Our portrait of Christophe Galtier in three episodes
"Galette", a player of duty and locker room
Galtier the deputy: the shade suits him so well
A "sponge" coach who thinks for eleven
The mission might seem thankless to a former pro.
It is in fact hand-sewn for a temperament such as that of Christophe Galtier.
The shadow, he accepted it with humility throughout his playing career.
And nothing pleases him more than living in immersion in a group.
Before becoming the number one coach at Saint-Etienne, “Galette” therefore spent a joyful decade, from 1999 to 2009, in the shoes of the valet.
“I knew that before being a team manager, I would spend time with lower category teams or as an assistant.
I did not see myself starting - like Laurent (Blanc) or Didier (Deschamps) - directly as a high level coach ”, explained the person concerned in 2014 to the newspaper L'Équipe.
Coach, he had never clearly spoken to his teammates.
Still, the virus was there very early on, and it was difficult for him to hide his symptoms.
Minot, he was already scrutinizing the training sessions of his trainers.
“That's why Gérard Gili took him directly under his leadership.
He already had the soul of an educator at 17, ”analyzes his childhood friend Joël Cantona.
The tunnel case, trauma and a tainted image
Gili hired his foal in 2002 to assist him at the Sporting Club de Bastia.
His former student is 35 years old and is coming out of a half-season at Aris Salonika in Greece where he tried to forget his traumatic end with OM.
Even today, its reputation remains tarnished by April 7, 2000 and the sad episode of the Vélodrome tunnel, during the Marseille-AS Monaco match.
That evening, the Monegasque Marcelo Gallardo was beaten up away from the cameras at half-time by Marseillais, players, staff and security guards included.
"When he went through the tunnel, stewards were beating the Argentinian," one of his friends told Le Parisien in 2001.
As he stood up, Gallardo called him a son of a ***.
And Christophe put his fist in his face.
“He is the only one sanctioned (six months suspension).
Christophe Galtier alongside Gérard Gili and José Pasqualetti in 2002 in Bastia.
AFP / Francois Anardin
This incident does not prevent Gili from demanding Corsican leaders that he join him.
He is asked to take José Pasqualetti.
He accepts… on condition of simultaneously recruiting Galtier.
“I put my contract on the line. Today, I can only congratulate myself on it.
The role of an assistant is to get the coach's message across and to charm the players.
We felt that when the sources of conflict no longer existed, it was because he had been there.
"
"Basically, he only thought about sharing with the players and training sessions"
It is these gifts of super-communicator that will also attract his other mentor, Alain Perrin. This time, the first contact is tied around a good wine. “We got to know each other by chance. When I arrived at OM in 2022, and he was in Bastia, he rented his house to me. We had dinner with our wives. I had appreciated his openness and his friendliness. "
Four months in the desert of Abu Dhabi, first at the end of 2004, to tame and introduce Galtier to golf.
Nine months to discover the Premier League on the Portsmouth side.
Then comes the return to Ligue 1, the hour of the first titles for "Galette".
A Coupe de France with Sochaux in 2007 (against OM), another with OL in 2008, and especially that year, a champion's trophy of France.
“Over time, he has deepened his knowledge of video in particular, and the arrival of IT in our profession.
He was the one who presented the video sessions to the players, and particularly worked on set pieces, ”continues Alain Perrin.
Galtier, here with Cris and Kader Keita as Alain Perrin's assistant at Olympique Lyonnais, knew how to make the link between the players and the coach.
SPORTS / FEL PRESS
What soon to become number one?
“I've been cheering him on for a year or two.
Basically, he only thought about sharing with the players and training sessions.
He especially did not want to take care of the rest, the leaders, the agents, the media […] It would have been a waste if he did not take the plunge.
"
Preferred over Luis Fernandez to coach the Greens
The opportunity finally presented itself in the winter of 2009 with the Greens. After two heavy defeats, the fate of Alain Perrin in Forez is sealed. One of the club's two bosses, Bernard Caïazzo, wants Luis Fernandez to replace him. But the other, Roland Romeyer, leans for Galtier, whose way of working he will later admit to having observed at length the way of working, much less brittle and much more conciliatory than that of Perrin with the players. Galtier would have the psychology necessary to redress the situation.
This December 15, two hours after announcing the dismissal to Perrin, Galtier appears in Romeyer's office. "How will my own dismissal go?" ", he asks. Romeyer explains his plan to him. The deputy's stupor: "I don't think I'll get there," stammers Galtier, "I've never been number one." After a long discussion on the phone with Alain Perrin, the latter explains to him that he would not experience this temporary appointment as a betrayal. Gili in Bastia, and Casoni in Marseille, had reassured him in the same way when it came time to separate. “You stay there, you keep your contract. I'm not going to take away your livelihood, "Caso" had told him.
Ten years after his debut, Galtier therefore accepted the mission and took over the team while keeping his assistant salary until the end of the season. It started with a draw (0-0) at Geoffroy-Guichard against OM. At the end of a difficult second part of the season, ASSE nevertheless maintained its position thanks to a 17th place but with eight points ahead of the relegated. A performance that maintains the confidence of its leaders. Before the start of the romance.
