Fernando Hierro interview: It is six years since Fernando Hierro strode on to the turf at Camp Nou, his Real Madrid team-mates glancing nervously up at the stands as the vitriol rained down. Their coach had been stoned on its arrival in Barcelona, the players showered with broken glass, to leave the visitors shrinking in the spiteful din.

Yet inspiration is what Hierro does best. The captain, the very personification of Madridismo, reached the centre circle as if dragging his players reluctantly behind him before gladiatorially raising his arm to salute the stadium in the cacophony of abuse.

As a gesture of defiance it infuriated the Catalans, apoplectic in their inability to break this man, but those in white were roused.

Surroundings have changed since, but the Spaniard has not.

"If you are united as a team, you can stop any opponent," said Hierro. "Those 14 years I spent at the biggest club in the world left their mark on me, but they are worth nothing now. They are in the past."

The present is Bolton, the reality a daunting trip to Arsenal today. Confronted by the Premiership's own brand of untouchables, undefeated in 45 league games, Wanderers will need Hierro's belligerence.

Back in Castille it still seems implausible that El Jefe (the Boss) now wears the white of a team whose last major honour was earned 46 years ago. This after all is Hierro, a three-times European Cup winner whose plunder at Real also included five league titles, two intercontinental cups and a European Super Cup.

That he has been lured to the Reebok speaks volumes for Bolton's progress under Sam Allardyce and, though the 36-year-old's influence to date may have been felt most keenly off the pitch, his presence on it will always be reassuring.

Had his divorce from Real not been quite so sudden, the captain finding the escalation in the commercialism of the club distasteful, he might have been a Wanderer a year earlier.

"Bolton expressed an interest last summer but I still had issues to sort out at Real and it would have been a bit rushed if I'd pursued that move," said Spain's record goalscorer, his 29 goals in 89 caps all the more remarkable given that they were pilfered largely from central defence. "The year I spent at Al-Rayyan in Qatar instead allowed me to escape the pressure cooker of Madrid, but it certainly didn't take the edge off my game.

"There were other offers this summer, from Mexico, Spain and the United States, but I came to Bolton with a real desire to do well and help the club on and off the field. I've wanted to come to England since I played at Wembley at Euro '96. I saw what football means in this country during that competition. It was my decision to come here and I'm proud of that. The other chapters are closed.

"Of course Real never leaves you. Football-wise I was born at Valladolid but I came of age at Madrid. I spent 14 years at the biggest club in the world, but they're over now. Leaving the club was a huge decision, and I was offered another year, but I decided it was the right time to leave.

"We had different views on how the game should be run and England is one of the last enclaves of football where it's not all driven by marketing. It's real. That appealed to me. Football's about kicking a ball on a field. Nothing else. Too much marketing and merchandising can take your eye off the ball."

His claim that commercialism has yet to suffocate the Premiership was startling given he was sitting in the plush boardroom of the Reebok Stadium - would Hierro have ever considered moving to Burnden Park? - though his arrival reflects a mellowing in the Spanish perception of English football.

At Highbury this afternoon the veteran could come directly up against his compatriot, the tearaway Jose Antonio Reyes, one of 12 Spaniards in the top flight, among them his Bolton team-mate Ivan Campo, also a colleague at Real. Those ranks have swelled by seven this summer.

"Until recently Spanish footballers would never have considered playing abroad," said Hierro. "We watched Rafael Martin Vazquez, Gaizka Mendieta, Pep Guardiola and Ivan de la Pena go to Italy and return with their tails between their legs. But look at Reyes. He's 21. Five years ago it would have been unthinkable that a player of his age would leave La Liga. No one would have dared, but his performances since going to Arsenal have proved that it was the right move. He's the future of Spanish football, he's playing in England, and that says a lot about Arsenal.

"They're a great club who want to give young players a chance to succeed. The way they approach the game is the right way - to bring youngsters in like Jose and Cesc Fabregas and develop your club. Real buy established players, Arsenal buy youth.

"They will attract other young Spaniards because Jose and Cesc are proving that Spanish players can do well here and English fans have accepted them.

"That's a project Arsenal are close to completing. They are a great side and, like Manchester United and Chelsea, will not be found technically wanting in Europe. Arsenal could go all the way. The fact they got so close last season will help them.

"At Madrid, between the sixth and the seventh European Cups, we waited 32 years. For all that time we were learning. Arsenal are doing that now."

Few boast Hierro's experience. The sight of Allardyce consulting the Spaniard as Bolton edged closer towards a 1-0 home win over Liverpool last month was indicative of the esteem in which he is held, even if the manager will use him largely from the bench over his one-year contract.

The veteran will find that hard to accept, though he will wait for his chance in a side which has maintained the momentum generated last season. His refusal to recall his heady days at Real is maintained in the dressing-room; if he can impart advice he will, but this is a man who lives in the present, not his glorious past.

"It is uncomfortable sitting on the bench, but I won't knock on the manager's door to remind him what I've achieved in my career," he added. "When I leave Bolton, I want them to remember me as a model professional. For the moment, this is all new.

"One of the reasons I came to England was to experience life under a manager who runs the club from top to bottom. I don't know how Sam does it. He's got the strength to deal with the coaching, the team, but also the signings and sales off the pitch. If there's no tea in the dressing-room, it'll be Sam who gets it sorted.

"I'd like to help as much as I can here at Bolton. I've gained a lot from football. At some stage I want to give something back. But now it's about ending Arsenal's run. We can't worry too much about them - we have to concentrate on our own qualities, not fret about the opposition's strengths. We must impose ourselves upon them."

Arsenal's slick approach may be as intimidating as the atmosphere at Camp Nou six years ago, but the Spaniard will greet it with the same strong-arm defiance.