Sheffield Wednesday promotion hero pops up in surprise coaching role after announcement

The Spaniard - who also represented the likes of MK Dons, Charlton Athletic, Blackpool, Brentford and Scunthorpe United in his playing career as well as in La Liga for Gimnàstic - stepped out in the colours of Wednesday 91 times across three seasons from 2011 to 2014.

A fondly remembered figure at S6, Llera scored four goals in the final eight games of a historic run-in to secure promotion from League One in the 2011/12 season. The Owls shoved city rivals Sheffield United out of the way to finish in second place in dramatic fashion.

Llera hung up his boots in 2015 but has gone on to a range of different roles within the game, including time as a youth coach and scout for Wednesday as well as coaching in the local non-league scene, coaching university sides and back in academy football with Walsall.

Now he’s taken up a role as an assistant to newly-installed Rudy Funk at Shirebrook Town, recently promoted to the United Counties Premier Division North in step five of the National League pyramid as part of a re-structure. Shirebrook lost in the NCEL play-off final to Beverley Town on penalties but had their place in their new division confirmed by the FA earlier this month. Funk replaces Stephen Bodle.

Funk told club media on the appointment of Llera: “Anybody who knows his name or anybody who has seen him, he started his career way back in Spain when he went through the leagues and so on. He finished up here in England. He played in League One, the Championship, he played for Sheffield Wednesday, he is a pro-licensed coach. He brings all that with him, but it also his mannerism and his character.”