"IT feels good to prove your critics wrong," Stuart Baxter said after Kaizer Chiefs lifted their first Absa Premiership trophy in eight years on Saturday.
Chiefs lost their final game 1-0 against Pretoria University at Mbombela Stadium, but had already clinched the title with a 1-1 midweek draw against Supersport United.
Baxter, who was hounded out of his job as Bafana Bafana coach in 2005 by a hostile press and public after failing to qualify for the 2006 Fifa World Cup, returned to become the first foreign coach to win the PSL title in a maiden season.
"It's very satisfying," he said. "When people ask me a question like, 'Did you feel you needed to redeem yourself?' (the word redeem suggests you've done something wrong). I didn't think it was wrong when I was with the national team.
"I think we tried certain things that were squashed, that would have helped.
"The group we were in with Ghana was difficult. After I left, I think what happened suggests that was probably the case - that Ghana were better, and we needed to do a lot of things we were suggesting.
"But certainly, I wanted to change people's perceptions, which were that this is a failed coach. I was confident I could do that."
Baxter admitted it was a career risk returning to coach in South Africa.
"When I made a decision to come back, it had to be to a club that had a clear vision for what it wanted to do."