As the most successful coach Bafana Bafana have had, Clive Barker remains dumbstruck as to why Safa has never over all these years approached him to offer his experience and knowledge in whatever capacity.

The sage tactician is without doubt, according to results, the best Bafana coach since readmission into international football, after winning the 1996 Afcon and qualifying for the 1998 World Cup.

The 73-year-old mentor expressed his openness to assist the national team in any way to get the team out of the doldrums. "I always thought that it would make sense to ask or approach me to contribute in any way possible," Barker said.

"The people at Safa seem to walk away from people rather than towards. They can say I am too old, but look at some of the work I did with clubs in the PSL, so that excuse doesn't fly."

History continued to repeat itself after Bafana failed once again to qualify for the World Cup. In a spectacular qualification implosion, the team went from leading Group D at the end of last year to dropping to the bottom of the table.

Senegal clinched qualification to the showpiece event in Russia next year after their 2-0 win over Bafana last Friday.

Barker feels that Bafana have had their most dominant eras under local coaches, with the team playing with an African identity. "I have nothing against Stuart [Baxter], but if you look at when the team has played their best it has been under one of own coaches. I, Jomo Sono and Shakes Mashaba did well ...

"I think firing Shakes was a mistake - at least at that time, in the middle of qualifiers. We stuck to what we know and did not try to copy the style of Brazil or Germany because we [the team] were ourselves."

The former Bidvest Wits and Mpumalanga Black Aces coach has added his voice to the chorus of former Bafana players Mark Fish, Linda Buthelezi and coach Mashaba.

"It's time for a change at Safa," he concluded.

SA's match against Senegal kicked off late last night.