Another Baxter era is finally about to dawn

Anew chapter is being written for Bafana Bafana with the appointment of Stuart Baxter finally confirmed. It is with glee that I anticipate Monday’s media conference where Baxter will speak to us for the first time since he was announced as new man in charge of our beloved Bafana.

I must say that of the names that were bandied about as Safa seemed to be struggling to find a coach, Baxter is the better option. the Scot has been in this country for over four years now – never mind the short period he spent in Turkey – and understands the culture and varying backgrounds our players come from.

Just this week I saw something that made me like him even more. SuperSport United defender Morgan Gould posted a video with the team singing after their massive win over Cape Town City on Tuesday. Thuso Phala was leading a song in IsiZulu and I saw Baxter proudly singing along although he may have just been mumbling the words. The fact that he joined in showed a man who has a good relationship with his players.

I know different scenarios have been out there regarding his philosophy, with some questioning a lack of youngsters in his teams since he joined Kaizer Chiefs a few years ago. But I refute that because Baxter is the one who gave what was then referred to as Malema, as in Mandla Masango, @SbongsKaDonga George Lebese and George Maluleka a chance at Amakhosi and what beasts he unleashed! Mulomowandau Mathoho also matured under Baxter.

He has brought up some youngsters at Matsatsantsa a Pitori as well with Tebogo Mokoena being the star for the team in recent games.

My worry though is, as indicated by Kaizer Motaung when we spoke to him this week, that coaching a national team is very different from coaching a club side. With the club you get to work with the players on a daily basis practicing what you want them to do in a match. But with the national team, a coach gets just a few days before an important match to hone your match tactics and playing style. But since he has been there before, I think that should not worry us much.

I hope Baxter will take us all into his confidence and tell us what selection criteria he will use so as to avert unnecessary drama in the future. We have seen instances where players who were on form were left out and because we didn’t have an understanding of the criteria, we would jump up and down questioning the decision. Bafana is ours and we need to know and understand what is happening with the team at all times. Other than that, I wish Baxter all the best, I hope he gets us to Russia 2018 because failure on that is likely to take us back to questioning the decision to get rid of Shakes.

While on that note, I am still worried though that the Shakes issue was not properly finalised before Baxter was hired. Putting a blanket over it is not solving it, but shelving it. It might come back to bite us one day. I just hope Safa will close that chapter in a dignified manner that will leave both parties unscathed.