It seems that Mark’s Chelsea career is finally at end following today’s announcement by the FA. Although Chelsea have yet to meet with the player it seems certain that the club will terminate his £40,000-a-week contract.
An FA spokesman told the Press Association: "The charges respectively relate to bringing the game into disrepute and to breaching the FA's doping regulations by testing positive for a prohibited substance, namely cocaine.
"Mark Bosnich will be suspended from all football activities until the charges have been heard.
"The FA would not normally make any public statements at this stage of a case of this type, however, in view of numerous media reports over the past few weeks the situation required clarification."
Bosnich has until Friday, January 10 to respond in writing to the charges, though no date for a hearing has yet been set.
A statement on Chelsea's official website said: "Chelsea can today confirm that we have received notification from the Football Association that the player Mark Bosnich has been charged with breaches of the FA rules in connection with the detection of the presence of cocaine in a sample provided by him.
"The player has been suspended by the Football Association from all football activities until such time as the charge against him has been determined by them. In the meantime, the club have summoned the player to an internal meeting."
However more positively, Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, said the charge does not necessarily mark the end of Bosnich's career.
He said: "The player can undergo rehabilitation and can be classed as clean and come into the game after a period of time - but that depends on Mark.
"We have been in constant touch with Mark since this began and we have continued to be in touch with him.
"It is a very sensitive situation. A lot depends on his attitude. Knowing him as I do I can't believe it is the end of the road or the end of his career.
"It's a matter of reassessing the situation and seeing if we can get a new start in the latter stages of his career."
Taylor highlighted Paul Merson as an example for Bosnich to draw on. The former England midfielder publicly admitted drug use but recovered to continue his career.
He added: "Rehabilitation is possible and things can get cleared up - but it depends on the individual."
To be honest Mark’s Chelsea career is all but over, but it is my hope that Mark will learn by this and have the character and strength to rebuild a career worthy of his obvious ability.