Can Paris Saint-Germain's Manager Survive Accusations of Racism?
Christophe Galtier's seat was already hot, but the latest news may keep him from managing another club ever again.
This season, we’ve seen Paris Saint-Germain’s president accused of kidnapping and torture, its right-back accused of rape, and now the manager is under fire for alleged racist comments he made while at OGC Nice.
Let’s start with what we know currently before we get into what I think PSG should and will do eventually.
On Tuesday, journalist Romain Molina, RMC, and several other outlets reported the contents of a leaked alleged email from Nice’s former director of football, Julien Fournier, to Dave Brailsford, the sporting director of Nice’s owners INEOS.
In that email, Fournier relayed Galtier’s alleged offensive comments that he made in a meeting in 2021 to Brailsford. You can read the full email at Get French Football News, but the inflammatory language boils down to Galtier allegedly saying that Fournier had to “take into account the reality of the city” and that “we couldn’t have so many blacks and Muslims in the team.”
Since the news broke, Galtier has denied the allegations through his lawyer and is seeking legal action due to the defamatory nature of the email. PSG has had to take action to protect Galtier and his family after the manager received thousands of phone calls and death threats.
Today, Nice released a statement on the situation but chose to stay neutral:
“The events concern two individuals who no longer work for Nice. This situation was treated with the utmost seriousness at the time of the events. The club will make no further comment.”
PSG’s Ultras have also chimed in with their thoughts that they will not stand for Galtier as manager if the allegations are proven true.
What’s next for Galtier?
We don’t know if what is in the email is factual, but we do know via a L’Equipe report (via GFFN) that there was tension between Galtier, Fournier, and Muslim players who were fasting during Ramadan. In an interview with RMC (via GFFN), Fournier stated that his relationship with Galtier was chaotic and that if he explained why, Galtier wouldn’t be able to enter any dressing room in France or in Europe.
What’s that saying? Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Even without confirming the validity of the email, I think there is enough here for PSG to dismiss Galtier for cause and likely not have to pay out the remainder of his contract.
Before this story broke, I was in the camp of keeping Galtier despite the lackluster results and performances on the pitch. I felt as though if Luis Campos, PSG’s sporting director, could bring in the right players, Galtier could turn things around next season. It would also reverse the trend of PSG firing managers after one season, which isn’t good for any club.
However, my thoughts have completely changed. PSG must fire Galtier, and I think it has to be done before the match against RC Lens on Saturday at the Parc des Princes. It’s a massive distraction for the players and the supporters. If Galtier isn’t sacked, and the email is proven to be true, PSG would have allowed a manager who said those awful things to manage its players, and that just can’t happen. Players are far more important than managers; in this case, PSG has to side with its players.
For the rest of the season, I would name Zoumana Camara as manager and see how the team reacts to his style. Who knows, much like many of PSG’s players, the manager the club has been looking for all these years might be already sitting on its bench.