{"id":8989,"date":"2026-02-19T15:57:28","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T15:57:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/?p=8989"},"modified":"2026-02-19T15:57:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T15:57:28","slug":"chris-powell-luton-town-assistant-boss-reflects-on-his-40-years-in-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/?p=8989","title":{"rendered":"Chris Powell: Luton Town assistant boss reflects on his 40 years in football"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Wilshere is profuse in his praise of Powell.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;He has an aura about him, someone you can trust, like a mentor,&#8221; Wilshere told BBC Look East.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;There&#8217;s not a day that goes by when I am not asking him about a certain situation or a player. He always has the right answers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;The tough moments are when I really need Chris and his experience. How do you deal with the media, the message you send to the fans?<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;When we first came in, we felt the players needed a lot of love, they were in a tough moment. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;We focused on a few things around the environment, we made it lighter, and slowly we increased the demand physically and mentally.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;That&#8217;s where Chris&#8217; input has been invaluable. We have more of an identity now.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Back in the boot room, Powell unveils a huge orange Luton Town flag.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;I&#8217;ve been waiting for this,&#8221; he says proudly. &#8220;I&#8217;m going to find somewhere to pin it up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;This is us. This is our identity. &#8220;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Wilshere and Powell took a club which was struggling for form and a new identity since their double relegation from the Premier League and the Championship.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">They are currently just outside the play-offs in League One, but progress hasn&#8217;t been easy, with form away from home especially frustrating.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;We have to turn around the negativity that&#8217;s happened sadly over past two years,&#8221; Powell explains.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;We&#8217;ve just got to stick together when we have the bad moments and equally when we have the good moments, to enjoy them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Sometimes you have to change things and it&#8217;s not always easy because people don&#8217;t like change.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;It takes time, but people have to buy into it, to listen and take on board exactly what&#8217;s required. It&#8217;s what we do, how we act, how we behave on the pitch and off the pitch.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">&#8220;Resilience is part of your culture, it&#8217;s about being a group and being together, and when things go against you, you stick together even more.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wilshere is profuse in his praise of Powell. &#8220;He has an aura about him, someone you can trust, like a mentor,&#8221; Wilshere told BBC Look East. &#8220;There&#8217;s not a day that goes by when I am not asking him about a certain situation or a player. He always has the right answers. &#8220;The tough moments<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8990,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}