LAST PIECE OF THE PUZZLE
BAXTER: SUPERSPORT COACH NEEDS TKO TITLE TO COMPLETE THE FULL SET
Cape Town City pose major threat under Tinkler in final, warns Matsatsantsa mentor.
Stuart Baxter was in a jovial mood yesterday when asked if it had crossed his mind that he will complete a “full set” of South African domestic trophies if SuperSport United win the Telkom Knockout against Cape Town City on Saturday evening.
“Do they give sets out like that for the mantlepiece, little miniatures?” joked Baxter on a humid day at Matsatsantsa training.
Yet it will be no small achievement if Baxter does manage to do what only Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane has done before him. The Scotsman arrived to coach Kaizer Chiefs in 2012 to plenty of raised eyebrows, following his limited success at the helm of Bafana Bafana.
Baxter, however, has earned a reputation since as a trophy magnet, lifting two league titles, a Nedbank Cup and an MTN8 in three seasons at Amakhosi and following that with the 2016 Nedbank Cup in May after just a few months at the helm of SuperSport.
“Definitely,” said Baxter more seriously, on whether thoughts of a clean sweep have entered his thoughts.
“As a professional you want to win every tournament you enter. When I was with AIK (in Sweden) and we entered the Champions League, you tell the players they are not here to make up the numbers even though you know you really are! You have to have ambitions to win everything, this is a final, we are one game away and it would be very nice.”
Baxter has one more hurdle in the form of Eric Tinkler’s City, and the SuperSport coach says he is not shocked at the success City have had this season. Tinkler’s side were only formed a few months ago, but also lead SuperSport by three points at the top of the Absa Premiership.
“City are a very difficult opponent, probably the team in the country that are surprising everyone, but I am not that surprised. This is a team that finished fourth in the league last season (John Comitis bought the MP Black Aces franchise, with many of their players), they have a new coach who has organised them very well and they are kicking on, it is a logical position, we shouldn’t think they are temporarily where they are,” he said.
“I think Eric is one of the young coaches in the country with a bright future.
“He did a good job with Pirates and I think whenever you talk to him about the game, he knows what he is talking about. He has come to an open book with City, it is like a new start for him. They have found each other very nicely.”