FERNANDO Hierro has described Bolton Wanderers as a club with a “marvellous heart” after reflecting on his stellar playing career.

The Spanish legend captained Real Madrid and managed Spain at a World Cup finals, winning five La Liga titles and three Champions Leagues.

But his playing days ended with a standing ovation from a packed-out Reebok Stadium as Sam Allardyce’s side beat Everton 3-2 on May 15, 2005.

Hierro, a Santander ambassador, joined Real in 1989 from Valladolid and won 16 trophies during his time at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Wanderers fans remember fondly his solitary season in the North West, however, which included 35 appearances and a solitary goal, scored against Norwich City.

He was convinced by Sam Allardyce to move to England from the Middle East, where he had expected to see out his career. And speaking some 15 years on, he said the decision had been a good one.

"[Spending] 14 years at a club like Real Madrid, at that level, you have to be satisfied and proud," he said. "That was the club I dreamed about playing for when I was a child. I felt privileged. The nine months with Al-Rayyan was the right thing for me, to see another culture and another way of thinking. Bolton was such a family club, with a marvellous heart. It had always been a dream to play in England too."

Allardyce tried to convince Hierro – then 37 – to stay at Bolton for another season but was ultimately unsuccessful, and he has gone work in different levels of the Spanish game, including a spell at Oviedo and a director of football role at Malaga.

At Real he played alongside some of the expensively-assembled ‘Galacticos’ and has some fond memories of some of the game’s greatest attacking players.

"Together with Ronaldo Nazario, Luis Figo, Raul, Zinedine Zidane, Roberto Carlos… every training session was just a delight," he said. "Even if I was injured, or could not train for whatever reason, I would go along just to enjoy it. To watch the magic that one or another would come up with."

The Bolton News: Fernando Hierro with Sam Allardyce at Bolton in 2004Fernando Hierro with Sam Allardyce at Bolton in 2004