In-depth with Charlton Athletic centre-back Michael Hector: I needed a break from football after Fulham exit

Michael Hector has revealed that his priority after leaving Fulham last summer was to spend quality time with his young family – and not fixate on the next step in a nomadic football career.

The experienced centre-back, 30, did not sign for Charlton Athletic until the end of the January transfer window.

Newham-raised Hector had trained with Luton Town the previous October and was also trialling with Sheffield Wednesday shortly before he agreed terms with the Addicks on a short-term deal.

The former Millwall youngster, who was spotted playing for his district team at the age of 11, started Charlton’s final 16 League One matches after making his debut in the closing stages at Forest Green Rovers in February.

It was puzzling why Hector did not get fixed up far sooner considering his pedigree.

When Fulham won promotion back to the Premier League in 2020 he was dubbed Virgil Van Mike – a nod to the imperious Liverpool defender – for the way he made an instant impact on Scott Parker’s side after his switch from Chelsea went through in the winter transfer window.

But Hector made just four Premier League appearances in the following campaign and then the same total in 2021-22, when Marco Silva’s side won the Championship title in style.

“I’ve only got myself to blame for why I didn’t play in that first season,” Hector told the South London Press. “My performances at the start of the season weren’t good enough. I don’t think I came back in a good shape – so that was nothing to do with the club bringing in other players.

“I had enough opportunities to keep my shirt and I didn’t play well. The players who came in did well enough to keep theirs. It was part and parcel of football.”

The Whites’ first promotion was at an empty Wembley – with the Covid-19 pandemic forcing their play-off final against local rivals Brentford to be played behind closed doors.

“It was a difficult season because when Covid hit we didn’t know if we were going to come back or what was going to go on,” said Hector. “We were sitting around a bit and then when we got the green light it was weird – with no fans.

“I’m a player who likes to play in big atmospheres. For me it was a bit like training games, which I don’t really like. It was a struggle for me, the games. Especially at Wembley. I’ve played there when it was full. It was different. It was such a big game but still difficult to get up for, even though you know the magnitude of it.

“When I left Fulham I just enjoyed my time off.

“The two years after the first promotion, I was still a part of Fulham and also the next promotion – but mentally I needed a break.

“Having a young family, it was important to have time with them.

“There were quite a few offers on the table in higher leagues but it wasn’t right for me at that moment.

“The time I’ve had with my kids has made the relationship a lot better. I’ve got a five-year-old, a two-year-old and an eight-month-old.

“When you play football you’re away quite a bit of the time and I realised how much I missed, the sacrifices that you make.”

Hector’s future has been cleared up more quickly this time around, with confirmation of a 12-month extension at Charlton confirmed at the end of last week.

“I’ve enjoyed playing football again and being back training,” said the Jamaican international. “My kids could come to the home games and watch them along with family and friends. I said when I joined that this is a massive club.

“Even when I used to come and play here as an away player, it was a stadium I loved to come to. It was always a good atmosphere.

“To be a home player, I was looking forward to that.

“Last season didn’t go as the club wanted but I feel this season, with Dean (Holden) in charge, it should be a more exciting one than it has been in previous seasons.”

Hector was released by Millwall and ended up playing Sunday league football until Reading signed him in 2009.

Eleven loans followed in the space of four years – playing for the likes of Didcot Town, Oxford City and Bracknell in non-league before more conventional stints with the likes of Barnet, Shrewsbury, Aldershot and Aberdeen.

“When I played non-league I was a centre-mid adapting to playing centre-back,” said Hector, who was sent off three times while at Isthmian League Premier club Horsham.

“The important thing was getting men’s football because the academy side wouldn’t have benefitted me – I needed to learn how to head the ball dealing with contact.

“It was perfect to do that at such a young age. Even if it wasn’t a great standard it was also the combat skills you need to have as a centre-back, dealing with off-the-ball stuff as well as winning the header.

“There was a lot of experienced players who had dropped down the leagues. They couldn’t move as much any more but physically they were good.

“At Horsham it was a lot of elbows off the ball and being headbutted – the guy back-heading me in the face. A young boy playing against grown men, they are trying to intimidate you. I learned the hard way that my reaction would get punished – that the referee would not see the first action, only the reaction.

“It was the whole reason to go on loan, to understand the dark arts.”

Hector was Crystal Palace bound in 2015, only for his boyhood club to enter the fray.

“I was meant to do the medical at Palace and the evening before that Chelsea phoned my dad,” he said. “I had a conversation with Alan Pardew. My dad felt I should call him – because it is about being honest too.

“I was grateful for the opportunity that Alan was going to give me but it was the team I supported growing up – it could’ve been any other club in the world and I’d have ended up going to Chelsea.”

Hector added to his loan haul which at Stamford Bridge, including a season-long sabbatical to Eintracht Frankfurt, losing the 2017 DFB-Pokal Cup final to Borussia Dortmund.

He also marked Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski, one of European’s greatest frontmen in recent decades.

“He was the best I faced in terms of one-v-one,” said Hector. “Alexis Sanchez, when he was at Arsenal, was another one, in the FA Cup. He was in the best form of his career at the time – he was frightening.

“Lewandowski has got everything. He is physical, he’s not slow and he has great feet. If he gets a sniff then he puts it in the net.

“His all-round game – he had everything. You couldn’t impose yourself on him.”

The closest Hector came to cracking it with the Blues came in 2016 when he was handed a squad number – 30. But he ended up heading to Germany with David Luiz re-signing from PSG for £50million, then a world record for a defender.

“I was speaking to (Antonio) Conte and there were positive conversations – he said I needed to play at a top level in Europe,” said Hector. “It is a big step up to go from playing for Reading in the Championship to winning the Premier League with Chelsea.

“The whole reason I signed there was because I believed in myself, that I could play there.

“The opportunity was hard to come by. Every season is quite difficult when every new manager comes in and they want to bring in their own players. They kind of overlook the younger players in the squad. The only time we had an opportunity is when they had the transfer embargo – (Frank) Lampard took over. I had moved just before that happened.

“It was unlucky but I don’t look back with any regrets.”

Hector likens Holden to Derek McInnes, who was such a positive influence on his career while on loan at Aberdeen.

“I had very honest conversations with Derek – you knew where you stood,” he said. “When I wasn’t playing well for him he took me out for a game or two. I was young at the time and he said: ‘You just need to be more consistent as a defender. When you train properly, train right, then you’ll be back in’. I did that and I was back in.

“Managers like that, you have a lot of time for. It’s hard to be honest in this business because some players take it the wrong way.

“But I’ve always had honest chats in my career. Derek was a big part of my development, so was Steve Clarke at Reading. My career kicked on from where he took over.

“He was the one who got me the move to Chelsea because of my performances under him.”