CHAMPIONS League veteran Fernando Hierro is rolling back the years to steer Wanderers towards their first European adventure.

The former Real Madrid legend has taken time to make an impact on the Premiership, but his experience and class are proving invaluable as the Whites go all out to claim a UEFA Cup place.

Unfortunately, he may not be around to enjoy the fruits of his labours. He turns 37 on Wednesday and hinted recently that this could be his last season.

"It's possible that these will be the last few months of my playing career," he said.

"In fact, I thought that I would end my playing days in Qatar until this opportunity came along."

But at least one of his Reebok bosses believes he still has plenty to offer.

"If Fernando has already made that decision then that's up to him," said assistant manager Phil Brown, "but I can't see any evidence of that on the football field.

"The football he is playing now is some of the best football I've seen from a sitting midfield player.

"He has driven us on over the last three games."

Those three games - at Newcastle and Manchester City in the Premiership and against Arsenal in the FA Cup - have seen Hierro preferred to his former Real team-mate, Ivan Campo, in the holding role.

Campo had virtually made the position his own since converting from centre-back to centre-midfield, after being something of a liability, defensively, when he first arrived from the Bernabeu in August 2002.

The irony of the current situation will not be lost on the mop-haired Reebok favourite since Hierro has undergone the same conversion since he followed him to the Reebok, via Al-Rayyan in Qatar, last summer.

Brown admits there is little to choose between the two but believes Hierro has more than justified his selection.

"Both, obviously, are ex-Spanish centre-halves playing in a midfield role, which is a massive coincidence," he said. "But it wasn't planned that way at all.

"They were both brought to the club as centre-halves but both found they could acquit themselves better in midfield.

"They've found they have the time, the ability and the vision to play in there.

"The difference between Ivan and Fernando is minimal, but we felt Ivan needed a rest and Fernando has come in and more than taken up the mantle.

"He's playing some fantastic football."

Hierro is expected to start his fourth successive Premiership game against Norwich with Brown predicting there is more to come, in terms of his performance and staying power.

He said: "By his own admission he can't play the full 90 minutes but, who knows, in the last eight or nine games he might get to that stage and be able to conserve his energy.

"It's not necessarily what you see when Fernando is on the park as much as what you miss when he is not on the park, as we saw when we took him off at Newcastle.

"We also saw what you lose with his type of player when he came off against Arsenal.

"If he decides to retire, then that's his decision and, as far as another contract with this football club is concerned, that's something I can't comment on."

Hierro can. Asked if he felt this was his last season as a player, he said: "I'd say that there's a very good chance of that."