Boozy's battle against pain ends in youngsters' gain

Former Hibs star Guillaume Beuzelin has revealed he's been forced to hang up his boots after losing his battle against injury.

But the popular French midfielder won't be lost to the game having taken up a post as a youth coach with Steven Pressley's Falkirk.

The 32-year-old resigned himself to calling it a day, his career having left him with hip, knee and ankle problems which made it impossible to carry on playing.

However, "Boozy" today stressed he had no regrets, insisting that while he'd obviously have preferred to continue starring on the pitch, he'd known for some time the day of reckoning was looming.

And, he disclosed, he could trace the start of his problems back to his second season with Hibs when he ruptured his cruciate ligament during a match against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.

He said: "Unfortunately, I've been left with too many injuries. There's practically no cartilage left to protect my knee. I can walk but not run, if I do there's swelling and a lot of pain.

"It was a hard decision to make, of course, being a professional football player, but everyone's career comes to an end at some point. I think every player would like to go on to the age of 35 or 36, some are lucky to play on for even longer but, sadly, for others, like myself, it comes to an end earlier.

"It's a very quick career, I had 11 years as a pro in France, with Hibs, in England and Cyprus and have a lot of very good memories, particularly of my time at Easter Road. You have to keep your head up and look to the future, otherwise it isn't good for you."

Although an unknown when he arrived in Edinburgh on trial, Beuzelin quickly became a firm favourite with the Easter Road support, snapped up by then manager Tony Mowbray who took only a few minutes on the training ground to realise the young Frenchman's potential.

It was the start of four years in the Capital for Beuzelin, his first season in a green and white shirt ending with Hibs finishing third as Mowbray's young side containing the likes of Garry O'Connor, Derek Riordan, Steven Whittaker, Scott Brown and Kevin Thomson took the Scottish Premier League by storm.

By the time he moved on to Coventry City he'd also been part of that memorable day at Hampden when John Collins' Hibs swept Kilmarnock aside to lift the CIS Insurance Cup.

However, as much as he enjoyed that 5-1 triumph, the open-top bus through the streets of Edinburgh and the rapturous reception which awaited him and his team-mates at Easter Road - describing it as "a special night" - Beuzelin still counts that first season at Hibs as the one to remember.

He said: "I don't think the club had been doing very well and no-one expected us to do what we did. The style of football we played was very good and to win a place in Europe at the end of it was terrific as I'd never played in the UEFA Cup before.

"I'd arrived in Edinburgh as I was out of contract with Le Havre and my agent had lined up a few trials.

"Hibs was the first one and Tony signed me very quickly. It was a new country, a new team, I didn't speak any English and a lot of my new team-mates were very, very young.

"But it was exciting, things just took off and we finished third."

His move to Coventry came as the side Collins had inherited from Mowbray began to break up and again Beuzelin, who felt he needed a new challenge, enjoyed a measure of success, helping the Sky Blues beat Blackburn in the FA Cup before going out in the quarter-finals to Chelsea.

He still has Didier Drogba's shirt to remind him of that day but it was while in the Midlands he was first warned his career was under threat although he went on to endure an unhappy spell in Cyprus before returning to Scotland for a short time with Hamilton.

Now settled in Falkirk with his wife Kayleigh and their children, Aaron and Ava, Beuzelin recalled: "I was told I would struggle sooner rather than later with my knee.

"I've also got a crack in my hip which doesn't really bother me - I think it was caused by too much dancing - and an ankle injury, just too many problems to keep playing."

However, his Easter Road connections pointed him in the direction of the Bairns, former Hibs coach Donald Park, now the SFA's Head of Coach Education, having acted as the go-between.

Beuzelin said: "I phoned Donald and asked if he could find something for me and I now have a part-time job coaching Falkirk's Under-17s. I'm absolutely loving it, coming in every day to help the youngsters. Falkirk have a terrific academy set-up and I'm doing my coaching badges."

Might that lead to a new career in management? Beuzelin answered: "I honestly don't know. At the moment I am more interested in working on the training ground, concentrating on helping young players fulfil their potential.

"But I also did some commentary for Hibs TV on the first day of the season against Celtic so, who knows, there's maybe a new career for me in television as well."