Don Hutchison believes Jack Wilshere has to make Luton Town ‘fitter’ to gain promotion

Former Everton, Liverpool and West Ham midfielder Don Hutchison believes Jack Wilshere has a job to do this summer to prepare Luton Town for promotion.

The former Arsenal midfielder came close to a play-off spot this season, but Hutchison has says that he needs to learn from Frank Lampard at Coventry, and get his side to be the fittest in League One, while building a big squad.

Luton won late on against promotion hopefuls Bolton Wanderers, yet an injury-time winner for Stevenage condemed the Hatters to another season in League One.

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Durable

With what is shaping up to be an incredibly competitive League One campaign in 2026/27, Luton will need to be on top form to seal a return to the second tier at the second time of asking.

In an exclusive interview with BestBettingSites, Hutchison believes Wilshere needs to cultivate an incredibly fit squad in order to deal with the demands of the division.

“Yeah, it’s a hard division when you’re trying to get out of it. I’ve been down there myself. It’s dog-eat-dog.

You’ve got to be durable. You’re playing two games a week. You need a big squad; you need a young squad and a fit squad.

If you’re Jack Wilshere, I think… I heard a quote from Frank Lampard the other day and it was a good one, actually. He said when they lost in the playoffs last season, he told his players to bring their spikes in the summer.

He said, ‘We’re going to be the fittest team in the Championship.’ I think that’s probably what Jack Wilshere needs to do: get this team fit, get them hungry, and make them durable. Then your football stamp and your philosophy is what it is, but make them hard to beat.”

Fitness first

When asked about the importance of a squad’s physical health Hutchison explained:

“I think the way to go in the lower leagues is fitness first, and then you sprinkle your team with two or three really good, intelligent footballers—that can be experience, that can be a maverick.

“But if you can’t run in the lower leagues against all the teams that can run and want to play long ball, long throws, set plays, and ‘jewels’ football, you’ve got no chance.

So fitness is probably 95% of the way to get out of the division, but you do need quality.”

Read the full exclusive interview with Don Hutchison at BestBettingSites

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