Forgettable Blues figure in running to land top European club position
HIS time at Fratton Park’s failed to stick in the memory of many Pompey fans.
And those can recall the cigarette-puffing Gallic figure around the Blues’ Eastleigh training base, would choose not to remember much of his period of involvement at PO4.
Yet, Christophe Galtier is now one of the highly-regarded managers in world football - and is being strongly touted to be named as the new Paris St Germain boss.
Galtier spent time at Fratton Park as assistant manager to Alain Perrin, during the Frenchman’s troubled seven-and-a-half months at the helm in 2005.
Of course, the 4-1 Demolition Derby win over Southampton came on the pair’s watch, but that never-to-beforgotten April afternoon proved to be one of just four successes from their 21 games at the club.
Perrin and Galtier worked together at Marseille, Aris, Bastia and in the United Arab Emirates, before their stint with the Blues.
They then returned to France with Sochaux and then delivered title success with Lyon, before moving to St Etienne in 2008
It was when Galtier succeeded Perrin as St Etienne boss in 2009 that his stock began to rise, as he first guided them to top-flight safety before securing European football and a French cup win for Les Verts.
A move to Lille followed in 2017 where initial survival was followed by a secondplaced finish in 2019, bringing Champions League football to Stade Pierre Mauroy.
Galtier went one better last term, as he pipped PSG to the title despite the Parisian’s riches.
A move to Nice ensued, who finished fifth this season, and with his status as one of France’s top coaches firmly established, it’s Galtier who’s being tipped to succeed Mauricio Pochettino along with Zinedine Zidane.
Pochettino is set to exit Parc de Prince after 18 months despite winning the French title.
No doubt, Nice director of football Julien Fournier is concerned.
He said: ‘He (Galtier) is under contract, that’s the reality. So he’s more likely to be at Nice than not to be. It’s very basic but it’s very true. If Paris-Saint-Germain comes in for him it’s a decision that I obviously won’t take alone.’