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
Smiling, talkative, fond of anecdotes, Christophe Galtier is a good customer.
It is difficult to find detractors.
“Everything that happens to him today in Lille is deserved”.
Here is the expression used by all our interlocutors.
But how does the one who was twice voted best coach by his peers - in 2013 with Carlo Ancelotti, then solo in 2019 - does he win the battle of the heart?
“You have to know that Galtier is what I call
a man
. That is to say someone who loves people, who speaks it face to face and who is sincere. Its strength, I saw it fairly quickly, is to be a sponge, to capture everything and remember everything, ”replied Bernard Caïazzo, co-president of AS Saint-Etienne.
During their seven and a half seasons of collaboration (2009-2017) in the Forez, there were certainly some lows.
Especially at the end, when the team seemed to be at the end of their rope and run out of ideas.
But how can we not retain all these peaks of emotions after arid decades?
The victory in the 100th derby against OL at Gerland in 2010 (0-1) which sealed its popularity with supporters, its four consecutive qualifiers for the Europa League, and of course, this Coupe de la Ligue in 2013 won against Rennes, the first trophy for the Greens since the last league title in 1981.
"He didn't let anyone ruminate away"
“He trusted no matter what age or status,” recalls former full-back Jonathan Brison, for four years under his control.
And above all, he didn't let anyone ruminate away.
I remember one day when he knocked on my door two hours away from a game at the Parc.
It was planned that I play.
And finally, he warns me that no and says to me
I understand that you can go crazy ...
"
Jean-Pascal Mignot lived an even more uncomfortable situation under the orders of Galtier.
Come to snatch him from the clutches of AJ Auxerre in the summer of 2011, the Stéphanois coach makes him one of the tauliers before relegating him to the bench in favor of Bayal Sall.
“I'll admit that I had a difficult time but he kept me concerned.
After training, he told me that I had to remain exemplary for young people, that it was part of the job, that I had everything to gain from it.
And that's what happened.
“Despite an almost blank season, he was part of the group in the 2013 final.
When he sought help from a mental trainer
This natural authority requires energy.
He knows how to get into the brains of his players but can sometimes have trouble cooling his own, despite the precious support, some say, from his wife Régine.
In 2016, he told our colleagues on the Team to use a mental trainer to erase his moments of spin.
Like this August 9, 2015, where he jumps on the lawn and is very threatening towards the Toulouse player Aleksandar Pesic, guilty of a dangerous tackle on his captain Loïc Perrin.
He still creaks a little today when he is sometimes referred to the defensive coach label, but the 2021 Galtier is definitely more appeased.
Among the Greens, he often regretted being in the oven and in the mill.
In Lille, he has the luxury of delegating.
To its first president Gérard Lopez but also and above all to the Portuguese Luis Campos, a golden explorer.
This season is further evidenced by the arrival without transfer compensation from Istanbul's “Kral”, Burak Yilmaz.
He almost returned to Saint-Etienne before saying yes to Losc
“In Lille, its organization and its choices are much more assertive.
At the tactical level already.
But also at the level of rotation.
Never has a player complained to the press.
There is a lot of competition but everything is regulated internally.
This gives a group under his influence, ”greets his mentor Gérard Gili.
Proof of this stranglehold, the Turkish colossus Yilmaz will, for example, present a public apology this fall a few hours after a match in Nice where he was reluctant to be replaced.
Players in tune, therefore, but also a dedicated staff.
"Beside a trainer like that, we make all the sacrifices that are necessary as he himself is in the permanent search for excellence", testifies Doctor Flamant, who treated the Losc players until June 2020.
Arrived in December 2017 on the bench of Lille, Christophe Galtier makes speak his qualities of manager and tactician in the North.
REUTERS / Benoit Tessier
The Lille adventure, Galtier has never failed to know it.
In November 2017, a month before signing in the North, “Galette” had accepted a return to the fold during a dinner at Bernard Caïazzo's place while his successor from Saint-Etienne Oscar Garcia was in a series of routs.
The choice finally fell on Julien Sablé.
England still in the back of his mind
Today, a title of champion of France is reaching out to him. However, the chances are slim that he will return to Losc next season. Very affected by the departure this winter of Lopes and Campos, and faced with the lack of clarity of the new project, he would be tempted by a new cycle. In Nice, in Lyon? Bouncing back at 54 in the Rhône seems unlikely given the mixed reception given to him by part of the Lyon staff and especially Alain Perrin in 2007-2008, but also the desires of bench sports director Juninho.
But like his tribulations as a player and assistant, no track is to be ruled out.
Foreign football is also eagerly watching him, especially since his resounding victory against AC Milan at San Siro this fall (0-3).
Italy has always pleased the Marseille coach, but England even more, he who secretly dreams of the Liverpool Reds.
At the time of the Greens, his management refused him a departure at Aston Villa.
“He's going to have ten to fifteen clubs on him this summer.
I want to become his European agent if he wants ”, laughs his brother from the“ Caillols ”Joël Cantona.
“More seriously,” he recalls, “he will become more and more ambitious and ask for means.
Because what he wants is to build ”.