Ex-Man Utd star pinned me against the wall for not cleaning his boots properly

LENNY PIDGELEY claims Mark Bosnich once pinned him against the dressing room wall by his throat for not cleaning his boots properly.

Pidgeley, 40, came through Chelsea’s academy in the early 2000s.

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As a hopeful teenager, the goalkeeper had to clean the boots of the senior stoppers before training.

This gave him the responsibility of looking after the boots of Carlo Cudicini, Ed de Goey and former Manchester United star Bosnich.

Pidgeley told of a terrifying encounter with the latter Telegraph: “At Harlington, the old training ground, there was one outside tap, so there were a lot of people standing around trying to clean the boots.

“We came in at 8am and the players were keen to wear their boots for training at 10am, so you’re all in a huge hurry.

“One morning I was sitting in the youth team locker room with all the young boys. Bosnich came in and shouted at me that his boots were still wet.

“The next moment he grabbed me by the throat, pinning me against the wall. I had probably just turned 17 and weighed about 12 stone, and I was terrified.

“Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think anyone really got along with him.”

Pidgeley would eventually find his way into the first-team squad, playing the role of third choice behind Petr Cech and Cudicini.

Having barely featured in the matchday squads during the 2004-05 season, the boyhood Chelsea fan did not expect to receive a title winners medal.

However, with a little help from John Terry and Jose Mourinho, Pidgeley managed to get one.

He explained: “Petr Cech played 95 percent of the games that season and Carlo was his number two, so I hadn’t played at all before the last league game.

“Jose called me the week of that game and said he was going to put me on and I played the last eight minutes of the last game of the season against Charlton.

“I didn’t think I’d get a Premier League winner’s medal but JT arranged it. I remember in training he said, ‘Go check your locker’ and there it was.”

‘I have both my medals [Pidgeley won a League Cup winner’s medal in 2005] framed. One day I’ll get around to hanging them on the wall.”

Pidgeley left Chelsea in 2006 and played for another twelve years before hanging up his boots in 2018.

After his move from Stamford Bridge to Millwall, Pidgeley suffered panic attacks and even contemplated suicide.

Pidgeley Braveley talks about that period: ‘It started in the summer, out of season. I had anxiety attacks and lay in bed, with the door locked under the covers and all the curtains closed.

“Millwall had sent me to the Priory and I hadn’t played for months. I was just training again and the goalkeeper on loan couldn’t play.

“I felt a little better and before I knew it I was playing at Elland Road, the first game back. I was in the toilet 10 minutes before kick-off and had a panic attack.

“I was dripping with sweat, throwing up, my heart was beating out of my chest and I tried to convince myself that my hamstring was going to go away.

“I thought about it so much that I felt my hamstring tightening. Then I ran there, standing in front of 30,000 people.

‘Three weeks earlier I was thinking about killing myself and now they’re calling me aw****r, and whatever, and I just think ‘oh my God, if you knew what was going on in my head.’ “