Baxter in limbo over new Chiefs contract?

The recent appointment of Aubrey Mathibe as goalkeeper coach for both the Kaizer Chiefs senior team and academy side has cast doubt on Lee Baxter’s future at the club, the Siya crew has been informed.

Amakhosi confirmed this month that Mathibe was returning to a club he knows well, having been a player there between 2003 to 2006 as a goalie and then officially retiring almost five years ago.

The official statement from

Chiefs suggested that Mathibe would be working closely with Lee Baxter. The son of head coach Stuart Baxter and some of the technical team members were pictured together with the new arrival when he was unveiled.

But word coming out of Naturena is that the young Baxter has not yet been given a contract extension, and there are serious suggestions that Mathibe could be lined up as a potential replacement.

Baxter has held the role of head of the goalkeeper department at Chiefs since February 2018, having taken over from the late Alex

Revoredo, and his contract is soon to expire on June 30.

Mathibe’s appointment could be unsettling for Baxter when he doesn’t yet have a clear picture of what the future holds for him.

To complicate matters further, his father is also under pressure and, as reported by the Siya crew recently, there are divisions within the Amakhosi camp with a faction supporting head coach Baxter, while the other believes Arthur Zwane should step up as the next Chiefs mentor.

It now remains to be seen whether the club will eventually renew Baxter’s contract as goalkeeper coach or whether Mathibe was indeed being set up to take over the position next season.