Baxter elated about silencing his critics

"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."