Former Australia international goalkeeper Mark Bosnich has revealed Chelsea captain John Terry tried to save his career but the defender's advice went unheeded.
Bosnich failed a drugs test in September 2002, while on the books at Chelsea and was sacked by the club after copping a nine-month ban from football.
He ended his Chelsea career with just five Premier League games to his name.
But it could have been a lot different for the former Manchester United and Aston Villa gloveman, with Bosnich claiming he would have avoided 'a bad crowd' if he had listened to Terry, who was just 21 years old at the time.
Terry and Bosnich met for the first time in almost 13 years on Sunday ahead of Chelsea's friendly against Sydney FC.
"The unrelenting tornado I found myself in personally when I was in London had its roots, in a way, when JT [Terry] had a problem with the same people earlier," Bosnich wrote in a column for Sydney's the Daily Telegraph on Tuesday.
"I got mixed up with a bad crowd and he warned me off in no uncertain terms.
"Knowing that these people were now involved with me, one day in the dressing room, in front of the entire squad, John stood up and told me what these people were about and to stay away from them.
"Taken aback somewhat, and feeling bulletproof as usual, I told him thanks for the advice, but I would make the call myself.
"I should have listened to him. If I had, I would never had got into the troubles that I did. The whole mess ended up curtailing my career."
Bosnich played 179 league matches for Aston Villa, winning the League Cup twice, before signing for Manchester United where he played 23 times in the Premier League in 1999-00.
But at the age of 30, the 17-time Australia international's career was effectively ruined by cocaine.
