Julien Fournier gave himself up to 90 football, a speech that was made before the Galtier affair, but which allows us to better understand the character.
Involved in the Christophe Galtier affair, Julien Fournier confided on Monday April 17 in a video interview for the media 90 football. Former manager of Nice or even president of Strasbourg, the man has now been without a club since leaving Parma for personal reasons at the end of 2022. For the past few days, Julien Fournier has been back in the news, in full heart of the Galtier affair since he is the famous whistleblower, author of an email to Ineos, accusing Christophe Galtier of having made discriminatory remarks. To recontextualize, Julien Fournier had decided to bring in Christophe Galtier at the time at the head of OGC Nice. If he says he hoped for the Dutchman Erik Ten Haag (Manchester United coach), it is the now PSG coach that the Nice leader signed at the time.
In his interview, conducted before the affair broke out, he reveals part of his method and concedes that his character can be disturbing at first glance. “It’s not always easy to work with me because I can have my personality. But it’s easy in the sense that the coach is the boss of the team and I support him, says Julien Fournier I am difficult, very invested in the choice of the coach, but when we have chosen him, it is carte blanche on the field. That’s why I work a lot upstream with them because I consider that, normally, if the project has been well explained and shared, there are no more surprises.”
Julien Fournier is now subject to a complaint from Christophe Galtier for defamation and “risk caused to others”. On Friday April 14, the public prosecutor of Nice confirmed the opening of a preliminary investigation for racial and religious discrimination. For some people, the character has unrespectable methods, it is in any case the opinion of Eric Roy, former of the house of Nice and current coach of Brest. “I worked with the other one, the whistleblower…I know his methods which are not correct. He’s not a very interesting character to know.”
To go even further in his personality, Le Parisien delivered a small portrait of Julien Fournier on April 14. If the media quotes L’Equipe, taking up comments by Christophe Galtier describing Julien Fournier as “a friend”, we also learn that he learned his skills at OM under José Anigo and Pape Diouf when he was secretary general of OM in 2004. I saw him start at the training center, he was already well armed and knew where he was going,” explains José Anigo. We worked together at the training center, then I made me go up to the pros when I myself switched. All three with Pape, it matched well, we were close (…) “He’s not a football technician, but he was very good in his field, he was tough and never let go when he found himself face to face with an agent. But I know a nice, open, funny Julien.”
