FA stop short of giving Bosnich maximum ban

Former Australian international goalkeeper Mark Bosnich was banned for nine months instead of the maximum two years by the Football Association after a disciplinary hearing into his testing positive for cocaine.

However with the ban being backdated to the end of December, the 31-year-old former Manchester United 'keeper could be back playing at the end of September - provided he can find a club as Chelsea sacked him when it was revealed he had failed a drugs test in November.

Bosnich had claimed his drink had been spiked by a known cocaine user on a night out at a fashionable London night club.

The FA commission ruled after a two-day hearing he was guilty of charges of improper conduct and breaching their doping control regulations.

Bosnich was not fined, but he must pay the costs of the hearing which could amount to 10,000 pounds (15,000 US dollars).

Chelsea sacked him from his 42,000-pounds-a-week job and he has already lost a case for unfair dismissal against the London team.

However, Bosnich, a two-time League Cup winner, also has an appeal pending against the Premier League's verdict that Chelsea's decision to end his contract was not a case of unfair dismissal.

That appeal is still to be heard by the Football League appeals committee.

Bosnich has not commented publicy about his case but his girlfriend, model Sophie Anderton, spoke out in his defence in Monday's edition of the London Evening Standard.

The paper also reported a woman had given sworn statements admitting she accidentally spiked Bosnich's drink at the Wellington Club in London's expensive Knightsbridge district.

According to the Standard, the woman is a known cocaine user who had intended to drink the cocaine cocktail herself.

It added that the evidence had come to light following a three-month investigation by private investigators acting for Bosnich.

It is not the first time Bosnich has been in trouble having been reprimanded and fined for making a Hitler style salute to Spurs supporters - who have a large Jewish following - during a league match in 1996.

His 1999 move from Aston Villa to Manchester United was earned on his outstanding form for the Birmingham side, who ironically had originally poached him from them, but a bust-up at a lap dancing club and injury forced Alex Ferguson to look elsehwere for a more reliable performer.

French World Cup hero Fabien Barthez's arrival effectively marked the end of his career there and the Chelsea move seemed to herald a new beginning for him.

However the former Sydney Croatia star again found injury and an in-form goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini barring his return to the first team and he was treated for clinical depression - the positive test for cocaine following soon after.