Former Premier League striker Matt Jansen recalls how close to came to joining Manchester United before a life-threatening accident
Former Premier League star Matt Jansen insists he has no regrets over snubbing Manchester United not once but twice.
Jansen was one of English football’s rising stars of the early 2000s and was on the brink of going to the 2002 World Cup, only to be left out at the last minute when Sven-Goran Eriksson opted to take an extra defender, Martin Keown, instead. Later in the same summer, he suffered life-threatening injuries in a scooter crash while on holiday in Rome.
He would return to the pitch but was never quite the same player. Jansen eventually dropped into non-league before going into coaching with Chorley. He is currently on the coaching staff at Stockport County.
Earlier in his career, Jansen passed up two opportunities to join Sir Alex Ferguson’s all-conquering side. During the first approach, he was at hometown club Carlisle, then owned by former wannabe United owner, Michael Knighton.
Jansen recalled him and fellow rising star Rory Delap being “touted around” by Knighton and spent a week training with the Red Devils. He was then given a straight choice of United or Crystal Palace. He chose the latter as it would mean more first-team football.
“My father gave Michael Knighton an ultimatum: give me a new contract or sell me,” he exclusively told MEN Sport in association with Palentir Financial Planning.
“He came back to us and said the two biggest bids had come in from Palace and Manchester United, £1m plus add-ons. The decision was over to me.
“I’d just broken into the first team at Carlisle. I was loving the adulation and buzz from playing first-team football. I thought I’d have a better chance of continuing that at Palace, so opted for them over United.”
But as Jansen’s reputation soared in south London, Palace were sinking, on and off the pitch. He was told he was key to the Eagles’ survival when a host of bigger clubs, including United, came in for him. Jansen was informed that choosing Blackburn would be in the ailing club’s best interests financially.
He recalled: “I loved playing in the Premier League for them but unfortunately we went down. The club then got sold. It was a whirlwind of an experience.
“Terry Venables came in [as manager], Mark Goldberg bought the club off Ron Noades. But the money dried up and I became an asset they needed to cash in on.
“I came in one morning and [manager] Steve Coppell said to me, ‘You’re not playing today, we’ve accepted a £5m bid from Juventus. I was like ‘Wow!’
“I was buzzing with that. The next minute it was Chelsea, Newcastle, Arsenal and again Manchester United, all £5m bids. I had a choice to make.
“At the 11th hour, Blackburn came in. Jack Walker [Blackburn’s owner] said he would pay £4.1m but he was going to pay it all up front. Palace told me it would have saved the club. I don’t know if it would have saved the club or not, but they asked me if I would be willing to go there.”
At the time, Blackburn were an established Premier League club that just a few years earlier had beaten United to the league title. Jansen said: “Brian Kidd had become manager. I knew him from my week training at United. So to help Crystal Palace out, I opted to go to Blackburn, which I don’t regret. I loved it there. Unfortunately, we got relegated and Brian got the sack. In came Graeme Souness. He steadied the ship and we got promoted.”
Jansen then helped Blackburn win the 2002 League Cup, scoring and then laying on the winner for Andy Cole against Tottenham in Cardiff. With that in mind, Jansen has no regrets about turning down United, even if it would have meant playing with greats of the era, including David Beckham, Roy Keane, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes.
“Not really,” he insisted. “At Crystal Palace, I was playing first-team football and was quickly turning heads with Juventus, Arsenal, Newcastle and United again [showing interest].
“I loved my time at Blackburn. My career was progressing and, who knows, if I hadn’t had the accident, the time may have come for me to go to Manchester United. At that time, it was just too soon [to go to United] I thought, so I decided to go to Palace. And going to Blackburn was the right decision. The wrong decision was getting on a scooter in Rome.”
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