No management future for Anelka

Published Apr. 1, 2011 4:21 p.m. ET

foxsports

Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka has ruled out ever becoming a manager - because he could not deal with the kind of player he used to be.

He told his club's official website: "It is frustrating when you are 20 years old - when you are 32, not anymore.

"Sometimes you are not happy because you want to play, but you have to understand it's part of the game and we have big players.

"You have to make everybody else happy also, and like I said, if you are 20, you don't understand this rotation.

"But if you are 32, I won't say you have nothing to prove, but you have the experience to understand.

"When you're a manager it is even more difficult than playing because you have to keep everybody happy and make choices.

"I know I won't be a manager, I don't want to do it - never!"

Before joining Chelsea, Anelka had a reputation for sulking when things were not going his way.

He demonstrated at last year's World Cup he could still throw a strop, his row with France boss Raymond Domenech seeing him handed an 18-match ban by the French Football Federation.

But he is not about to blow a fuse over Ancelotti's decision to rotate him and Fernando Torres, Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou.

"I have been playing football for 16 years now," Anelka said.

"Sometimes to rest, even to watch your team-mates from the bench, is not too bad.

"This is a big club and we have big players, so it's like this.

"We do our best on the pitch anyway and we know now, we have a different tactic with two up front.

"We are four, Drogba, Torres, Kalou and me, so we can swap and we know that, even if we have a good game, we may not play in the next game."

Rotation will play a huge part in the next month as Chelsea play at least eight matches, which will define their season.

"It is going to be tough," Anelka said.

"I don't know why they put two or three games in March and then eight in April, but the schedule is like this and we just have to do it.

"We have a lot of games but we have a lot of players and we have a strong squad, so we can rotate and it's good."