sad to hear of Anelka's troubles, I always had a soft spot for him, he's a unique character in a game with few unique characters.
here's a piece by Dion Fanning in last weeks Irish Indo on him.
Dion Fanning – 18 August 201 - Irish Independent
http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/sometimes-its-better-to-care-too-little-than-care-too-much-29507766.htmlSometimes it's better to care too little than care too muchThe Premier League's chief executive Richard Scudamore was defiant last week when it was suggested that the probable departure of Gareth Bale meant that the English league was no longer the place to be for bright young talents.
Scudamore recalled that his league had survived the departure of Beckham and Ronaldo and continued to engage the public and the TV companies which keep giving them money. Scudamore sounded more than ever like an executive producer of a long-running drama as he explained the appeal of this popular staple in the schedule.
Jose Mourinho's return was welcome because "he's a character, a successful character and a talking point".
Mourinho is a Lannister, returning to provide the drama which the Premier League produces better than anybody. The most talented players may have always chosen Spain, and now Germany, ahead of England but that didn't matter when the league was so full of sub-plots – so many sub-plots and so much character development – that sometimes the plot was the least important thing of all.
One man is returning and bucking this trend, as he has always bucked the trend. In their vast Premier League preview, BT Sport's pundits turned their attention at one point to Nicolas Anelka. Did he still have the fire in the belly, Michael Owen wondered? Soon Steve McManaman was also wondering about the fire in Anelka's belly, which implied there was once a time when this fire had roared.
It was disappointing that in this the most exciting season yet, so many fell back on a series of exhausted metaphors to talk about a great man like Anelka. Especially as they couldn't be less appropriate.
Steve Clarke, his new manager, insisted that Anelka still had "the hunger" to score goals.
Anelka is not returning to England to demonstrate that he still has the hunger. His career has been built, quite gloriously, on an absence of what is crudely known as hunger. He has, instead, demonstrated the need for solitude and an aloof detachment. "He was never one of the lads," Owen recalled, admiringly.
Anelka might have missed a penalty in Moscow in 2008 but he stayed above the fray. "That is out of the question," he said when asked to take one of the first five penalties.
He has always been unknowable, helped by his reluctance to stay anywhere for any length of time.
It would be a great disappointment if he was to arrive at the Hawthorns and start gesticulating wildly at the crowd when West Brom won a corner. Indeed any display of what is routinely praised as passion would not just be disappointing to witness in Anelka, it would probably be counter-productive.
There is no image in the mind's eye of Anelka making a furious windmill gesture to get the fans going while demonstrating his own commitment and he is all the better for it.
He has returned to England from across the narrow sea after a short spell at Juventus, a short spell at Shanghai Shenhua and, of course, a short spell nearly everywhere he has played.
When they say there are no characters left in the game, they should be reminded of Anelka. He has made ironic detachment effective and spectacularly funny. Things didn't work out for him in China, certainly not in the accepted sense. He was accused by one fan of shunning the traditional bow to supporters after a game and Anelka again revealed his profound commitment to his own values.
"You are the captain and you should be responsible for this. If you don't respect us, we don't respect you," the angry fan told him.
"I don't care," Anelka reportedly replied. He was, according to When Saturday Comes, late for pre-season in China as he was angered at a "lack of preferential treatment" from the club.
So those who try and spot the old hunger in his eyes will be looking for a long time or, perhaps, will be able to declare that Nicolas Anelka is as hungry as he ever was.
There is no room in this magnificently ambivalent personality for hackneyed talk of passion and fire in the belly.
He is a fine embodiment of the idea that it is sometimes better to care too little rather than care too much.
John Giles wrote about Jimmy Greaves in those terms in The Great & the Good, suggesting that Greaves, who was said to enjoy a game of tennis, often played football as if he loved tennis more than football.
"He didn't seem to care if he missed a chance. And I don't mean that he could fool himself into thinking it didn't matter. It was as if he really didn't give a damn. He'd say, 'Ah fack it', and just get on with it, knowing that he probably wouldn't miss the next chance. Or the one after that."
Presumably there were some who questioned Greaves' hunger but they weren't wondering about the fire in his belly when he scored 220 goals for Tottenham Hotspur in 321 appearances.
Anelka is no Greaves but he has been spotted enjoying tennis and he, too, had a critical detachment that was essential to his gifts and essential to some other traits too.
It was said of Greaves that the game began to matter more to him as he reached the end. Perhaps this explains some of Anelka's recent career moves, although he has been making inexplicable decisions throughout his career. Perhaps he felt this need to give something back when he had a short spell as manager of Shanghai Shenhua during his short spell at the club.
This was not a success, which is no surprise as he could be said to have gone against his instincts. He should obey them again at the Hawthorns. He must ignore the critics when they tell him to roll his sleeves up or if they ask if he is showing enough hunger. Any explicit and unnecessary act of passion is simply out of the question.
http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/sometimes-its-better-to-care-too-little-than-care-too-much-29507766.html