Mark Bosnich hits back at Sir Alex Ferguson's jibes

Ferguson alleged that the former keeper "ate like a horse" and was a "bad piece of business" after being signed on a free transfer in the summer of 1999 to replace Old Trafford great Peter Schmeichel.

Bosnich, who has yet to read the full contents of Ferguson's book, insists he will deliver a full response to Fergie's comments "at the appropriate time".

But he claims that Ferguson's critical remarks do not alter his affection for the club and dim the memories of his two periods at United.

"I am honoured to be mentioned in Sir Alex Ferguson's autobiography," Bosnich said today.

"The bottom line is that I am still the only player that Sir Alex Ferguson ever signed twice during his time at Manchester United.

"In my second spell at the club, we won the Premier League title by a margin of 18 points and also became the first British team to become world champions by beating Palmeiras in Tokyo.

"I will always view my time at United as the most special and interesting period of my life and I would not be in the position I am today had Sir Alex not signed me as a 16-year-old. I will be forever grateful for that and I dearly hope that Sir Alex visits Australia so that I can see him face-to-face."

On Bosnich, Ferguson said: "We played down at Wimbledon and Bosnich was tucking into everything: sandwiches, soups, steaks. He was going through the menu.'

"I told him: 'For Christ's sake, Mark, we've got the weight off you, why are you tucking into all that stuff?'

"We arrived back in Manchester, and Mark was on mobile phone to a Chinese restaurant to order a takeaway. "Is there no end to you?"'

"I just couldn't make an impact on him'. He was a terrible professional.

"Mark got off to a real bad start – he turned up for training three hours late. He was overweight.

"We had a bad period trying to replace Peter Schmeichel. Goalkeepers are not my strongest point. By the time we got to Van der Sar it was a blessing."