The big interview: Mark Bosnich – "Fergie's 'terrible professional' comment was was just a lie"

Not many footballers invite you to their luxury apartment to conduct an interview. But then, not many riff on every question for minutes on end like an indulgent ageing rocker, unabashedly spilling their feelings.

In the end, though, FFT doesn’t get to see Mark Bosnich’s oh-so-central Sydney flat, as our photographer decides on a launderette in the posh Australian suburb of Paddington to set up the ‘clean sheets’ gag.

When ‘Bozza’ arrives, he hands over his iPhone, cigarettes and lighter (all white) and happily plunges in among baskets of laundry, asking for phone shots to send to his fiancée as evidence of the ridiculous life he leads. Almost immediately, Mark’s former Socceroos team-mate Robbie Slater calls – “Ignore that!” – which helps us to travel back in time to when the Premier League was shiny and new, Big Ron Atkinson was vying with Deadly Doug Ellis at Aston Villa, and Alex Ferguson was beginning to win over the doubters. For the next two hours, Bozza’s machine-gun laugh ricochets about, drowning out passing motorbikes as he holds court opposite the organic bread bar...

No, rugby league was my first sport, but football was always in the background. My father came to Australia way back in 1959 from what was then Yugoslavia, now Croatia. But you’re deluged with rugby league – it was, and still is, the big sport here in Sydney. Basically, my mum said, “You’re not playing rugby league!” As she reminds me now, it was a pretty good choice. I did feel in a minority, playing football. It’s come on leaps and bounds, but it has never been the number one sport here.

At the end of that trip, a chap over here, Alan Vest, said, “Would you like to go to Liverpool for three days?” The manager was Kenny Dalglish and the youth-team manager was Malcolm Cook. I had three days and everything I touched turned to gold. Kenny Dalglish said to my dad, “I want him to stay.” My dad said, “Look, he’s got two months of school left – let him finish and he can come at the start of next season.” In that interim period, Eddie Thomson, who managed Australia and went to school with Alex Ferguson, had heard about it. He rang Alex, got in contact with my dad and asked, “Would he come over for a trial before he goes?”

It was 1990, Manchester United were about to play in the FA Cup final, and they had four matches in a very short period. We played Wimbledon and Alex Ferguson said, “This will help you to get your work permit, so just make sure you play well.” Talk about putting me under pressure! I expected a test and a half, it being Wimbledon. I took the first high ball and launched a throw out to Mark Hughes. I thought, ‘Why did you take a high ball in the first 10 minutes? You've made yourself a target now.’ But I kept a clean sheet and we drew 0-0.

I couldn’t get a work permit sorted out. Alex wanted me to go to Brondby: he thought that if I went there on loan for at least three years, it’d give me enough consecutive time at an English club to be able to apply for a UK passport. I did visit Brondby, and I remember talking to Peter Schmeichel about it, but I was so focused on playing in England that I preferred to return home and regroup rather than move somewhere else.

Those were wonderful times at Aston Villa. We won the League Cup twice and finished 2nd in the first Premier League season. Deadly Doug lost patience with Ron and let him go, which I felt was the wrong decision at the time. We almost got relegated in that season, so I went through it all at Villa Park. Ron Atkinson was phenomenal, Brian Little too, and so was John Gregory – I had a fantastic few seasons at the club.

No we didn’t, because in the end we lost by 10 points. We weren’t as far off as the deficit suggests, though we weren’t quite good enough. It was a fantastic side: a wonderful blend of youth and experience with some brilliant players – the late Dalian Atkinson, Garry Parker, Dean Saunders, Kevin Richardson, Earl Barrett, Steve Staunton, Paul McGrath, Shaun Teale, Ray Houghton and Tony Daley... it really was a super side. We took four points off Manchester United but unfortunately we came a cropper at the end of the season.

It was absolutely magnificent – one of the best moments of my career. John Aldridge was playing for them in [what is now called] the Championship. They completely outplayed us in the first leg at Prenton Park and beat us 3-1. We were pretty lucky in that game too, as Dalian Atkinson got an away goal out of nowhere at the end. The second leg started off fantastic for us: we scored two goals in about five minutes, which would have taken us through on away goals. But they got a goal back – John Aldridge went around me and ran into my big head, before scoring a penalty. Just before the end of normal time, we got a third goal to take it to extra time, and ultimately it went to penalties.

My penalty method was to watch the non-kicking foot and slow things down like a camera, then go with everything at the last minute. It brought me a lot of success, especially that season. There was one from Bebeto against Deportivo La Coruna in the UEFA Cup, which was probably my greatest ever penalty save. There were two against Spurs the week after the League Cup semi-final as well. There’s always a chance for a keeper to make a name for themselves in those situations, because no one is expecting anything from you.

Playing against and beating my first club, Manchester United, in the [1994] final was very special, particularly as I’d flown my parents over. It was a tactical masterpiece from Ron Atkinson and he completely out-thought Alex Ferguson. Man United had been unstoppable that season, but he stopped them playing their game and we won 3-1. Atkinson scored in the first half before Saunders finished things off with a penalty. That was a wonderful night and great to win my first major trophy at Wembley.

The second League Cup final [in ’96] was a wonderful football performance. We were coached by Brian Little and up against Leeds. It wasn’t so much about stopping Leeds as it was about playing to our strengths. Brian put together an exceptional side: we finished 4th in the Premier League, reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup and won the League Cup in convincing style. It was a super side which probably should have got closer to winning the Premier League title.

That wasn’t a defence; it was the truth. And no, I didn’t realise there was such a big Jewish fanbase there. I obviously did afterwards, and I apologised, and I apologise to this day. I was mimicking Basil Fawlty because I was thinking about Jurgen Klinsmann – nothing else. [Tottenham fans had been chanting the German striker’s name, as Bosnich had knocked him unconscious in a collision the previous year] You can see there was a smile on my face. When I knew it hurt people, I was mortified. I still am.

After regular Premier League games there were around 20 people from the press, and I could tell after that game that there were about 40 or 50. Doug Ellis and Brian Little told me, “Don’t say anything.” I said, “I’m sorry but I’ve got to say something, because if I don’t say anything, it’s like I’ve got something to hide.” And then I rang up 5 Live’s 606 programme on my way home, as I was getting absolutely pummelled. I told the presenter, David Mellor, my side of the story and I apologised. Since then, if anyone asks me about it, especially those of Jewish origin, I apologise. One letter I got was about this lady’s young kid who had been racially abused, and she thought it was because of what had happened. I replied, “I’m so, so sorry.”

No, it was all my fault. He was at a strip club in Birmingham – I think it was Legs Eleven – and Brian Lara and I were at the casino. Dwight rang me and asked, “Could you meet us outside and pick us up?” I was drinking – it was the night before my wedding. So we went to the front of the club to see where he was, and the bouncer said, “He’s at the kebab house.” As we turned and walked back into the dark alley towards the car, this bloke jumped out and took a picture of me. I was half-startled, half-panicking, so I grabbed the camera and he began to struggle with me. I pushed him and thought, ‘OK, I’ll take your camera’. At 5am the police came to the house and said, “We’re very sorry, but we’re going to have to arrest you.”

Playing for Australia was a really proud moment for me. There are three countries I love: Australia, Croatia and especially England, because of what it gave me and the time I spent there. If those countries were under attack, I’d volunteer to defend them with my life. But playing for Australia was more of a hindrance than anything at that time. I don’t mean that disrespectfully; there was just no international break. At all of my clubs, the managers used to say, “They don’t pay your wages” – and they were right. You would go back to your club and there’d be no guarantee that you would get your place back. And being in the Oceania qualifying groups meant that we would win a lot of games 10-0 or 12-0, and then have to play someone like Argentina.

I picked up two trophies during my first season, including the Intercontinental Cup, something I had watched as a kid: the best South American team against the best European team, and no British team had ever won that before. I knew in my heart it was pretty unlikely that Australia would win a World Cup, so to walk off the pitch that night knowing I was part of the best club team in the world was an incredible feeling.

It wasn’t unfair – it was just a lie. He’s always said that he doesn’t bear any grudges, but obviously he does. But he can say that because he knows what happened afterwards, with the drugs and so on – he’s got good evidence to back himself up. At that time, though, it was a lie. Alex Ferguson signed me twice. I wouldn’t be talking to you now about my career unless he had taken a chance on me originally. Yes, we had a falling out, but these things happen. He was a great manager to play under.

It was when I was a kid. He did it to a lot of people, just to see how they’d react. We were playing Liverpool’s reserves – I think Steve Staunton and Alan Hansen were playing for them – and we were 1-0 down on what must have been one of the coldest November mornings ever, so I’d put on tracksuit bottoms. Alex was ripping everyone, then he ripped me a new one: “If you don’t take those tracksuit bottoms off, I’ll send you up to Aberdeen on loan first thing Monday morning. You think this is cold? You wait and see what cold really is! And if you don’t want to go, I’ll send you back to Bondi Beach and you can wear some long pants on the beach.”

My biggest issue back then was that I got injured three times. A lot of it had to do with a bad shoulder injury from the season before, which unbalanced my body, and a lot that had to do with the change of training. Tony Coton was a young goalkeeping coach, and – no disrespect to him – from a sports science point of view, he was green. But I blame myself, as I should have been stronger. I knew that my preparation wasn’t right.

Other than that, I had a pretty good season and enjoyed some of the best matches of my entire career. There was the Intercontinental Cup final, and away to Real Madrid in the quarter-finals of the Champions League was a brilliant night. Then I got injured – and that was because of the training we were doing. I suffered a hernia for the first time in my life. They put on a stupid afternoon session because I think [Coton] felt he wasn’t doing enough. So they brought someone down to do all of these silly exercises in the gym, and I was already tired. Fergie was upset with [Coton] as well. I got injured, and we were beaten 3-2 in the second leg after drawing 0-0 in Spain. And I was out for more or less the rest of the season.

I had my suspicions about how it all happened [Bosnich said his drink had been spiked by a known cocaine user in a London nightclub], but I just let it go. My reaction was: if you think this is who I am, then I will be that person. But that was really wrong of me. I kind of gave up. I had the financial wherewithal to do pretty much what I wanted. I should have just packed up, come back home to Australia to see out the suspension, then started again. But you can’t pack up and change it now.

Yeah, John did do that. That crowd was part of the people who sent that girl [supermodel Sophie Anderton] to me. I tried to help her, and fell in love with her. But she was sent to me for a specific reason. John had noticed similar problems with a couple of other players at that place, the Wellington [a Knightsbridge club and notorious celebrity haunt]. I remember saying to him, “They’re OK.” He would say, “Boz, they’re not.” And he was right. Bad crowd, bad people.

The problem was I had no one to turn to, and I had this burning desire to find out what was behind it [the failed drug test]. So I thought I’d go straight to the source, but the more you spend time with these people, the more you are slipping, slipping, slipping, until three years later people ask you, “What have you found out?” and you say, “Nothing yet, I’m still undercover – but I haven’t got any problems, honest...” I’m fortunate that I got myself out of it, otherwise it wouldn’t have been very pretty if you were talking to me now... if you were talking to me at all.

I still ask myself the very same question. I wouldn’t say I fell out of love with the game, but I was really perplexed, and disappointed that the game I loved so much had these things around it. When it came to the crunch, I didn’t even have minimal backup from the game I had served so well and loved so much, so I said, “Jesus, if this is it, stuff it.” I had given up not only on the football but on myself, which was wrong and really dangerous – I say that now whenever I go and speak to kids. I was lucky to play for more than 15 years, but I can imagine if I didn’t have that behind me... God knows what people must do to continue that habit. It’s terrifying to think about.

I wasn’t that easy to deal with. When you’re doing cocaine it’s very difficult to explain to people that something is happening – they’re just going to say, “Sure it is, and did you see a pig jump over your bedroom last night?” So I can understand that people probably thought, “Just leave him; he doesn’t want to listen anyway.” I was obdurate and narrow-minded. I have to take the vast majority of the blame. And the people who set me up, messing with a person’s life and business just for financial gain…

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