EVEN though it seemed the writing had been on the wall for some time, there was still an element of shock when it was revealed a Wanderers legend would finally be leaving the club.

Jussi Jaaskelainen – the Whites’ longest serving player and perhaps the best goalkeeper ever to have served the club – has quit the Reebok after 15 years.

It wasn’t an announcement out of the blue. The veteran master had slipped behind his pupil, Adam Bogdan, last season, and with his contract expiring, the possibility of him remaining with the club, and perhaps surpassing another great Wanderers goalkeeper, Eddie Hopkinson, in the all-time appearance standings, looked more and more remote.

But that didn’t stop a lot of us, having to take a moment yesterday to digest the idea of a Bolton Wanderers club without the Big Finn in its ranks.

Aside from a serious knee injury in the promotion season of 2000/1, his presence in goal had become a given. And even though Bogdan seized his opportunity in the second half of last season, there was still a part of me that fully expected Jussi to come back and reclaim the role.

It’s to Bogdan’s immense credit that Jaaskelainen didn’t return, and in the young Hungarian there are definite echoes of Jaaskelainen.

To get a true indication of the indelible mark the veteran has made on the club, consider the fact that since he made the first of his 527 appearances in a 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace on the opening day of the 1998/9 season, just 12 other goalkeepers have had a look in, sharing only 149 appearances.

Bogdan’s 28 puts him top of that list, ahead of Ali Al-Habsi (16), Steve Banks (14) and Keith Branagan (14), with Matt Clarke (11) the only other player to get into double figures.

In all, 21 different goalkeepers have played alongside him in the senior ranks as Wanderers climbed out of the second tier to establish themselves in the Premier League.

It hasn’t all been plain sailing, and certainly in his latter years at the club, fans have questioned whether Jaaskelainen’s best years were behind him.

Owen Coyle’s decision to sell Ali Al-Habsi last summer after an impressive year on loan at Wigan took some justifying, although Bogdan’s rise to prominence has softened that particular blow.

And Jaaskelainen has been no stranger to a contract wrangle during his time at the club, but one of the common misconceptions is that the player himself had anything to do with the headlines.

While his representatives have always been willing to cross swords and trade blows in the press, the player himself left the business side well alone, concentrating on family life in Heaton.

As someone who came to call Bolton home with his wife Tessa and three children, William, Emil and Robin, it was no surprise that he chose to donate the proceeds of his testimonial against Hibernian in August 2009 to three local causes. The match and associated events ended up raising more than £100,000. Jaaskelainen claimed at the time he intended to stay in the town even after hanging up his boots, and that local pull is why I am sure the decision not to take Wanderers up on their two-year deal was a tough one.

My own experience of Jussi is of a player who lived to train.

Every morning he’d pull up in the car park at Euxton, march through reception shaking hands with anyone lingering in reception and then get straight down to business after breakfast. There were no frills, no glitz or glamour, but to watch the man go through his paces at full tilt was an experience in itself.

And there is no doubt his professionalism ensured he stood as one of, if not the, most consistent goalkeeper in the Premier League for a whole decade.

That double save against Manchester United from Paul Scholes and Andy Cole – recently voted third in a poll of the best stops ever seen in the newly branded top flight – was a product of pure graft.

There were many memorable moments. A double penalty save at Blackburn, his heroics against Marseille in the UEFA Cup, but the one that sticks in my mind was at the KC Stadium, when Jaaskelainen repelled Hull City virtually single handed, leaving with a clean sheet and a 1-0 win. Tigers boss Phil Brown was still shaking his head well after the final whistle at what his good mate had just done.

All that will ensure Jaaskelainen’s legacy, but where he goes from here will be an interesting call. So, too, will be the response from Wanderers, over who they choose to bring in to provide competition for Bogdan.

Just as Jaaskelainen had to show he could handle the pressure when Branagan left at the turn of the millennium, Bogdan has now got a fresh challenge ahead now that the king has left the building.