STAR Demons midfielder Brad Green often attends Melbourne Victory matches and watches on in awe as the likes of Archie Thompson and Co. strut their stuff.

But despite having trialled with Manchester United as a teenager and still possessing a love for the world game, the now AFL star has no regrets that he isn’t among the household names of Australian soccer.

“You sort of miss it and sort of think ‘what could have been?’ and that type of thing, but I was probably never good enough to make it at any level,” Green said.

“I certainly miss it. I used to love it but once I started playing Aussie Rules that sort of took all my passion.”

It’s astounding to think that the Tasmanian didn’t play his first competitive match of Australian football until he was 16.

Most footy fans are aware of his potential in soccer as a youngster, and Green recalled the days when he was seriously considering a career in England.

“After playing in national championships for Tassie I went on a couple of months trial at Man United in 1996,” he said.

“I got to meet David Beckham, Ryan Giggs and these type of players … Alex Ferguson.

“Basically by the end of it I got told that I wasn’t good enough to get on their youth team, so they sent me down to a club called Walsall. I went and played with their youth team and I got offered a contract there.”

Green said he was then faced with one of the toughest decisions of his young life, and one that would ultimately decide the direction of his life.

“At 15, 16, I had to weigh up, ‘Am I going to stay over there and play with them?’

“I decided no, I was going to come back and finish my school.

“Then I decided one day to have a kick of Aussie Rules with my mates and it just sort of blossomed from there.”

Melbourne fans are thankful he did, as the Demons swooped with pick 19 in the 1999 National Draft.

He has since gone on to play 166 senior matches and become one of the club’s best players, but he admits the soccer flame still flickers somewhere deep inside.

“Footy’s taken the attention in recent years but I certainly still love the game,” he said.

“Maybe one day, once I’ve finished footy, I’ll be able to get back and hopefully have a kick around of the soccer ball but at this stage of my career I don’t think the coach would be too happy if I went out and played too many games!”