Stuart Baxter might remain a top coach in his own right but it makes no sense to see him come back as Kaizer Chiefs gaffer, explains footballer-turned-pundit Junior Khanye.
Reports last weeks gained grounds about the former manager open to the idea of a return to the DStv Premiership, particularly with his former side.
During Baxter’s time at the club, he brought relative success to Amakhosi, helping them win two league titles, the MTN8 as well as the Nedbank Cup in his three-year stint at the club.
In what has been a torrid first season for Gavin Hunt, rumors have started to swing about the club parting ways with him and Stuart Baxter is one of the names thrown around as his possible replacement.
“Look Stuart Baxter did well as the coach of Kaizer Chiefs the last time he was there and that can never be disputed. He won trophies with the club and we all saw that but for me, bringing him back wouldn’t make any sense.” Khanye explained.
“Bringing Baxter back to Chiefs would be another sign of going backwards by the club. A lot of things have happened since Baxter was the coach of Chiefs and football has changed a lot. Moreover, he is similar to their current head coach Gavin Hunt with his style of play and Hunt at the moment has been struggling, apart from doing well in Africa. Baxter is the coach who likes transition football and relies mostly on centre-backs for scoring goals.
“In fact, I would go on to as far as saying that he is one of the reasons that Chiefs have regressed the way they have done in recent seasons, because of the style of play he introduced at the club. Under him, everything at Chiefs was about speed and he signed players based on his philosophy which wasn’t the team’s way of playing and culture,” added Khanye.
“For me, coaches like Baxter, (Giovanni) Solinas and Ernst (Middendorp) were not suited for the Chiefs way of playing. As a result, the culture of Chiefs that we have grown to know over the years doesn’t seem to exist anymore. A Chiefs coach should be able to link with the club’s development coaches and work together with them continuously.
“Under the late Ted Dumitru, Chiefs won the league (twice) in a row and we were playing pretty football. Look at coach Pitso Mosimane who did very well with Sundowns and won all the trophies he won and is now doing well with Al Ahly. The Sundowns team that is dominating in the DStv Premiership today and has won three league titles for four seasons in a row is as a result of the continuity that I am talking about.
“Big clubs like Chiefs, Sundowns and Pirates should dominate in the PSL for the benefit of the national team, and I don’t think that Chiefs would be able to do that under Baxter or Hunt,” concluded the former midfielder.