How Did Mark Bosnich React When Sir Alex Ferguson Called Him 'Terrible Professional'?

Former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson created much noise when he branded Mark Bosnich as a “terrible professional” in his autobiography more than a decade ago.

The old chapter was recently reopened by Jeff Stelling, who shared an anecdote about the row during a chat with former Australian footballer Mark Schwarzer on the Football’s Greatest podcast. Bosnich was regarded as one of the most talented goalkeepers of his generation. However, his undisciplined lifestyle and controversial off-field activities took a toll on his emerging career.

Mark Bosnich was signed by Manchester United two times during the golden era of Ferguson. He first joined the Premier League club as a teenager in the late 80s. After plying his trade for some other teams, Bosnich returned to Old Trafford in 1999 to fill in the shoes of Danish legend Peter Schmeichel.

His second spell with Manchester United did not go as per the expectations. Only a year later, Bosnich became the third-choice goalkeeper as Sir Alex Ferguson kept more faith in the newly signed Fabien Barthez and veteran Raimond van der Gouw.

In the next summer, Mark Bosnich parted ways with the Red Devils and joined Chelsea. Due to his off-field antics, Bosnich also lost his place in the Australian national team. Speaking about the row on the Football’s Greatest podcast, Jeff Stelling revealed how Bosnich reacted after being called a “terrible professional” by his ex-coach Sir Alex Ferguson.

“Sir Alex Ferguson, in his book, described him as a ‘terrible professional’, to which Bozzy responded, ‘I’m honoured just to be mentioned’. He’s pretty comfortable about being honest about how things happened and unfolded. I think it’s difficult for him to disagree. He had such a turbulent lifestyle going on and he had other issues. I can’t even imagine what he was going through,” Stelling was quoted as saying by Mirror.

Stelling also talked about the difficulties faced by Mark Bosnich during his second spell at Manchester United. He said, “He had very big shoes to fill in Peter Schmeichel. From afar, there seemed to be off-field issues. Maybe he and Sir Alex Ferguson didn’t see eye to eye. He had an up-and-down time. There were periods when he played really well and then obviously it ended pretty quickly and he ended up going to Chelsea.”

Apart from Manchester United and Chelsea, Mark Bosnich played for Aston Villa, Sydney United, Central Coast Mariners and Sydney Olympic during his club career. He took retirement from the sport in 2009 and went on to become a football pundit. Bosnich won two League Cups with Aston Villa in 1994 and 1995 before securing the Premier League title with Manchester United in 2000.