Six years after the drug-fueled collapse of his career in England’s Premier League, Australian goalkeeper Mark Bosnich will relaunch his career this weekend.
Bosnich will play for the Central Coast against Sydney in an Australian A-League pre-season cup match in Gosford tomorrow.
Central Coast coach Lawrie McKinna confirmed yesterday that Bosnich would start the match as he trials for a longer contract with the club.
“I’m under no illusions here, I’m here on trial,” Bosnich said. “Forget past reputations — I have to perform.”
Bosnich, 36, is making a belated attempt to restart his career almost six years since he was sacked by Chelsea for testing positive for cocaine, incurring a nine-month suspension by the Premier League.
It was an ignominious end to Bosnich’s career in England. He played briefly with Manchester United as a teenager before transferring to Aston Villa, where he was first-choice goalkeeper for most of his eight-year stay.
He then returned to United and played most of the 1999-2000 season before a falling out with manager Alex Ferguson resulted in him being sold to Chelsea.
Bosnich admitted he went off the rails with a cocaine addiction and appeared lost to soccer.
He finally made efforts to restart his career by training last year with former Chelsea goalkeeping team-mate and then Queens Park Rangers coach Ed de Goey before returning to Australia to find a club.
Bosnich, whose weight ballooned in his time away from the game, is now just slightly above his playing weight at the height of his career.
The Sydney native is anticipating plenty of comments from his hometown fans.
“I’m interested to see how I’ll perform myself and I’m feeling the nerves for the first time in a long time, and that’s a good thing,” Bosnich said. “People pay their money to get into a ground. They’re entitled to shout what they want to shout.”
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