“That’s a stage of my career I will never forget”, exclusive in depth interview with Miguel Llera

A familiar figure within the Football League, Spanish defender Miguel Llera is perhaps most recognisable for his free kick prowess, and protective helmet that gave him a resemblance to Czech goalkeeper Petr Čech.

Llera made well over a 150 appearances in English football for the likes of MK Dons, Charlton and Sheffield Wednesday. I was fortunate enough to catch up with the defender recently as he discussed at length a variety of subjects such as playing in La Liga, the best goal of his career and his coaching role with Walsall.

To begin with I asked Miguel to reflect on his career in Spain which peaked with a campaign in La Liga in the 2006-07 season with Gimnàstic.

“Obviously La Liga is a really difficult league. I made my debut in La Liga at 27, having been promoted with Gimnàstic from the second division, and it was the first time they had played in La Liga in over 50 years, which was a long time. The main difference with La Liga was the quality of the players and it definitely was challenging.

Llera made his first move to England in 2008 signing for MK Dons who were managed by Roberto Di Matteo at the time, he revealed that he was always keen to play in England.

“It was always my dream to play in England. I had a difficult moment in my career in Spain because my club at that time released me, and I had the opportunity to go to MK Dons on trial. It was a great experience, and it was great to move to a new country and experience a new culture. I came to MK Dons on trial with Roberto Di Matteo as the manager and fortunately I did well and that’s how my journey in the UK started.

After a spell at MK Dons, Llera moved on to Charlton Athletic and quickly became a fan favourite at The Valley. He reflects well on his time in South East London.

“I always remember Charlton as one of my best spells in England, when I signed for Charlton I came to a great team who weren’t in the best moment.

“I think from my first moments at Charlton I did well there, and I still remember scoring on my debut for them. I also had my head injury there, and then I started to play with the helmet, which is when I started to score more goals there. We also had a really good spell while I was at Charlton and won 11 games in a row.

“We had a great first season, and made the playoffs which was good. The second season I had there wasn’t as good, but I made great memories and I enjoyed my time at The Valley a lot.

After his departure from Charlton, Llera had a brief spell on the Lancashire coast with Blackpool before signing for Sheffield Wednesday. During his time at Hillsborough Llera was an instrumental part of the Owls team that gained promotion to the Championship in the 2011-12 season, I asked him how he remembers that time.

“I didn’t play for Blackpool much, I was unlucky as the manager signed me because he was expecting some defenders to leave to the Premier League who ended up staying which limited my game time.

“So I made the move to Sheffield Wednesday where we had the remarkable achievement of promotion to the Championship, in my time with them. I scored some key goals that season, and the fans remember me there as a legend. I really loved my time with them, and the best moment of my career in the UK was there.

“I have really great memories of the fans and the stadium, and that’s a stage of my career I will never forget.

In his career,Llera scored over 30 goals, an impressive record for a defender. A free kick specialist, the Spanish defender scored some wonderful long range free kicks also in his time, I asked him if there was a particular goal that sprung to his mind as the best.

“When I came to the UK initially I wasn’t scoring too many goals, and one of my managers said he preferred to play another centre back to me as he was more likely to score goals.

“When I was at Charlton I started to do extra training taking free kicks and doing a lot of finishing and heading, and to be honest I started to get the reward for that. I started scoring more goals to the point where my average was one goal each five games in the Championship and League One which isn’t bad for a defender.

“The goal that I remember most was the free kick away at Huddersfield. We were second in the League and they were third, had they beaten us they would have gone above us in the table with only four or five games left in the season in the fight for promotion so it was a big game. That goal at Huddersfield that day away from home was remarkable, and one of my best moments at Sheffield Wednesday.

After hanging up his boots in 2015 Llera has moved in to the coaching aspect of the game, and is currently the academy manager at Walsall he explained his passion for coaching, his targets for the future and his role with The Saddlers.

“I always wanted to move in to coaching, and when I was starting to finish my career I started working on getting coaching qualifications.

“I always want to grown and learn with my coaching and since starting I’ve gone from coaching the under 12’s at Sheffield Wednesday to becoming the academy manager at Walsall, I’m really proud of my career at the moment.

“Hopefully one day I can become a first team manager, as I’ve made good achievements at Walsall so far managing the scholarships, developing the players and winning the titles with scholars. I think my incentive is one day to become a manager.

Before we wrapped up the interview I asked Miguel more about the Miguel Llera football academy which he founded in a city close to his heart, Sheffield.

“Four or five years ago I started my own football academy in Sheffield with the idea to develop players from grassroots football to professional academies.

“I think there is a massive gap between grassroot football and professional youth football, my task and my reason to build my own academy with a lot of success is to help bridge the gap for young footballers in to the professional game.”

I’d now like to take the opportunity to thank Miguel for his time as it’s clear he has lots going on at the moment with his role at Walsall and his academy up in Sheffield. It’s clear speaking to Miguel he has fond memories of his playing career in England and is remembered well by supporters of his former teams.