Christophe Galtier regrets his controversial remarks on PSG plane travel

Published on: 07/09/2022 – 04:34 Paris Saint Germain coach Christophe Galtier, who has proposed that his team make their next trips by “land yacht” rather than by plane, has made his mea culpa , tuesday. He believes that his irony was in “bad taste”. The controversial remarks of the Paris-Saint-Germain coach went wrong. The day before, at a press conference, he had proposed that his team make their next trips by “sand yacht”, rather than by plane as they did this weekend to get to Nantes. Christophe Galtier made his mea-culpa, Tuesday, September 6. “Believe me that I am concerned about the problems of climate, of our planet, I know the responsibility that we have (…) We are not above ground, we are very lucid, simply, it is a joke that comes at the wrong time, which is in bad taste, and I regret it”, pleaded the technician at the microphone of Canal +.>> To read also on France 24: The Champions League, the real test of Christophe GaltierHowever, he defended the practices of his club. “I have players who are very careful about the climate, I have serious players, we have a club that is careful. is aware of the climate issues,” he said. The club plans to do it again “when possible”, for Troyes, Reims, Auxerre and Lens. Aware of having committed his first communication blunder since his appointment this summer, Christophe Galtier nevertheless said he learned from it: “I believe that in France, it is no longer possible to be humorous… Even if my joke was not great and I knew it quickly when I got home.” A “red card climate “The remarks provoked outraged reactions from many political leaders, including Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne. They castigated the casualness of the coach on a subject, climate change, which had become ultra-sensitive after a summer of 2022 marked by three heat waves and repeated fires. The NGOs were also appalled. In the evening, just before the Champions League match won 2 to 1 against Juventus with a double from Mbappé, Greenpeace deployed near the Parc des Princes a sand yacht and banners to award a “climate red card” at the club. Frequent use of the train for English clubsAccording to a study by the Professional Football League (LFP), of all Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 matches in the 2019-2020 season, 65% of team journeys took were made by plane, 31% by bus and 4% by train. In the main foreign leagues, in Italy, Spain and Germany, the use of the train is not uncommon. In England, with seven clubs in London – more than a third of the championship – the journeys are shorter and even the clubs of Manchester or Liverpool do not hesitate to charter trains to go to the capital. In October 2021, however, Manchester United were frazzled for flying to Leicester, 160 km by road, a ten-minute flight. With AFP