Wrong man, wrong team, wrong time
You know you’ve completely screwed up somewhere in your life when, after five and a half years, someone offers you another job in the same field, and a newspaper six time zones away covers it. That’s the predicament that Claude (brother of Nicolas) Anelka finds himself in after being announced as the first head coach of the new St. Louis NASL franchise. It seems that people in Kirkcaldy, Scotland have long memories as to what he did to screw over their club back in 2004. Considering the evidence, it would be hard to forget.
Back in 2004, Claude Anelka, who has also served as his brother’s agent from time to time, offered a number of clubs £300,000 for the opportunity to take over as the club’s manager. Raith Rovers were the club stupid enough to say yes to the offer. During his five month stay (some of which was the offseason) Anelka pulled in all of one point for the club. His 0-1-7 record and subsequent outcry from the fans led him to resign his position, but the damage had been done. Raith relegated that year with just 16 points in 36 games.
Why did he put up the money in the first place? Well, Anelka had convinced himself that most managers were nincompoops and that he had better ideas than all of them combined. While that certainly may have been true if he was watching Ebbe Skovdahl-helmed Aberdeen teams, the fact is that Anelka’s ideas of both how to coach and the level of play in Scotland second tier.
Anelka turned to the streets of Paris for players. According to the linked article, Anelka’s main venue for recruiting were French midnight leagues. It was either there or, if the Raith Rovers wikipedia article is to be believed, a bunch of players from lower French leagues. Either way, it did not work and Anelka left with a teary goodbye in October of 2004.
So, how did he get the job at St. Louis? Well, as far as we know he didn’t offer money this time around, though his famous name probably helped put. After Raith, Anelka retreated to France and started coaching at FC Trappes where his brother came through the ranks. At some point, the elder Anelka moved to America and settled. Presumably, he applied for the job, showed his CV with managerial experience on it and blagged his way from there.
The best thing that can be said from here is that a) he’s enthusiastic about the job, and b) he has an experienced assistant coach behind him. Anelka claims he likes the American brand of the game because our country’s fitness level is so high. Presumably, he hasn’t been on a brewery tour with real Americans yet. That assistant is Francisco Filho who has worked for both the French youth academy and Manchester United in his career.
Hopefully, in the end, it works out for Anelka. Lord knows the spotlight will be on him in a new league’s first season. Especially when you consider the news that at least one MLS player is tweeting about a lockout now. Without trying, Anelka could become a de facto top-flight manager without ever having won a game.
There was a good article about Anelka’s time at Raith in Four Four Two back in August I think. I feel bad for St. Louis, they clearly didn’t read that article or his CV for that matter.