Julien Fournier reveals his latest truths on the Christophe Galtier affair

In 2023, the Galtier soap opera caused an uproar. Former coach of OGC Nice, Christophe Galtier was suspected of being at the origin of racist behavior towards several players in his squad. At the time, the affair became known after an email sent by Julien Fournier, director of football at Nice until 2022, to one of its managers, Dave Brailsford. While Christophe Galtier has since been released, this affair has tarnished the image of all those involved despite the clear decision taken by the courts around this affair.

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Now coach of Al-Duhail, the former coach of PSG and ASSE has moved on, but Julien Fournier was unable to bounce back from this story. Without a club since the end of his adventure with Nice, the former manager of OM, now aged 50, is currently in charge of the Racing Club Abidjan academy. This Friday, the former Riviera sports director spoke to our colleagues from The Team. The opportunity for him to return at length to this affair for the last time.

Julien Fournier's frank confidences on the Galtier affair

Obviously, his post-career was mentioned by the daily journalists. The opportunity for him to reveal his truth and explain that he does not really know if his inability to find a position is due to the Galtier affair or not: “I have a job where there is a lot of competition, places are expensive in clubs that may interest me. I belong to a niche, maybe I'm wrong, but I have the feeling that this is reality. You should ask the club owners! Afterwards, I have a divisive personality, that can be a hindrance. But, no, the affair is not a hindrance and abroad, even less so. The question is unwelcome. I didn't get myself into any quagmire. What if I am a whistleblower? No, at all. If that had been the case, I would have taken responsibility for it. It was never a Fournier – Galtier fight. In the spring of 2022, Dave (Brailsford) told me: “Be careful, Julien, don't open it, it's even worse than what Christophe did. » As all the people who had experienced things, like Bob Ratcliffe, had been excluded, I said: “I'm going to leave, I'll write you the thing, stop and end. » That's the story, we're not going to go into that again.»

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Necessarily relaunched on his opinion after the acquittal pronounced by the courts towards Christophe Galtier, Julien Fournier once again accused the former PSG coach by explaining that the 58-year-old coach should have really been judged for the acts committed: “I opposed him for facts that I considered very serious, doubtful, even reprehensible comments and behavior. This is not what was ruled in court. My frustration is there. I never spoke of harassment at work, of discrimination in hiring, he was judged on that. There was confusion between what I experienced and what he went to court on and had the case dismissed. I don't want a conviction, but I would have liked him to be recognized for what he did, not to divert the subject to moral harassment, for example. It's like I punch you in the face, I go to court for murder and I'm exonerated… You're going to say: “Wait, I never said that Mr. Fournier was a murderer, he m 'just punched his face.'» The message got through.