"I'VE earned my money. That is my job ethic," Stuart Baxter said yesterday, following Kaizer Chiefs' Absa Premiership triumph at the weekend.
Baxter arrived in South Africa for a second coaching stint amid much doubts over his CV.
The Englishman was Bafana Bafana coach between 2004 and 2005 and quit after failing to qualify for the 2006 World Cup.
Did he win the championship he claimed to have with Vissel Kobe in Japan, and was his relationship with the Finland Football Association (2008-2010) unstable?
Those were the questions that followed his appointment as the man to lead Chiefs to their first league title since 2005.
"I don't need to prove what I've done. What I have done, I have done. Coming to South Africa, what I wanted to do was win championships and make the players better," Baxter said.
"When people bend the truth, that is unethical. But should I now be laughing at them? I don't think so. If I didn't win the championship in Japan, then someone should call and tell them. If the Finish FA were very annoyed with me, then people should ask them."
Baxter has done the job in his first season at Chiefs, with the league title all but wrapped up, and he could still bag one more trophy when Amakhosi face SuperSport United in the Nedbank Cup final on May 25 However, the coach is still keen to collect as many points as possible this season.
"I don't want to win the title on goal difference or without kicking a ball. That would be a vast simplification of a long, hard-fought season," he said. "We have been taking points where others have lost points and we got ourselves into a leading position and people had to try and catch us.
"I want everyone to go all out in the final two league games and not turn down the heat because we only need one point."
Baxter said he would also use the encounters against Matsatsantsa and University of Pretoria to select his starting line-up for the final: "If they (players) have any complacency then they'd better lose it quickly. They are playing for their places in the final and we want to win, so I will pick my team based on what I see."
The coach will not be on the bench for Chiefs for the two league matches after being sent off against United FC 10 days ago. He said he regretted the events that led to the red card.
"I've got myself to blame because my demeanour at that moment was not good at all. I had just received some bad news and lashed out," Baxter said.
"It's not good for a professional not to be on the bench when he has to. But a big lad accepts his mistakes and moves on."
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Baxter proves his doubters wrong
"I'VE earned my money. That is my job ethic," Stuart Baxter said yesterday, following Kaizer Chiefs' Absa Premiership triumph at the weekend.
Baxter arrived in South Africa for a second coaching stint amid much doubts over his CV.
The Englishman was Bafana Bafana coach between 2004 and 2005 and quit after failing to qualify for the 2006 World Cup.
Did he win the championship he claimed to have with Vissel Kobe in Japan, and was his relationship with the Finland Football Association (2008-2010) unstable?
Those were the questions that followed his appointment as the man to lead Chiefs to their first league title since 2005.
"I don't need to prove what I've done. What I have done, I have done. Coming to South Africa, what I wanted to do was win championships and make the players better," Baxter said.
"When people bend the truth, that is unethical. But should I now be laughing at them? I don't think so. If I didn't win the championship in Japan, then someone should call and tell them. If the Finish FA were very annoyed with me, then people should ask them."
Baxter has done the job in his first season at Chiefs, with the league title all but wrapped up, and he could still bag one more trophy when Amakhosi face SuperSport United in the Nedbank Cup final on May 25 However, the coach is still keen to collect as many points as possible this season.
"I don't want to win the title on goal difference or without kicking a ball. That would be a vast simplification of a long, hard-fought season," he said. "We have been taking points where others have lost points and we got ourselves into a leading position and people had to try and catch us.
"I want everyone to go all out in the final two league games and not turn down the heat because we only need one point."
Baxter said he would also use the encounters against Matsatsantsa and University of Pretoria to select his starting line-up for the final: "If they (players) have any complacency then they'd better lose it quickly. They are playing for their places in the final and we want to win, so I will pick my team based on what I see."
The coach will not be on the bench for Chiefs for the two league matches after being sent off against United FC 10 days ago. He said he regretted the events that led to the red card.
"I've got myself to blame because my demeanour at that moment was not good at all. I had just received some bad news and lashed out," Baxter said.
"It's not good for a professional not to be on the bench when he has to. But a big lad accepts his mistakes and moves on."
lSee Page 30
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