Paris Saint Germain coach Christophe Galtier is under massive fire as his former colleague reveals racist and Islamophobic remarks toward players.
Before PSG Galtier managed the Ligue 1 club Nice which is owned by the INEOS group. At the end of his one-year tenure, the Frenchman was replaced by Lucien Favre. Not much was revealed by Nice on why Christophe Galtier was let go.
Now we might have a perfect idea and something that can later shape Christophe Galtier’s managerial career.
Football journalists Romain Molina and Daniel Riolo presented the story on 11 April that showcased an email that was sent by Julien Fournier (OGC Nice director of football) to INEOS director Dave Brailsford.
The email included career-ending allegations against the PSG manager Christophe Galtier. Julien Fournier shared the conversation he had with Christophe Galtier and his son/agent John Valovic-Galtier in which the PSG manager argued about having so many black and Muslim players in the Nice squad.
Romain Molina disclosed Julien Fournier spoke about a meeting he had with Christophe Galtier and his son.
Quoting Fournier: “I asked him (Galtier’s son) to explain to me in what he was saying to understand it better and he told me ‘you have built a team of scum’.
Fournier added: “I asked him to be more precise.”
To which Galtier’s son claimed: ‘There are only blacks and half of your team is in the mosque on Friday afternoons’.
“I told Mr. John Valovic-Galtier that I was outraged by his comments and asked him to leave my office immediately.”
In another part of the email Julien Fournier had this to say about Christophe Galtier:
“He (Christophe Galtier) told me that I had to take into account the ‘reality of the city’ and that we couldn’t have so many blacks and Muslims in the team.
“He said to me ‘Last night, I went to the restaurant and everyone came down on me to say that we have a team of blacks’. He added ‘Julien, you must realise what city we are in; we’re in the city of Jacques Medecin. Our team does not reflect to what people want, just as it does not reflect myself’.”
Galtier employers PSG is owned by the Qataris aka Nasser al-Khelaifi who are themselves part of the Muslim community. It would be interesting to see how Christophe Galtier’s current boss reacts to the allegations.