Julien Brellier could be on his way to Rangers as a free agent but yesterday the Frenchman, who fought a battle of wills with Vladimir Romanov to earn his liberty, accused the Heart of Midlothian owner of treating footballers like “slaves”. The 25-year-old midfield player confirmed yesterday that Walter Smith has asked him to come to Ibrox as he revealed the scale of his unhappiness with Romanov during his turbulent two years at Tynecastle before leaving the Edinburgh club last month after seeing out his contract.

Brellier says that the Hearts dressing-room lost all respect for Romanov after the Lithuanian millionaire vowed to sell his players if they did not defeat Dunfermline Athletic at home last October just hours after Steven Pressley, Paul Hartley and Craig Gordon had made known the unhappiness about Romanov’s methods.

“It made us angry and we didn’t beat Dunfermline,” Brellier said. “I don’t think it was a joke. He could sell everyone if he wanted so he can say what he wants, but players are not slaves.” Pressley and Hartley, of course, swiftly joined Celtic while Gordon was dropped for a spell despite being made captain. Brellier fell out of favour with Romanov for refusing to sign a new contract but was popular with supporters.

“I was 100 per cent behind Steven, Paul and Craig,” Brelllier said. “I didn’t know they were going to do it but I would have stood beside them to make that statement. They were right in what they said and they did the right thing. After that, a lot of things changed. We lost two very important players, one of them [Pressley] who was the most important figure at the club.

“The way Hearts treat a lot of players and manage the club is not good. Mr Romanov wasn’t even there a lot last season, maybe only three or four times. He pays all the players so they must do what he wants, but he must not be a dictator.”

The former Inter Milan player wanted parity with the top earners at Hearts but Brellier highlighted Romanov’s sporting director, Alex Koslovski, as the man to blame for the midfield player withdrawing from negotiations. “When we spoke about my contract he was very arrogant,” Brellier said. “Alex said to me I was not worth more money. After our second meeting I said I wanted to stop talking with him.

“When I left Anatoly Korobochka [the head coach] said publicly that Hearts offered me a good contract. That’s a joke.”