Tim Ream admits her-indoors wasn't too happy about the timing of his move to Bolton Wanderers.

Newly married, Ream was about to set off on an 11-day honeymoon in Tahiti, but had to abandon it to salvage his dream of playing in the Barclays League. A plea to an unsympathetic travel agent failed to elicit much of a refund.

"That's kind of a touchy subject," he said, with a wry smile, after arriving at Bolton's training ground. "After getting that call, I sat down with my wife-of-one-day and tried to explain that we wouldn't be going to Tahiti after all. We talked it over, and, disappointed as she was with the timing of it, we both accepted you have to make decisions you don't always like.

"It was all booked, and we were due to fly out the following day. When we cancelled, we lost the majority of what we had paid, so it wasn't just the sunshine we sacrificed to make sure I became a Bolton player.

"It wasn't cheap, not cheap at all, and it had been booked for a solid year. Everything was in place, and we had talked about nothing else all year long. There was a lot of excitement, but we both realised coming to England was too good an opportunity to miss.

"My wife, Kristen, played as a midfielder throughout her college days, and that helped. She appreciated what being a footballer entails, and she agreed it would be a sacrifice worth making. Once the initial shock of that phone call subsided, we began to think about what this chance with Bolton could mean to us, and we are both excited about that now.

"It would have been our first visit to Tahiti, but we could arrange another trip further down the line. I'll have to see what the Mrs says!"