The PSG coach accused of being racist: the email that caused a scandal in France and his controversial past at Nice

At least for a few days, the stars of Paris Saint-Germain free yourself from the criticisms that are heard in chorus from the elimination of the Champions League just over a month ago. And it won’t be for an improvement in his sporting performance, but for a much less edifying reason: in these hours the target of all the reproaches is the coach himself, Christopher Galtierdue to the spread of an alleged conversation in which he allegedly exposed himself in the flesh his racism and his Islamophobia.

Questions to the DT multiplied after the disclosure Tuesday on Radio Monte-Carlo (RMC) of an email that on August 9, 2021 Julien Fournier, who was the sporting director of Nice (a club that Galtier managed at the time), reportedly sent Dave Brailsford, director of sport to Ineos, the petrochemical group that has owned the southern club since 2019 from France.

In that email, Fournier reconstructed a conversation he would have had with Galtier on the formation of the Nice squad for the season that has just begun. “He told me he had to take into account the reality of the city and that we couldn’t have so many blacks and Muslims in the team. There were no sporting discussions, only religious or related to the color of the players’ skin”read in that message attributed to the sporting director.

“Tell me: “I went to a restaurant last night and everyone jumped on me to tell me we had a black team”. And he added: “Julien, you have to realize what city we are in, we are in the city of (the former far-right mayor) Jacques Médecin and our team does not correspond to what people want or to me.” he continued the email, the content of which has not been denied by its alleged author, who parted ways with Nice last year after more than a decade working at the club.

“I’m in Brazil, far from this controversy in which I find myself involved in spite of myself. In no case am I behind the dissemination of this inside information,” Founier said when asked by the AFP news agency. “The timing of these revelations disgusts me as much as their content”He added. The doubt remained whether the disgust was linked to the concepts attributed to the PSG coach or to the falsehood of that email.

His differences with Galtier are not new and Founier himself made them public in September of last year, when the DT was already at work in Paris. “If I explain the reasons why we fought, and this is the real word, Galtier would never set foot in a dressing room again, either in France or in Europe. They are much more serious things than football, but I won’t say them.”, he had warned in an interview with RMC. That serious stuff might come to light now.

The year they lived together in Nice was “chaotic,” as Fournier described it, largely due to policy differences in the policy of recruiting reinforcements. But, as revealed by the newspaper L’Equipe, the differences were not limited to this, but there were also cultural counterpoints.

During the celebration of Ramadan, in April 2022, the coach allegedly put pressure on the Muslim players in the squad to break the fast on match days, a behavior that would have annoyed both the players and the sporting director. At the time, Galtier denied that he forced his men on him: “These rumors are very difficult to accept. I know what I can discuss with players about fasting when this time comes. I have exchanged with them, but I have never imposed anything”. The diffusion in these hours of the alleged email from Fournier has also revived that debate.

The considerations attributed to Galtier have aroused criticism and amazement in almost identical proportions and in conformity with the public dimension of the character, even if they should not come as a surprise in a country where migrants are viewed with fear, suspicion, distrust or contempt by many French, and in the fact that these subtle forms of discrimination sometimes explode and turn into verbal and physical attacks, some of them extreme, like the one that last December saw the protagonist William Malet, a 69-year-old man who shot three Kurdish citizens in Paris and who in later recognized the feeling a “pathological hatred for foreigners”.

In the first round of the last presidential elections, in April 2022, 10.6 million voters opted for far-right forces: 8.1 million voters supported the National Gathering, whose candidate was Marine Le Pen, and 2 .5 million lined up for Reconquista, the space promoted by journalist Éric Zemmour. Platforms from both sides were critical to the frontal rejection of migrantswith proposals such as limiting the right to family reunification, the principle of national priority in areas such as housing and work, and even a ban on the use of the veil.

In this context, a 56-year-old white Frenchman like Galtier is not unlikely to hold discriminatory positions. However, the technician denied “with the utmost firmness the insulting and defamatory statements” which were attributed to him, according to his lawyer, Olivier Martin. The lawyer announced that “given the seriousness of the allegations”, the Dt will initiate “the necessary legal actions”.

Shortly after Galtier’s alleged statements were filmed and before they could be verified, the technician began to be “subject to intolerable threats and harassment,” according to his lawyer, after his phone number was leaked on social media. . The intimidating messages (some were death threats) had already exceeded 5,000 on Thursday. Due to this, the DT and his family have been in custody of PSG since Tuesday.

At the same time, the management of the club in the French capital, which for the moment maintains a closed public silence on the subject, has launched an internal investigation to determine the authenticity or otherwise of the statements attributed to its coach, who has a contract until half of 2024. , but whose fate seems sealed much more for disappointing sporting results than for its ideological orientation.

While the PSG management is silent and investigates, its fans feel the position. The Collectif Ultras Paris (CUF), the most important organized group, published a statement on Wednesday in which it clarified that it was “closely following the Galtier case”. “If the facts attributed to him are verified, it is unacceptable that this person continues in the club’s organization chart. We want to remember that we have always been against any kind of discrimination and this fight is a historic cause for our forum”, reads the text, accompanied by a photo of its members holding up a banner with the inscription “CUP: cosmopolitan and proud ”.

Some footballers he has worked with have come to Galtier’s rescue. “I have never perceived negative behavior because of my religion or nationality. He is a great coach and a great person,” the Turk said. Burak Yilmaz, which he coached at Lille in the 2020/21 season. “In three years of working with him he has always been close to his players and, above all, very respectful. I have only good things to say about this man” said the Portuguese Jose Fonte, Yilmaz’s teammate at Lille. “He is an extraordinary human being. I did Ramadan when I was under his command and he gave us a choice, he respected it,” another Turk said, Mevlut Erdincwho shared a dressing room with the DT in Saint-Etienne between 2013 and 2015.

The club directly involved has chosen to stay out of the discussion. “The facts reported concern two people who no longer work for Nice. This situation was treated in the most serious way at the time of the events. The club will not comment further” its leadership said in a short statement released on Wednesday, on the eve of one of the most important matches in the history of the institute: the first leg of the quarter-finals of the Conference League against Basel in Switzerland (draw 2-2).

Only one step ahead was the current coach of Nice, Didier Digard, who was a reserve coach when Galtier was in charge of the main team. “Today we were in the news in spite of ourselves. The club has released a statement, we will not add anything. If everyone wants to comment, they will, but not today. There are two versions that clash. The truth will emerge anyway”, he predicted at the press conference before the match against Basel.

What truth could emerge? According to the Nice-Matin newspaper, during their cohabitation Galtier made “violent comments” about Digard’s beard and religious beliefs, who is Muslim. As reported by the outlet, the technician of the Reserve today he was about to hit the PSG coach and even considered resigning, but Fournier talked him out of it.

The Prosecutor of Nice will investigate the case

The Public Prosecutor’s Office of the French city of Nice confirmed this Friday the opening of a “preliminary investigation” into the alleged racist comments made by Christophe Galtier, current coach of Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), during his stay at Nice (in the 2021 season -2022).

“I can confirm the existence of a preliminary investigation launched yesterday, April 13, by the Judicial Police of Nice on grounds of discrimination based on race or religion. Searches are underway in the premises of the OGC (Olympique Gymnaste Club) Nice”, communicated Xavier Bonhomme, lawyer of that French city, through his Twitter account.

Galtier’s word

The coach of Paris Saint-Germain, Christopher Galtierhe was confident this Friday that French justice will clear his name of the racism allegations that have arisen this week.

“I am deeply shocked by the statements attributed to me and which have been irresponsibly disclosed”Galtier said in his first public statements since the allegations surfaced two days ago.

The French coach assured this in the press conference before tomorrow’s championship match against Lens is “happy” for the opening of an investigation by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Nice (south), for which he asked to “make justice work”.

Instead, a PSG spokesman said at a press conference “the club supports Christophe Galtier” and does not condone any kind of “intolerance on or off the pitch”