Bertrand Bossu (born 14 October 1980) is a French

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

who plays for

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

Division One North club

Harlow Town Harlow Town Football Club is an English association football, football club based in Harlow, Essex. The club is a former member of the and plays at The Harlow Arena. The club is best known for its exploits in the 1979–80 FA Cup, in which it ...

Career

France

Born in

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...

, Pas-de-Calais, Bossu started out as a boy at small French amateur club US Blériot-Plage, before joining

Calais RUFC Calais Racing Union FC (Calais RUFC) was a French football club based in Calais, France. Calais RUFC was founded in 1974 after a merger of two local clubs and, as an amateur club, reached the 2000 Coupe de France Final which it lost to top-fligh ...

. When he was 16 he moved to

RC Lens Racing Club de Lens (, commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply Lens) is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the Pas-de-Calais department. Its nickname, ''les sang et or'' (''the blood and gold''), come ...

but never managed to play for the professional team there as he was confined to the third and fourth teams.

Barnet and Hayes

Bossu joined

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

in March 2000. He made his debut and subsequently only first team appearance for Barnet on 17 May 2000 in the second leg of the play-off semi-final. Barnet were trailing 2–0 (4–1 on aggregate) away to

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

when Bossu replaced the injured Lee Harrison in the Barnet goal. He conceded one more goal, giving David Farrell his hat-trick and confirming Peterborough's place in the final. He joined

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

side Hayes on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

in December 2000. His one-man heroics in the 1–0 win away to

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club is known ...

on 2 December ended a run of seven consecutive defeats. However, in the process Bossu broke a finger and returned to Barnet to recuperate. He joined

Rushden & Diamonds Rushden & Diamonds Football Club was an association football club based in Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, England. Nicknamed "The Diamonds", the club played at Nene Park. The club's main rivals were county neighbours Kettering Town F.C., Ke ...

on loan in March 2001, but failed to make a first team appearance for them and was released by Barnet at the end of the season. He rejoined Hayes in August 2001, but lost his place as Hayes were relegated from the Conference. Although he began the following season as second-choice, he regained his place in the side and went on to win the Hayes Supporters' Player of the Year Award in 2003. In the midst of this he had also become the first Hayes goalkeeper to score a goal, with a last-minute header in the game away to St Albans City.

Gillingham

Bossu joined Gillingham in September 2003 and made his debut later that month away to

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

. He played just five more times that season, including the victory at home to

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

. In August 2004 he joined

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

on a three-month loan deal playing in the first two games of the season away to

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

and at home to

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

the same month. However, he was sent back to Gillingham by Torquay with a knee injury, prompting a row over who should pay his wages. He joined

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic ...

in late October 2004, but failed to make their first team.

Darlington and Walsall

He was released by Gillingham at the end of the 2004–05 season, joining

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

in August 2005. The same month he joined

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete history ...

on loan, playing one

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

game away to

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...

before returning to Darlington where he played 10 times before being released at the end of the season. He then joined

in September 2006, but was released in May 2008.

Aberdeen

After being released by

, Bossu then went on trial with

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

side

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

. After impressing goalkeeping coach

Jim Leighton James Leighton (born 24 July 1958) is a Scottish former professional association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Leighton started his career with Aberdeen F.C., Aberdeen, where he won seven d ...

, he was offered a contract with the Scottish club. Bossu left Aberdeen in August 2009 after only three appearances for the club. He signed for

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

on a two-month contract on 28 October following a successful trial. However, he left six days later after asking for his contract to be cancelled.

Honours

As a player

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

winner: 2006–07

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bossu, Bertrand 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Calais French footballers French expatriate footballers Association football goalkeepers RC Lens players Calais RUFC players Barnet F.C. players Hayes F.C. players Rushden & Diamonds F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Accrington Stanley F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Harlow Town F.C. players Union Sportive Gravelines Football players English Football League players National League (English football) players Scottish Premier League players Expatriate footballers in Scotland Expatriate footballers in England Footballers from Hauts-de-France French expatriate sportspeople in Scotland French expatriate sportspeople in England