Matt Jackson has rarely done things in what football might consider a conventional way.

Wolverhampton Wanderers’ new technical director delayed the start of his successful playing career to complete his A-levels and worked as a volunteer in Everton’s marketing department while playing in their defence in the early 1990s.

After retiring in 2008 at the age of 37, he worked for the football agency IMG, later moving into broadcasting and then football administration, first at Wigan Athletic and, for the last five years, at Wolves and Grasshopper Zurich.

Now 54 and promoted to a new role at Molineux, there can be little doubt he has had a lengthy and thorough apprenticeship in the game, no matter how he fares in what might well be the most daunting challenge of his career so far.

“I don’t think there are too many that have had long careers on the pitch and then done all of the roles off the pitch,” Jackson said in an interview with Wolves TV in November.

“Coaching tends to be a natural role progression for players. I’ve gone the other way, really. I’ve always been more stimulated by the business side of the game.

“I did my coaching badges but didn’t necessarily love it. I didn’t enjoy it, and I’ve really enjoyed the process part of the game. I’ve always worked, right from signing as a professional at 18. I’ve never been unemployed or outside of the game.”

Jackson was appointed at Wolves in 2021 by former technical director Scott Sellars. His job was to help market the club’s players to ensure they achieved the best deal when they departed.

He has since worked alongside the loans department, the recruitment team and, most recently, the academy and Wolves Women.

But before that came a three-decade-long journey in football that led him to Molineux.

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Jackson was born in Leeds in 1971 but grew up in Bedfordshire and began his playing career at Luton Town after turning down their initial offer of a scholarship to complete his A-levels.

He made his debut in 1990 and, over the next 18 years, made more than 500 appearances for 10 different clubs, most notably Everton, with whom he won the FA Cup in 1995, Norwich City and Wigan.

“I thought he was far too intelligent to be a footballer,” Iwan Roberts, the former Wolves striker who spent about four years as Jackson’s team-mate at Norwich, tells The Athletic.

“He’s an intelligent man. I think he could have gone down a few different avenues if he wanted to, but obviously he was good at football, so he took that path. He was a good lad, a good team-mate and a good captain; very good in fact.

“Jacko was a centre-half, but he was one of these cultured centre-halves who was comfortable with the ball at his feet. He wasn’t one of those who would try to hoof it. He would try to play out the back if he could.