The Return of Le Sulk

When Nicolas Anelka signed for Bolton, fans were blown away, but still cautious. Sure, he's undeniably a world-class talent. He'd also been through more clubs than Max Fischer from Rushmore. He had earned the nickname "Le Sulk" for his negative attitude; the very fact that he had fallen from the likes of Arsenal and Real Madrid to Manchester City (pre-Arabs), Fenerbache, the Wanderers, and even Liverpool strongly suggested that something was wrong with him. At Bolton, we never saw any of that. He was a consummate team player. He worked hard and kept his head up in the Bolton fashion, even when starved of service. Perhaps the best indication of the "new Anelka" was the fact that he paid to fly his teammates out to Morocco for his wedding. Despite Bolton's awful start to the 2007-2008 season, he never bitched and moaned, and when he left for one last big payday at Chelsea, we made a massive profit. I think the rehabilitation of his reputation was a big part of this move.

Well, it looks like the old Nico is back.

Or is he? Sure, he verbally abused Raymond Domenech, thus fulfilling the dream of 65 million Frenchmen. But look at how the players have rallied around him, even super-tool John Terry. That probably wouldn't have happened four years ago. The other point to keep in mind is that Domenech is a complete idiot and shouldn't have been in this position in the first place. Ask 100 football fans if he should be managing France, and 99 will stare at you in disbelief because you even bothered asking the question.

It seems odd to me that I'm devoting so much time to a team I don't care for at all, but I do still have a soft spot for Nico and it's a shame he has to go out like this.