SAFA TO MAKE CALL ON BAXTER ASSISTANT

Last week Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter explained why his second assistant, Thabo Senong, has not been in the Bafana picture in recent times, but there were still question marks over when the Englishman will finally have his permanent technical team.

It’s nearly two years since Baxter was appointed national team coach for a second spell, but to date, his backroom staff has been made up of interim coaches which the South African Football Association can’t seem to tie down to long-term contracts.

Word reaching the Siya crew is that the organisation may in fact have their own candidate in mind.

Baxter has twice suggested who he would like to work with, even bringing them on board for camps during the World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers to get a feel of what it’s like to work with the national team. But both Quinton Fortune and Shaun Bartlett were on a camp-by-camp arrangement with SAFA.

Sources told the crew that the backlash from the temporary ap- pointment of Fortune forced the association to backtrack on any further talks with the former Manchester United player, who had a history of snubbing call-ups during his playing days.

Bartlett has since been hired as an assistant coach to Ernst Middendorp at Kaizer Chiefs and the crew reported in December that Amakhosi would not be releasing him to join Bafana on any basis.

Baxter has previously spoken about the frustration of not having a full-time assistant coach, pointing to a lack of funds at SAFA to secure a candidate. The crew, however, has learnt that the federation wants to pick the man who will assist Baxter – and it could very well be Molefi Ntseki, who is already contracted to the association as U17 coach.