Matt Jackson

Jackson was born on 19 October 1971 in Leeds. He grew up in Bedford and attended Sharnbrook Upper School. After initially turning down the club to concentrate on finishing his A-Levels, he started his footballing career at Luton Town, making his professional debut in 1990. He made nine league appearances for the club before signing for Everton for a fee of £600,000 in 1991. He featured prominently in Everton's FA Cup-winning season, scoring a memorable 20-yard volley against Bristol City in the Fourth round to secure a 1–0 victory for Everton. He also scored the opening goal in the 4–1 win against Tottenham Hotspur in the semi-final, and his initial cross ultimately set up Paul Rideout's winning goal in the final. In 1996, he joined Norwich City for a fee of £450,000. In 1997, he became team captain, and was voted Norwich City player of the year in 1998. On 19 October 2001, Jackson moved to Wigan Athletic on a month's loan from Norwich, making his debut a day later in a 3–2 defeat against Wrexham. He made seven appearances during his loan spell before joining the club permanently on a free transfer, signing a two-and-a-half-year contract. He would go on to form a central defensive partnership with Jason De Vos that was central to winning the Second Division Championship in the 2002–03 season. After De Vos left Wigan for Ipswich Town, Jackson again formed another sound partnership with Ian Breckin and helped Wigan to their second promotion in three years when they finished…

After retiring, he was employed as a football consultant by IMG working in player development. In 2015 he was working for Wigan Athletic as an Operations Manager but as of 2020, he is no longer listed at the club in that role. In May 2021, Jackson was appointed by Wolverhampton Wanderers as their first-ever strategic player marketing manager. On 30 June 2023, he was appointed as president of Wolves' partner club Grasshopper Club Zürich.

Everton

FA Cup: 1994–95 FA Charity Shield: 1995 Wigan Athletic

Football League Second Division: 2002–03 Football League Championship runner-up: 2004–05 Football League Cup runner-up: 2005–06 Individual

Norwich City Player of the Year 1997–98