Matt Jansen

Carlisle United

A creative player, Jansen's career started at his home town club of Carlisle United, where he scored 10 league goals. In 1997, he was part of the Carlisle side that earned promotion to the Second Division after finishing third. During the same season he also won his first piece of silverware as he came on late in extra time at Wembley for Carlisle's win against Colchester United in the 1997 Football League Trophy Final.

Crystal Palace

His performances at Carlisle had heads turning in higher leagues and he turned down the chance to join Manchester United before signing for then Premier League club Crystal Palace in 1998 for £1 million.

Blackburn Rovers

His impressive displays at Crystal Palace earned him a move to Premier League side Blackburn Rovers for £4.1 million. Jansen showed signs of things to come when he scored against Tottenham Hotspur on his debut in January 1999. Blackburn were relegated to the First Division in Jansen's first season, but he was the star of the team which won promotion back to the Premier League in the 2000–01 season, finishing as the league's second top scorer, after Fulham's Louis Saha, with 23 goals. He continued to impress in the following season, scoring the first goal in Blackburn's 2–1 League Cup final victory against Tottenham Hotspur in 2002. His good form led to an England call-up for the friendly game against Paraguay. However, he missed out on what would be his only International football…

Jansen was assistant manager when Chorley went on to win the Northern Premier League Premier Division in 2013–14. In July 2015, Jansen became Chorley's first team manager after Flitcroft's resignation due to other commitments. He guided them to 8th place in the National League North in his first season in charge, before reaching the play-off final in 2016–17, narrowly losing after extra-time to F.C. Halifax Town. On 22 June 2018, he resigned from his role as manager of the club. In October 2020, he joined National League side Stockport County as Head of Recruitment and Player Liaison.

Jansen played six times for the England under-21 team without scoring. In 2002, he was called up by Sven-Göran Eriksson to play for the senior squad for a friendly against Paraguay, but was unable to play due to a stomach infection. He was also expected to go to the 2002 World Cup; he was invited to David Beckham's send-off party and had his competition suit measured, but Eriksson ultimately decided to take defender Martin Keown instead.

Jansen was born in Carlisle, Cumbria. He supported Newcastle United as a boy. He attended the independent Austin Friars school in Carlisle, where he played scrum-half for the school's Rugby union team, before completing his GCSEs and taking an A-level at Newman Catholic School.