL Trophy quarter-final against Plymouth on Tuesday to get a feeling for the fan frustration that, just three days earlier, led to manager Jack Wilshere being restrained by his own players amid a furious confrontation with a supporter.
On Saturday, two years to the day since Luton led at Anfield in the Premier League, they conceded a stoppage-time equaliser to struggling Burton Albion that left the Hatters six points adrift of the League One play-offs and a toxic divide between the club and its fans reached boiling point.
As the team made their way towards the tunnel, with boos and foul language ringing in their ears, Wilshere first held back his own captain Kal Naismith before turning towards a fan at the front of the stand. Videos later plastered over social media showed Wilshere appearing to say ‘shut your f***ing mouth’ before being led away down the tunnel.
Multiple witnesses have told Daily Mail Sport that the fan directed personal abuse at Wilshere. One source described it as ‘unrepeatable, vicious and obscene’ while another called it ‘something you would never say in the street’. At least one member of club staff took it upon themselves to call Wilshere early the next morning to check in on him.
Luton Town manager Jack Wilshere had to be restrained by his own players amid a furious confrontation with a supporter
Multiple witnesses have told Daily Mail Sport that the fan directed personal abuse at Wilshere. One source described it as ‘unrepeatable, vicious and obscene’
You know things have gone wrong somewhere when a fan is throwing abuse at a young coach who started his playing career at Luton aged eight, grew up a few miles down the road, and returned to train with the club before hanging up his boots.
So, why such anger? Luton are unbeaten in 11 home league games and, if they win their game in hand on Huddersfield, would be three points off the play-offs. Their victory over Plymouth, having been reinstated into the competition after Swindon Town fielded two ineligible players against them, has them a home win against Northampton Town next week from Wembley.
For a start, supporters are struggling to embrace Wilshere’s style of play. The Arsene Wenger disciple wants his team to get it down and pass it, as his Arsenal Under 18s did to great effect, but this is a club that reached its heights on fast-paced blood and thunder under Rob Edwards.
Just 97 seconds had passed against Burton when midfielder George Saville passed back to centre half Mads Andersen and the first boos sounded. And on Tuesday as Luton fumbled at the back under pressure from Plymouth’s front line, a furious cry of ‘Get it out! It’s tippy-tappy AGAIN!’ echoed from the back of the Main Stand.
Wilshere has talked about forging an identity, and a desire not to ‘pass the ball around the back just to pass it around the back’, but six away defeats on the spin and unsuccessfully sitting on their narrow lead against Burton pushed them to tipping point.
‘My message to them is point their anger towards me,’ said Wilshere after a loss to Wigan in the previous game. ‘I’m their manager, I make the decisions.’ So, they did.
Club sources insist Saturday’s incident was a one-off. Wilshere has been happy to speak with fans after games about their frustrations, as he did after a draw at Leyton Orient, but on this occasion felt he had no choice but to react to personal abuse.
Luton’s issues lie much deeper than Wilshere. He’s the third manager in less than a year for a club that has suffered back-to-back relegations, the second of which came on the final day of last season when they shipped five to West Brom and went down on goal difference.
Luton’s issues lie much deeper than Wilshere. He’s the third manager in less than a year for a club that has suffered back-to-back relegations
Luton are unbeaten in 11 home league games and, if they win their game in hand, would be three points off the play-offs
| Team | Pl | W | D | L | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cardiff | 33 | 21 | 6 | 6 | 28 | 69 |
| 2 | Lincoln | 33 | 20 | 8 | 5 | 28 | 68 |
| 3 | Bolton | 34 | 15 | 13 | 6 | 12 | 58 |
| 4 | Bradford | 33 | 17 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 58 |
| 5 | Stockport | 33 | 16 | 8 | 9 | 5 | 56 |
| 6 | Huddersfield | 34 | 15 | 7 | 12 | 10 | 52 |
| 7 | Reading | 33 | 12 | 12 | 9 | 5 | 48 |
| 8 | Stevenage | 32 | 13 | 9 | 10 | 1 | 48 |
| 9 | Wycombe | 33 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 47 |
| 10 | LUTON | 33 | 13 | 7 | 13 | 2 | 46 |
‘In many ways, Jack is just caught in the crossfire of it all,’ Kevin Harper of the Luton Supporters’ Trust tells Daily Mail Sport.
‘Some of his decision-making has been questionable and some of the football we’ve played has been hard to watch. But Jack isn’t the root of the problem.
‘We’ve gone from the Premier League to 10th in League One in 18 months and there is an awful lack of communication from those above as to why this happened.
‘We don’t get relegated twice without making errors, certainly not with the financial windfalls from the Premier League. The fans just feel like they’re being taken a little for granted.’
Chief executive Gary Sweet insisted in September after a poor start under Matt Bloomfield that reaching the play-offs was the ‘absolute minimum’ and automatic promotion still the target… yet hired a young, inexperienced coach a month later in Wilshere.
They considered Leyton Orient boss Richie Wellens, a more experienced manager, but plumped for Wilshere after being impressed with his ‘energy’, ‘ambition’ and ‘passion’ across four interviews.
So, while Wilshere’s project clearly needs time, the club is telling fans to demand instant results in another breath. And when you’re at a club that has gone from non-League to the very top and back down again so quickly, it can be hard to readjust your expectations when faced with the reality.
Club insiders talk of a much-needed culture change. One source described Luton as an ‘oil tanker’ that needs turning around. There’s been a huge overhaul of players, so much so that five of the 12 players on the club’s 2026 calendar are now out on loan, but too many of the arrivals failed to hit the ground running.
Luton considered more experienced managers but plumped for Wilshere after being impressed with his ‘energy’, ‘ambition’ and ‘passion’ across four interviews
While Wilshere’s project clearly needs time, the club is telling fans to demand instant results in another breath
Another source remarked that the squad was previously full of players who thought they were ‘too good for the Championship after a half-decent Premier League season’.
Luton are set to move into a new 25,000 stadium at Power Court for the 2028-29 season yet there’s feeling among the fans that the club have prioritised that much-needed development over the football (despite having the biggest budget in League One).
Behind the scenes, Wilshere has made a start on turning the tanker around. Insiders say the atmosphere at the training ground has improved greatly since his arrival, with players sticking around to play pool and darts after sessions when in recent years they couldn’t wait to get out the door.
When staff called Wilshere the morning after his confrontation, he was already at the training ground. He slept some nights on a bed in his office. His players’ phones ping late into the night with his WhatsApp messages. Staff have asked Wilshere, half-jokingly, if he was seeing his family enough.
He’s ordered striker Elijah Adebayo, out with a long-term knee injury, to report to his office once a week as Wilshere knows only too well the importance of being kept involved when you’re on the sidelines. The night after the Plymouth game, he gave a lecture at the University of Bedfordshire.
All of this means little to fans, of course, if that work ethic still leads to performances like Burton.
‘Luton see the football team very much as part of the town,’ adds Harper. ‘We’re a hard-working town and all we expect on a Saturday afternoon is that our team works really hard. In the last three league games, that wasn’t the case.’
Wilshere’s tenure has already shown how quickly things can change. He lost his first game to Mansfield Town but then won four on the spin, including a victory at then-leaders Stockport County when the fans sang his name.
There’s feeling among the fans that the club have prioritised the new 25,000-seat stadium project at Power Court over the football
Wilshere lost his first game to Mansfield Town but then won four on the spin, including victory at leaders Stockport County when the fans sang his name
They cheered the team off after a brilliant home win against Bradford this month, their best performance of the season, before their recent ugly run.
By the end of Tuesday night, the mood had lifted a touch again. A more dominant, attacking performance over Plymouth, albeit one requiring a late Jordan Clark penalty to win it after a calamitous error while, you guessed it, playing out from the back gifted the visitors an equaliser.
The last 18 months have hurt the bond between club and fanbase and now, at the heart of it, is a young coach trying to stitch it back together his way.
Wilshere once asked Mikel Arteta when he knew he was ready to take his first job in management. Arteta replied: ‘You just have to jump in and swim as hard as you can.’
