We have profiled three players who have played for both Bolton Wanderers and Scunthorpe United.
Neil Cox
The current manager of tonight’s visitors, Cox came through the ranks at Glanford Park to begin his professional career with his hometown club. Making just 26 appearances (1 goal) for the Iron, he earned a £400,000 move to Aston Villa in February 1991.
Spending just over three years at Villa Park, Cox made 60 appearances (4 goals) for the club before a £1 Million switch to Middlesbrough in the summer of 1994. After making over 100 appearances for Boro, he completed to Bolton Wanderers in May 1997 for a fee of £1.5 Million.
Playing at right full-back for Wanderers, Cox made a total of 97 appearances (8 goals) for the club before leaving in November 1999 to sign for Watford. The defender would go onto spend just over five and-a-half years at Vicarage Road and racked up 248 appearances (21 goals) before a free transfer to Cardiff City in July 2005. Following a year in the Welsh capital, Cox would retire in May 2008 following a couple of seasons at Crewe Alexandra.
Matt Gilks
Currently the first-choice stopper at Bolton Wanderers, Gilks arrived at the club as a player/goalkeeping coach back in August, having spent the 2019/20 season at Fleetwood Town.
Coming through the youth ranks at Rochdale, Gilks made his professional debut in March 2001 and would remain at Spotland until June 2007 when he completed a move to Norwich City. Failing to make an appearance for the Canaries during the 2007/08 season, the stopper signed for Blackpool on a free transfer in June 2008.
Going into achieve unprecedented at Bloomfield Road, Gilks was a part of the team which featured in the Premier League in 2010/11 under the stewardship of Ian Holloway. Making 203 appearances for the Tangerines, he had stints with Burnley, Rangers and Wigan Athletic before signing for Scunthorpe United in June 2017.
Spending 18 months at Glanford Park, the former Scotland international made 48 appearances for the club before spells at Lincoln City and Fleetwood Town.
Jem Karacan
A member of the current Scunthorpe United squad, Karacan joined the Iron in the January transfer window and has featured regularly in the team since his arrival.
A former Turkey youth international, Karacan came through the youth ranks at Reading but made his senior bow during a loan spell with Bournemouth in October 2007. He would have a further loan spell with Millwall, but returned to the Madejski Stadium to establish himself in the team; and he went onto make 175 appearances (12 goals) for the Royals.
Joining Galatasaray in the summer of 2015, Karacan spent a year and-a-half with the club, but shortly after a loan spell at Bursaspor, he signed for Bolton Wanderers in March 2017. Scoring a goal in the 3-0 home victory against Peterborough United which earned the club promotion back to the Championship in May 2017, he would go onto make a total of 23 appearances (2 goals) before a free transfer to Millwall in August 2018.
Making 6 appearances in a five-month spell at the Den, Karacan moved to Australia to sign for Central Coast Mariners in January 2019 and remained there until summer of that year.