Fortune as assistant almost done deal

BAFANA Bafana mentor Stuart Baxter has given the strongest hint yet that his search for a second assistant coach is over and the job is almost certain to go to Quinton Fortune.

Baxter gave his SA Football Association (Safa) employers his list of preferred candidates a few weeks ago and if the Briton’s views this week are anything to go by‚ the former Manchester United player is a certainty for the job.

“We wanted Quinton to come here [to South Africa] and speak to us – we wanted him to see what’s going on here‚” Baxter said.

“I think that Quinton, as a candidate, ticks all the boxes.

“Guys that meet him in the streets are ecstatic‚ even the younger ones‚ because they know the path he’s had in South African football.

“We want to promote technical staff that follow qualifications and have an appetite to be students of the game,” the head coach said.

“I think that if we can tie down the nuts and bolts of how Quinton is going to work with us‚ partly abroad and partly here‚ and if we can make that a definite job description and we all accept it‚ then I think Quinton coming on board will be a big boost for everybody.”

Fortune arrived in South Africa last week, at Baxter’s invitation, and took pride of place at the Bafana head table on Monday when the Briton announced the squad to face Cape Verde in back-to-back 2018 World Cup qualifiers next month.

The former United player is still a hugely polarising figure after going on self-imposed exile and rejecting Bafana call-ups in his playing days.

But Baxter is seemingly not too concerned by any of this – and said he hoped all the loose strings would be tied up in the coming days.

“And certainly, I will ask Safa to tie it up quickly, so that we know what’s happening and we do have Quinton as a resource, moving into these important qualifiers,” he said.