In an excerpt from the autobiography Anelka goes into detail about his formative years recounting his happy memories at his childhood home in Versailles; the palace.
His great great great grandmother was the controversial wet-nurse for Louis XVI's first born child and she found great favour with both royal highnesses and their offspring who regularly called her 'ol' booty'. Such was the uniqueness and success of the royal house being run by a member of the 'distant shores' that Louis proclaimed (after a visit to the Tower of London Versailles
This historical dynasty ensured the family's safety throughout the troublesome revolutionary period, Anelka's great grandparents continued their work as the palace turned from royal household to the state parliament and found favour amongst the chambers members. Anelkas grandmother was even said to have been the esteemed concubine of Georges Clemenceau and can be seen in the shadows of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.
Despite this historical foundation and mysticism surrounding the Anelka's at the palace, Nikolas, as many of his clubs have found out, isn't really too bothered by history, tradition or loyalty. In his autobiography he mentions how he was not interested in 'friends' at the palace and every birthday he would walk around the city to take back any party invitations that his parents sent out on his behalf.
This continued into every aspect of life; his first football team consisted of him alone where he would play his teddy bears all summer long; similarly he refused to sit in the same room as anyone in school and when asked what the problem was he merely responded 'It's not me. It's everyone else'. Subsequently any school year photos are Anelka portraits except for his year 7 photo, where a cheeky class mate managed to get a two finger bunny behind young Nikolas' head. Needless to say he was not amused and left the school the very next day.
Anelka however did not see a problem with this, in fact he has great memories of his childhood, 'running rings around cuddles' and 'blasting the ball so hard I knocked the rocking horses head clean off'. In fact it was after a slanging match with his favourite bear Napoleon that he decided to follow the footballing dream. Anelka remembers clearly that, 'a bear arrived on the doorstep, it was dressed as some bloke called Napoleon, who I gather was some sort of bloke who finished second. It was pretty expensive and under the tunic was a red shirt with a cannon on it. One night I was sitting in my room when it opened its eyes and spoke to me' Anelka said very seriously. He continued 'Napoleon said 'Hi Nicky, nice pj's. I saw you playing football. You have lovely long legs and great ability. You should play professionally', Anelka replied 'wouldn't I have to play with other people? Sounds awful' to which Napoleon said 'You would, but it is fun. I can teach you. It's easy. Soon, someone will come for you. Will you say yes?' Anelka said 'How much cash will I get' at which Napoleon coughed and started to sweat a bit, 'all the chocolate gold coins in the world?' Anelka threw the bear against the wall and Napoleon responded with '£25,000 a week'.
A week after this incident Arsene Wenger showed up at the Palace and offered Anelka's parents the same deal, coincidence Nicky thought. His parents were taken aback, how did this man know about their son let alone his footballing skills, to which le professeur responded, 'I have ways'.
Whilst grateful, his parents believing the mysticism and wanting to keep the family history at the palace thanked Wenger kindly but said they couldn't allow the palace to crumble. At this, little Nicky stood up, back handed his mother across the face and bit his father’s reproductive glands and followed Wenger out of the door. This was the last time Anelka saw or spoke to his family. When asked if he misses them or regrets anything about the incident he responded, 'What did they ever do for me? Pocket money was laughable and they tried to make me share my toys. It wasn't my fault'.
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