Anelka should know it pays to talk

Extract from the chronicles of the life and times of a modern European footballing superstar, courtesy of his official website:

"It must have been just after noon. Training had just finished and I was on my way back from seeing the team physio because I have this little injury at the moment. Having had my shower, sorted my things out, it was time to head home.

"I come out of the dressing-room and, as usual, there are some journalists hanging around. I'm not talking. I never talk, and they know it. So, I'm on my way when I hear that someone is saying something to me. I'm not quite sure why this guy is, giving me the big hello of the aggressive kind.

"I turn away, but seeing how the guy keeps on at it, I ask myself what's up with him. Perhaps he has a problem, but I don't even know him. I ask him what's his problem and he immediately gets annoyed. `You're the guy who's always talking about respect, so the least you can do is say hello to me,' he says. The amazing thing is that this guy actually wants to teach me a lesson. "Frankly, I do as I like and if I don't talk or don't say hello to journalists or to anyone else, then that's my problem. I don't give a toss if they don't have any information about me for their newspaper. I have told you all many times, I want to live a quiet life and talk to whoever I want.

"This guy didn't understand and he came looking to get at me. I kept my cool, but I told him what I thought: `I don't know you and I don't like you, man,' I said. At that point, we start to insult one another and I ask him if he wants a belt. He keeps on ranting, telling me to go on and do it, and so I do it. Voila. I can see the headlines already.

"All of that for what? I don't go looking for hassle and I still don't know why this guy came looking for me. Every day, I come out of the dressing-room, I don't go looking for people and I clear off. Full stop. They've been writing rubbish about me for two years now. I'm not looking for hassle but people should leave me alone."

Thus wrote France and Paris Saint Germain striker Nicolas Anelka in Le Journal on his website (www.nicolasanelka.net) last Friday. His "diary" refers to his encounter that morning at the club's Camp des Loges training ground in Paris with a certain Sebastien Tarrago, a reporter with French sports daily L'Equipe. The exchange resulted in the reporter lodging a complaint with police, alleging he had been assaulted by Anelka.

Eyewitnesses said that Tarrago had approached Anelka after the training session, had tried to speak to him, and very quickly the two had become involved in a heated dispute which ended with the aforementioned "belt".

In all probability, not much more will be heard of this minor fracas. PSG president Laurent Perpere has said that he "deplores" the incident and has asked team coach Luis Fernandez for clarification, adding that he is anxious to see his club maintain good relations with the media.

And there's the rub. What is interesting about the incident is that Anelka appears rather indifferent to maintaining good relations with the media. His report of last Friday's incident is a classic of its kind, with its obvious inference that he owes nothing to journalists and that journalists are out to get him.

It may well be very true about many, if not all, journalists. It may even be true about Sebastien Tarrago.

We have just one question for Nicolas Anelka, however. If the world's media suddenly backed off on the massive promotion it affords football, by how many million pounds per year would his annual salary drop? As Italians would say, don't spit in the plate you're eating out of.