Mutiny at Blues over Anelka snub

LONDON: Chelsea players, furious at Nicolas Anelka being banned from the club Christmas party, organised their own celebrations for the departing French striker in defiance of André Villas-boas.

Anelka, who has moved to big-spending Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua after handing in a transfer request, was overlooked for the silver service lunch at the club’s Cobham training ground.

To make up for the snub, which was described by a friend of the striker as “an insult”, the rest of the Chelsea players entertained Anelka at London’s renowned Chinese restaurant, China Tang, at the Dorchester Hotel.

The blatant disregard for Villas-boas’s stance is the clearest sign yet that the young Portuguese manager is struggling to keep on top of his star names.

A Chelsea source told The Sun: “The lads thought banning Nico from the lunch was petty and spiteful. AVB has lost the dressing room and it’s become so bad several players want to get away now.”

Anelka, who has spent nearly five years at the club, is devastated at the way he has been treated, upset at the fact he was marginalised having played a key role in the double-winning campaign of 2010.

Villas-boas had already ordered the Frenchman’s locker to be emptied after the club accepted his transfer request in December.

Along with Alex, he was excluded from the dressingrooms at Cobham as soon as the club agreed to sell the pair. They were ordered to park their vehicles in the car park and had been changing in the academy facilities for training. – Daily Mail