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There was no fairytale farewell but Mark Bosnich hoped it wasn’t the end of his story after his short-term A-League contract with Central Coast ended today.
Bosnich had trained desperately hard to try to overcome a hamstring injury so he could play in today’s clash with Wellington, the last of his seven-game period with the Mariners.
He did recover but could only manage a spot on the bench and sat there for the entire game a coach Laurie McKinna kept the fitter Danny Vukovic in between the sticks in the 1-0 loss.
Bosnich was officially farewelled at a pre-match luncheon although the Mariners vowed it wasn’t a permanent goodbye, promising to find a way to keep the former Manchester United and Chelsea star involved with the club.
An upbeat Bosnich was humble and grateful at his farewell and declared he still hoped to keep his playing career alive.
Asked whether he would play on, Bosnich, who has had a well-documented turbulent career, said: “That’s not in my control, but the first thing is to say, I’d love to continue playing football.
“But obviously because of what I did seven years ago I forfeited the right to have those options and I can totally understand that.
“All I can do is work very hard, everybody’s been fantastic here and I know I may not get that again if I go somewhere else … but if the opportunity arises (somewhere else), of course I wouldn’t say no.
Bosnich, who turns 37 in January, told more than 100 of the club’s members, officials and corporate sponsors he was keeping his approach to his future “realistic”.
“Basically I am realistic and I’ve been out (of the game) for a very long time,” he said.
“If I can continue to stay injury free and continue to play at the level I’m playing then anything is possible.”
Bosnich is set to fly to the US on Friday to participate in a documentary although he admitted to having “second thoughts” about it.
Mariners chief executive Lyall Gorman and McKinna paid tribute to Bosnich and said he’d had an enormous influence on the team’s young players.
Bosnich was fully understanding of McKinna’s decision to play Vukovic, believing his young teammate deserved the starting spot.
He said Vukovic had the potential to go “all the way” in the sport.
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