PSG manager Christophe Galtier accused of racist remarks

Christophe Galtier, the French manager of PSG, has been accused by Julien Fournier, the former football director of Nice, of making racist remarks during the coach's time at the club during the 2021-22 season.

Once more, PSG delivered the drama, this time by way of their manager Galtier after accusations and emails leaked presenting issues with the coach presented by Fournier, then at Nice, stating damaging remarks about "black and Muslim" players, and those willing to respect the Muslim faith and Ramadan period seemingly made by Galtier.

The fight between Fournier and Galtier escalated on Tuesday and Wednesday after the content of an email citing racist remarks made by Galtier leaked.

A few personalities from the football world took little time to go in defense of Christophe Galtier, coach of PSG, although there is no real clarity at this point about whether or not the manager is to blame because of those remarks as they have yet to be proved to be true.

The email in question was sent at the end of last season when Galtier was still coaching at Nice and before his move to PSG, but the content leaked on Tuesday, not at the date of his hiring by Paris Saint-Germain.

According to the contents of the email, Galtier complained about having "too many black and Muslim players in the team."

PSG are not considering firing Christophe Galtier... for now at least

Last September, Julien Fournier already accused Christophe Galtier of "serious things" that happened during Galtier's spell at Nice. The former director said that if he explained what happened between him and the coach, then Galtier "would no longer step into a locker room in Europe." Fournier didn't add any more details, although he said that the issue "was not related to football."

Several months after those statements, this week an email leaked in which the "real reasons" are mentioned by Fournier and sent to Dave Brailsford, sports director of INEOS (business owner of Nice), and revealed by RMC Sport.

Fournier discusses a scene taking place on August 9, 2021, a few weeks after the arrival of Galtier on the bench of Nice.

“He arrived in my office and greeted his son who said to me: 'You can check with my father what I told you (the son and agent of Christophe Galtier had reported his father's criticisms to Fournier).' Once his agent/son left, I asked him if all of this was true. He then replied 'yes' and that I had to take into account the reality of the city and that indeed we could not have so many blacks and Muslims in the team," explained Fournier.

Fournier also shared an anecdote told by Christophe Galtier: "He said to me last night: 'I went to the restaurant and everyone fell on me saying that we have a team of blacks, then added: Julien you must realize what city we are in, we are in the city of Jacques Medecin (former mayor of Nice), and our team does not correspond to what people want, and it does not correspond to me.' There was no sporting argument but only religious or skin color arguments," added the director.

Fournier, currently spending time in Brazil, popped up on Wednesday and denied being at the origin of the email leak, stating that "the timing of these revelations revolts me as much as their content."

It has been reported that as of Wednesday night, Galtier's position in charge of PSG is not threatened by these accusations and leaks. However, PSG are still planning to review the future of the coach at the helm of the team ahead of next season when the Ligue 1 campaign is over.

PSG is nonetheless closely following the development of this breaking news. Paris Saint-Germain is not directly linked to it (the accusations against Galiter date back to his time at Nice) but the manager is obviously now an employee of the Parisian club, which indirectly impacts the organization.

A short-term firing of the 56-year-old manager is, at this moment, not on the schedule in sole connection to these accusations.

Galtier is expected to be fired at the end of the season, though, and PSG have not done so already because of the lack of available options on the manager market this late in the season, preferring a summer transition to another head coach instead.