Sylvain Wiltord is a Bad, Bad Boy

A confession: I am generally not bothered by footy stars behaving badly.

– David Trezeguet paying blackmail to avoid publication of questionable photos? I’m sympathetic.
– Nicolas Anelka’s attitude? There is so much more to the guy!
– Wayne Rooney’s prostitutes? Well, yeah, icky, but let’s not go overboard in condemning the poor kid.
– Zidane’s headbutt? I’m sorry, but… hot. And by this I have revealed too much, so… Let’s move along.

I guess my point is, I should probably be shocked and appalled by Sylvain Wiltord’s antics at Lyon, but mostly all I can muster is a big “Meh.”

What antics are those, you ask? Well, there are many. I haven’t reported on them because Inara’s done such a marvelous job on her OL blog. (Which you need to read, by the way. Because of the overlap, anybody who cares about the France NT needs to care about OL and vice versa, and Inara covers things very well and in depth. I even stole this photo from her.) But in case some of you haven’t been able to keep up, I’ll give you a quick summary, with links to Inara’s more specific posts at the bottom.

Okay, first. Olympique Lyonnais is a family-type place, made up of family guys doing family things. And Nino Wiltord is not a family guy — 33 and unmarried — and, if legend is to be believed, with quite an eye for the ladies. So let’s start there.

According to rumor, Wiltord’s transgressions include the following: For starters, he apparently hit on another player’s wife. (The blogosphere says Coupet’s. Although he apparently also has had issues with Fred, and I’m not sure why.)

What else? Well, Nino? What, exactly, happened in that hotel room before the game against Rennes this season?

We may never know, but it apparently involved several women and up to nine OL players. (Personal note: Nino, if you involved our sweet Karim in anything unsavory, I will kill you myself. Bare-handed. Otherwise… Well, bad judgment. Don’t let it happen again. And if you just have to, at least do it AFTER the game, because before is just stupid.) Wiltord was the apparent ringleader, but he said he wasn’t in it alone, and at one point was threatening to out his fellow players. (Who are all, I’m quite certain, choirboys who would never, ever get into anything untoward on their own.)

So at this point, the OL management (family guys all) are getting a little upset with M. Wiltord. To the point where they’re saying it’s time for him to move along. So the transfer rumors start to hum, and then… Uh-oh. A traffic arrest. Speeding. And this is apparently just the most recent of several.

And then he apparently ignored the summons, leading to him being very publicly arrested at practice and taken into the station.

Bad boy, Nino! Bad! Bad!

So what’s next? Well, he has been at practice this week, but everybody’s kind of desperate for Nino to move along. (I read a PSG rumor, the apparent assumption being that Wiltord would do better in a more…cosmopolitan environment.) But nothing’s happened yet, despite Aulas’ somewhat arbitrary transfer deadline on June 30. But there’s a rumor going around that if a suitable transfer can’t be arranged, our Sylvain might well be Dhorasoo’ed — sacked by OL (which, as we discussed with Vikash Dhorasoo, is practically unheard of because OL then gets no transfer compensation if another team picks him up.)

So what’s next for Nino? Your guess is as good as mine, but I’m thinking he’ll probably never wear an OL jersey again.

Wiltord Threatens to Expose Teammates in Sex Scandal!

The Nino Chronicles, Part Deux

Sylvain Wiltord Arrested!!!