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Jem Karacan still gets chills when he thinks about where his career was just 12 months ago.
Ostracised at Galatasaray and based in the politically-unstable Turkish capital of Istanbul with his now-wife, Laura, his dream move to the club he supported as a boy had turned into a nightmare.
Karacan had spent 10 years at Reading, playing Premier League football for the Royals, but swapped Berkshire for the Bosphorus in July 2015.
The champions were heading for the Champions League, had just signed Lukas Podolski, and the midfielder was being tipped to make a full breakthrough into the national team.
“I went out there because my dad supported them and I did when I was a kid growing up,” he told The Bolton News. “But you know that thing where they say don’t meet your idols? It was the same with this club.”
Karacan started the season well but when manager Hamza Hamzao?lu was replaced by Mustafa Denizli a few months into the new season, all bets were off.
“It was tough,” he said. “It was a weird time for me because I’d gone there and played a couple of games, thought I’d played my part. We battered a couple of teams.
“The manager got the sack, the new bloke came in and was literally ‘you’re with him – you’re not part of it anymore.’
“They tried to get me out. I was on a good contract and wanted to play football but because I hadn’t had games the teams didn’t come knocking. I was on my own, they didn’t care about me.”
The city of Istanbul was experiencing its own problems, not least a military coup and a number of terrorist bombings which claimed many lives.
The instability made Karacan’s professional issues even harder to bear and while he did make a debut in the Champions League against Atletico Madrid, he was left in no doubt he was surplus to requirement.
“It was a crazy situation. I knew it was a massive move and it had nearly happened a couple of years earlier but I had an injury which didn’t help me.
“I got there and it wasn’t what I thought it would be. There was a lot of stuff which went on behind the scenes which didn’t help me or my missus, and if you don’t play games they just wash their hands of you.
“I played 150 games for Reading, played in the Premier League, the Champions League – and then people were telling me ‘we like you, but you need to play more.’
“I want to forget about it. It was a bad time for me and the family.
“I am delighted I got the chance to play in the Champions League with people like Wesley Sneijder and Lukas Podolski but I’m glad I’m out of it. I’d never go back.”
Thankfully, Karacan cut his ties with Galatasaray at exactly the same time Phil Parkinson put out an SOS in League One last season.
Wanderers negotiated hard with the Football League to add the 28-year-old to their quota in March and just six weeks later he scored a decisive goal against Peterborough United to help seal promotion.
Suffice it to say Karacan is now happier in his new surroundings. Married in the summer he now relishes the challenge of re-establishing the Whites as a Championship force.
“I’ve loved every second of it since moving up north, it feels like home,” he said. “The lads are like family already.
“I was desperate just to play football again when I came to Bolton but now, this season, I want to show what I can do.
“Bolton stuck by me. And if I can play a part in helping them find their feet now, stay in the Championship, and then push on from there, I’d be delighted.
“This is probably the best team I’ve been a part of since the promotion season I had at Reading. You don’t really get many teams out there with the bond the lads have got in the dressing room. “Players at other clubs see what Bolton has got and want to be a part of it.”
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Ostracised at Galatasaray and based in the politically-unstable Turkish capital of Istanbul with his now-wife, Laura, his dream move to the club he supported as a boy had turned into a nightmare.
Karacan had spent 10 years at Reading, playing Premier League football for the Royals, but swapped Berkshire for the Bosphorus in July 2015.
The champions were heading for the Champions League, had just signed Lukas Podolski, and the midfielder was being tipped to make a full breakthrough into the national team.
“I went out there because my dad supported them and I did when I was a kid growing up,” he told The Bolton News. “But you know that thing where they say don’t meet your idols? It was the same with this club.”
Karacan started the season well but when manager Hamza Hamzao?lu was replaced by Mustafa Denizli a few months into the new season, all bets were off.
“It was tough,” he said. “It was a weird time for me because I’d gone there and played a couple of games, thought I’d played my part. We battered a couple of teams.
“The manager got the sack, the new bloke came in and was literally ‘you’re with him – you’re not part of it anymore.’
“They tried to get me out. I was on a good contract and wanted to play football but because I hadn’t had games the teams didn’t come knocking. I was on my own, they didn’t care about me.”
The city of Istanbul was experiencing its own problems, not least a military coup and a number of terrorist bombings which claimed many lives.
The instability made Karacan’s professional issues even harder to bear and while he did make a debut in the Champions League against Atletico Madrid, he was left in no doubt he was surplus to requirement.
“It was a crazy situation. I knew it was a massive move and it had nearly happened a couple of years earlier but I had an injury which didn’t help me.
“I got there and it wasn’t what I thought it would be. There was a lot of stuff which went on behind the scenes which didn’t help me or my missus, and if you don’t play games they just wash their hands of you.
“I played 150 games for Reading, played in the Premier League, the Champions League – and then people were telling me ‘we like you, but you need to play more.’
“I want to forget about it. It was a bad time for me and the family.
“I am delighted I got the chance to play in the Champions League with people like Wesley Sneijder and Lukas Podolski but I’m glad I’m out of it. I’d never go back.”
Thankfully, Karacan cut his ties with Galatasaray at exactly the same time Phil Parkinson put out an SOS in League One last season.
Wanderers negotiated hard with the Football League to add the 28-year-old to their quota in March and just six weeks later he scored a decisive goal against Peterborough United to help seal promotion.
Suffice it to say Karacan is now happier in his new surroundings. Married in the summer he now relishes the challenge of re-establishing the Whites as a Championship force.
“I’ve loved every second of it since moving up north, it feels like home,” he said. “The lads are like family already.
“I was desperate just to play football again when I came to Bolton but now, this season, I want to show what I can do.
“Bolton stuck by me. And if I can play a part in helping them find their feet now, stay in the Championship, and then push on from there, I’d be delighted.
“This is probably the best team I’ve been a part of since the promotion season I had at Reading. You don’t really get many teams out there with the bond the lads have got in the dressing room. “Players at other clubs see what Bolton has got and want to be a part of it.”
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