Extra time pays off as football boss Peter Jackson turns care chief

But after being sacked from his last job as manager of Lincoln City a year ago – a decision that still rankles – he had to face reality and plot a future outside the notoriously precarious world of football management.

So the 49-year-old, who has enjoyed more than 30 years in professional football including two successful stints managing Huddersfield Town, sat down with his wife Alison and looked at future goals.

Eventually, after much thought, they decided to invest in a healthcare venture as directors of home care franchise Caremark Calderdale.

So instead of days filled with massaging players' egos, dressing room banter, demanding chairmen and the fearsome roar of fans he buckled down to taking a national vocational qualification in health and social care and helping his wife, a former ward sister, run the business.

Mr Jackson said: "We were actually thinking about moving down there to Lincoln when I was told I was no longer required.

"Alison was away at the time. We had November in Spain and were facing Christmas. I had applied for one or two jobs but never heard anything.

"We decided we couldn't rely on football for ever and we had some money to invest in a business so we decided to go into care."

The couple who have been married 30 years and who have two grown-up children looked for suitable sites before plumping for Calderdale Council's Elsie Whiteley Innovation Centre in Halifax.

The decision paid off handsomely and the company now employs 32 care assistants as well as one full-time care manager and a care co-ordinator.

And with Mrs Jackson at the helm as managing director the couple are hoping to employ 100 carers within the next 12 months, which will make them a major employment force in the town.

Mr Jackson, who lives in Brighouse, said: "I am desperate to get back into football management and I did find it a difficult transition – not surprisingly when you have been a professional footballer all your life.

"I have been in football since I was 16 years old and it was a big culture shock. It is something new in your life, and of course, you are fearful at being taken out of your comfort zone.

"But we desperately want to make it work and we have both got good names in the area. We feel it is going to be a big company and we are looking to triple our workforce.

"Everything is at stake when it is your own money and business and it has taken over our lives. It has been really, really hard work."

Although he is someone who is keen to look forward it is impossible for him not to miss the buzz of being involved with a big football club and the incredible stress of football management.

He says: "All managers love Saturdays. I really did enjoy my job at Huddersfield. I used to thrive on the adrenalin and you can't replace it but I am not one of those who look back.

"I have done so many amazing things in the game and I have got memories that people can only dream of."

Asked how he found working with his wife – who has no interest in football – he adds: "We were married for 30 years in June and nowadays we get up together, go to work together, have lunch together and go home together. It is fine, we have not had many disagreements over the years."

Although blessed with rude health for most of his life, Mr Jackson experienced a major scare in January 2008 when he was discovered to have throat cancer, from which he has recovered. His wife was his carer for four to five months and has written a diary about the experience.

As to his route back into management he is brutally frank, saying: "Basically you are waiting for some other person to lose their job. I would like to get back into football management but I can't just sit and wait at home waiting for it to happen.

"We are building something together for the future but I have not shut the door on football."

Mrs Jackson adds: "It has to work because we no longer have Peter's big salary. Personally I think he is absolutely wasted. With all his experience and passion – it absolutely amazes me that he has not been snapped up."

A fine career

As a player Peter Jackson started his career with his home town club, Bradford City, where as the club's youngest ever captain, he lifted the Third Division title in 1985 on the day of the Bradford fire disaster.

He moved to Newcastle United before he returned to Bradford City. He played more than 300 games in total for city, before moving to Huddersfield Town and Chester City. He finished his career with Halifax Town.

As a manager he was given his first opportunity at Huddersfield in the 1990s and later enjoyed a second tenure there before signing up with Lincoln City.