Iconic star Brellier, who helped Hearts to Scottish Cup success, retires at 28

Supporters of Hearts will find this difficult to accept. Julien Brellier, at the ripe old age of 28, has retired from professional football.

He now plays purely for pleasure with amateur outfit AC Seyssinet, the bottom club in the seventh tier of the French league system. The days as an Inter Milan player and the gushing idolisation of the Hearts support are past memories for one of the finest holding midfielders ever to grace Tynecastle. Unable to secure a contract in his native France since leaving Switzerland's FC Sion early last year, the No.?28 jersey was hung up for good. Le Juge has passed sentence on himself.

It is symptomatic of football's enforced prudence that Brellier has gone from Inter Milan to oblivion in just seven years. In his teens, he shared Inter's Appiano Gentile training ground with football luminaries like Ronaldo and Clarence Seedorf. Then he helped Hearts win the Scottish Cup and reach the Champions League qualifying rounds whilst achieving cult hero status in Edinburgh.

Subsequent spells at Norwich City and FC Sion proved unfulfilling and now his team-mates are the butchers and bakers of the Seniors Honneur Regional Ligue - Pool B - at a club which could be considered the French equivalent of Preston Athletic.

The proverbial question "where did it all go wrong?" is bursting to be asked when Brellier answers the phone at home in Grenoble, a city in the Rhne-Alpes region of south-east France. "I didn't have any opportunities," he sighs. "After Sion, I had some National (French third division) clubs interested so there was a chance to go there.

"Maybe 50 per cent of the teams are professional in that league and 50 per cent are not.

"It was not a good thing for me to go there so I decided to stop playing. I had nothing from the first or second division and my agent told me it was very hard trying to find a club.

"I don't know if I trust him but it's just life and I had to stop because life goes on. I have a family and it's better for my head to stop professional football. The wait was too long. I knew it was not good to wait again through January, then if nothing happens I wait again until June and I keep training on my own.

"I'm not frustrated, it's just life. I think in football now it is very hard for a lot of players to fight for teams. I didn't want to say 'yes' to a proposal just because I wanted to stay professional.

"I wanted to do something I like. I think I will do some coaching courses to get the diploma because that would be a good option maybe for some time in the future. Football has always been my life and I think I can be a good coach."I will maybe try and if I don't like it I can try something else.

"When I was in Scotland I had such a good feeling with the Hearts supporters. We had a very good team there. I have had the chance to play with some very good players in my career.

"The last year was a little bit strange. I feel football has changed and I don't think it's my world for now. The last two years were very hard for me and I didn't want to keep going on with the same story.

"I don't think all football is like this but I just had the feeling it was time to do other things.

"I don't regret anything. I had a very good time everywhere I went and I met some very good people.

"I have really enjoyed my life until now and I'm still enjoying it. I'm not frustrated or unhappy, this is just reality. I stopped playing professional for family reasons and some other reasons.

"I have to stay close to my family and stay home. In this area there are not any big clubs so I signed for Seyssinet just to keep in shape.

"Happy is not the word for how I feel. I had to make a decision. It was not an easy decision but I think it was the best one. I decided to stop to stay close to my family."

Brellier, for now, has no day job. His tranquil life in France's picturesque Alps region is a world far removed from his heady days as a midfield enforcer at Tynecastle.

Enjoyment now comes from passing on elements of his experience to Seyssinet team-mates, many of whom must feel they won the lottery with the arrival of their new colleague. It would, after all, be quite something being an ordinary French amateur footballer with the honour of sharing a dressing-room and football pitch with Julien Brellier.

"It's a good thing to play with other guys who are not professional, who keep going to work every day. It's nice for me to train and play with them," says Brellier. "It's not the top level but we are a good team for the level we play at. I like to give them my experience and I enjoy this. I'm just going there to enjoy my time as a footballer.

"I trained to keep my fitness up after I finished in Switzerland so I have stayed in good shape. I just train three times a week now, with a game on Saturday or Sunday. I was used to going out every day to train by myself or with a club but I am thinking about my future now. A typical day is an hour training on my own or two hours with the club. The rest of the day is doing other things.

"It's just strange. You wake up in the morning and not going to train is bizarre but it's not as hard as I thought it would be when I made the decision.

"I played professional football for ten years and now it's just for fun. Well, not for fun because when I play I don't like this word. I always want to win. But it's not my job any more so there is no pressure."

Time will tell if the competitive streak within Brellier returns with sufficient force to tempt him out of retirement. For now, it must be considered a footballing travesty that he is no longer involved in the game at the top-level.