The sporting director of Nice wants to save the coach at PSG. What is it like?

PSG sponsors fun in French football. Short:

1. One of the main contenders to replace Mauricio Pochettino is coach Christophe Galtier, who worked only at Saint-Etienne, Lille (won Ligue 1) and Nice;
2. The sporting director of Nice wants to get rid of this coach;
3. The new sports head of PSG quotes Galtier above Zidane. 

Let’s take a closer look.

Why does the sports director of Nice dislike his coach so much? 

On Thursday, Nice sporting director Julien Fournier suddenly advised PSG to reach an agreement with Galtier quickly if the club wanted him.

“He will probably still stay at Nice – the reality is that he has a valid contract. But PSG’s actions confuse me… When clubs of this caliber come after your players or coach, it’s hard to say no. We need to build a team for the new season, and PSG complicates the task. If the PSG bosses want Galtier, they should not hesitate.” 

That’s not all. Fournier took a hard look at Galtier’s coaching qualities: “Our team could have done better this season. Strongly lacked dynamics in the attack, courage. Galtier was extremely successful at Lille, but – as sometimes happens with players – he did not perform so well in the new place.  We finished ninth in goals. I think many of the top 8 would like to have an attack like ours. Individually, the players have great talent. But there is no team game.”  The story seems even more dramatic when you consider another fact: Fournier will almost certainly leave Nice if Christophe Galtier stays in charge until September 1, 2022. It is up to this date that the current contract of the sports director is calculated. It just won’t be extended. And Galtier will leave only with a good offer from a new club. Relationships are extremely toxic. The main reason is that the coach is unhappy with the winter transfer campaign. They took winger-runner Bilal Braimi (Angers, 7 million euros) and broken edge Jordan Amavi (Marseille, loan). Galtier’s position: “The team is doing great, but we still have too many broken parts. We are fighting for a ticket to the Champions League, while being strengthened by a player from the Angers bench.  Fournier’s answer: “Galtier makes excuses and runs away from reality. Ironically, it was Braimi who scored the third goal in the last match of the season against Reims. Reasonable question: Why doesn’t Fournier just fire Galtier? He can not. At Nice, the sporting director is responsible for recruiting players – looking for new players and selling existing ones. The coach is responsible for the game and the results. Hierarchically they are neighbors. Then another question: why are Fournier and Galtier still working together? No choice. Fournier himself advised management to invite Galtier in the summer of 2021. And it’s not easy to remove the sports director: he has a decent reputation and 12 years in the club. We decided to wait until the end of the contract.  

Galtier himself is philosophical about the conflict: “It’s like a family marriage – fortunately, we do not get divorced after every quarrel.”