Former Wanderers striker Zach Clough has opened up about his move to Nottingham Forest back in January 2017.

The Whites received a £2.5million fee for Clough, who had broken into the first-team picture after progressing through the Academy ranks.

But the forward’s time at the City Ground didn’t go to plan and he returned to Wanderers on loan in 2018.

He went on to have spells with Rochdale, Wigan and Carlisle and is currently playing in Australia with Adelaide United.

“I had to leave Bolton to kind of save the club. I went to Forest for quite a transfer fee, and that was kind of to save the club and to help pay the wages of the players at the time because players weren’t getting paid at Bolton,” Clough told Keepup.

“When it comes to making those sorts of big decisions, I think it’s always difficult to make the right decision.

“I don’t think you know if you’ve made the right decision until 12 months down the line and how things are panning out.

“I think everybody will make mistakes along the way, but it’s just about working hard and controlling what you can control every single day.”

Clough had a memorable debut at Wanderers, scoring the winner against Wigan in an FA Cup tie at the UniBol.

“That was an incredible experience,” he added. “To make your debut in a in a big derby like that and the two clubs had just come out of the Premier League, so two really good squads,” he added.

“It was a good game and the feeling of scoring is probably the best feeling I’ve experienced in football still today.”

The forward played alongside Emile Heskey that day and the pair crossed paths in Australia years later.

Clough was also able to learn from Eidur Gudjohnsen during the Icelander’s second spell at Wanderers.

“I’ve spoken to (Emile) a little bit while I’ve been out here and he was just saying how much he loved it here,” he explained.

“He just told me to keep working hard and enjoy it. I think the day Emile made his debut was the day I was born, so that was a crazy story.

“He was really good for me, he was a top player. To learn off him - and Eidur Gudjohnsen was there at the time - I had really good at attacking players to look up to and play with so I was lucky.”

Clough’s move to Wigan in 2021 didn’t go down too well among sections of the Bolton fan base, but the 28-year-old insists it was the “right situation” for him at the time.

“I think on my Instagram there were quite a lot of fans commenting pictures of snakes,” he recalled.

“I wasn’t really blessed with lots of options because I hadn’t played lots of football and Wigan was probably the best club in the right situation for me.

“They had good players, it wasn’t in the best situation (off-field) and it was a good group to go into for me and a good club close to home as well.

“I love Bolton. I like Wigan as well, but Bolton will always be the number one club for me.”