FOR a man who will go down as one of the most entertaining footballers ever to play for Bolton Wanderers, Jay-Jay Okocha has surprisingly little interest in his forebears.

He means no disrespect to the great teams or the famous players who have gone before, but the gifted Nigerian is a professional sportsman and, when he came to the Reebok three summers ago, he signed up for a mission -- to use his talents and his experience to help Sam Allardyce establish a Premiership force.

As he said so succinctly, he came to Bolton to play football -- not for the shopping. He came to do a job and his work is still not done.

At a signing session to launch the latest publication celebrating the long and distinguished history of one of the oldest football clubs in the world, the man who may ultimately be judged as its greatest player, made it perfectly clear that he prefers to focus on the future rather than dwell on the past.

"To be honest, I don't really think about the history," he said. "I have the belief that we can still achieve more here so, for me, the history is not over yet.

"We are still very ambitious and I know I can still achieve a lot here."

Okocha's determination to write his own exciting chapter in the Bolton Wanderers story will be music to the ears of the Reebok faithful who have taken him to their hearts since he arrived from Paris St Germain in July 2002 -- and to the team-mates who regard him as both an influence and an inspiration in the dressing

room and on the field. His presence at the Reebok superstore on Thursday drew crowds to the launch of "Making Headlines" a history of Bolton Wanderers as seen through the pages of the Bolton Evening News.

Alongside him were two former right-backs from the Burnden Park days -- FA Cup winner and Hall of Fame member Roy Hartle, and Phil Brown, who has served the club as player, coach and assistant manager for 14 years.

All three feature in the book, which has been penned by former Evening News editor Les Gent -- himself a Wanderers season ticket holder -- who has delved into the newspaper's archives to put together a catalgue of stories, reproduced in the language of the day, chronicling the events that shaped the history of the club that was formed as Christ Church FC in 1874.

The book is not intended to serve as a detailed report of the club's achievements or a statistical record of its teams and its players, but it is an entertaining read, not only focusing on the key issues but also touching on many subjects which will not have seen the light of day since the words and pictures first appeared in the paper.

*"Making Headlines", which is a Wanderers' publication, is priced £24.99.