JUSSI Jaaskelainen says his time at Bolton “means everything” in both his life and footballing career.

Jaaskelainen joined the Whites in November 1997 and went on to make over 500 appearances for the club.

The goalkeeper was back at the UniBol to take part in Gethin Jones’ MND appeal, playing the first half for the Bolton All Star XI.

And he was thrilled to be able to step onto the pitch and play in front of the Wanderers faithful once again.

“It means everything to me in my football career and everything in my life, I suppose,” said Jaaskelainen.

“My boys were born here and it was our family home for 23 years so it’s great memories and great to be back.

“You just go day by day and week by week, and you try and just learn and play your football in the best possible way.

“In the end, it ended up being a great journey, especially spending here 14 or 15 years of my football career so it’s a special place and a special journey.”

Jaaskelainen was part of the side that finished sixth in the Premier League under Sam Allardyce in 2005.

The goalkeeper praised his former boss and says he gave them “the best opportunity” to be successful.

He added: “We were a little bit of an up and down team for a couple of years, but then what Sam did here and stabilized the football club and got them in the Premier League, and got to Europe as well.

“He would look after us. He demanded lots from the players, we had loads of backroom staff.

“Everything from life to football, he just gave us the best opportunity possible to play that football week in, week out at a high level.

“There are loads of people behind the scenes. Obviously I had a good (goalkeeping) coach here and Sam came in, he brought more players. But of course he helped me a lot.”

Jaaskelainen shared a dressing room with the likes of Jay Jay Okocha and Ivan Campo during his time at Bolton and says it was a great squad to be part of.

“We had loads of matchwinners on the field and players who can deliver good quality football week in, week out,” said the goalkeeper.

“Things worked well. Sam and the backroom staff did great work getting the players here and could get the best out of them as well.

“Some of the players were dipping a little bit in their form but the science behind and the things that we were doing was good.”

Jaaskelainen still follows Bolton and admits seeing them on the verge of liquidation back in 2019 was tough.

But he is delighted by the progress the club has made over the past couple of years and insists they are back on track.

“The main thing is we survived the bad couple of years,” he added.

“We have new owners now and it wasn’t the best start to last season but we got up to League One.

“Now we can start rebuilding so that’s a good thing.”