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Elias Kachunga has opened up about the low points during his time as a Wanderers player.
Kachunga racked up 91 appearances during two seasons with the Whites, scoring a couple of crucial goals to help the club go all the way in the Papa Johns Trophy.
But the experienced forward had to deal with social media abuse at times last term, which Ian Evatt labelled “disgusting”.
Speaking on the Fanzone Podcast, Kachunga said: “These situations are not easy but as a footballer, unfortunately you have to go through it. But you learn a lot from it.
“I don’t regret it because it made me stronger as a person. You see which people around you stand behind you in these situations and who your friends are.
“I was getting so many positive messages as well. I couldn’t even respond to them all but I tried to reply to a few to just say how much it meant to me.
“I could see how much effort people were putting into sending me a nice message. That helped me 100 per cent.”
Most of the abuse came after the 1-0 victory against Forest Green when Kachunga was involved in a bizarre mix-up.
He lashed out at Brandon Cooper off the ball but the referee’s assistant, Darren Williams, picked out Dion Charles as the guilty party.
The act was out of character for Kachunga, who has now revealed he was dealing with some issues in his personal life at the time.
“My family in Germany, I am really close with them. My parents hadn’t been well and I couldn’t really go and visit,” he explained.
“They didn’t want to me worry too much either. But if you’re really close to your parents, you can tell when they are not well.
“At that time, I wasn’t 100 per cent happy with how I was playing. They are different things that come together and unfortunately that day it was a bit too much.
“The guy got under my skin and I hadn’t had much help from the referee, but that isn’t an excuse. It wasn’t the best situation for me but sometimes that is what happens in life.”
Charles’ suspension was quickly overturned and handed to Kachunga instead, which allowed him to visit his family in Germany.
“After that, I took a bit of time off to see my parents and make sure they were good,” the versatile attacker continued.
“They saw what happened and said, ‘This is not you. You’ve had guys like that trying to get under your skin but never reacted like that’.
“I had an open conversation with them, and with my missus as well. Obviously, it’s not nice if she read all the stuff on social media.
“But it is part of life. I had to work really hard and I was lucky that I had a lot of support from the team.
“I apologised straight away and after the game, but while I was on the pitch I was making sure that I gave everything for the team to help us win the game.
“Dion reacted really well because he knew that I had made the referee aware how it should have gone.”
Kachunga is now searching for his next club after Wanderers confirmed that he would be one of several players leaving at the end of their respective deals.
Wherever he ends up, the 31-year-old will be cheering the team on next season as they aim to build on their fifth-place finish in League One.
“When I left, I got so many nice messages from the lads saying they had learned a lot from me and they always liked the way I had been with them - always straight-forward and real,” he said.
“That is what I always try to be like. I will try to help you whether you play in my position or not. I will try to help everyone in the team to get better.
“I have just been on holiday with Kieran Sadlier and his missus. Before that, I spent a lot of time with Ricardo, Baka, Geth, MJ and so many of the guys. I will be supporting them next season and hope they can have a good season.”
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