Why Baxter was finally shown the exit door

Poor results and a misaligned vision were two of the main reasons Kaizer Chiefs pulled the plug on Stuart Baxter’s regime on Thursday night, Sowetan has established.

After a day of speculation and uncertainty, Amakhosi confirmed that Baxter had officially left the club a little under a year after he returned for a second stint at Naturena.

The second coming, however, was unlike his first tenure between 2012 and 2015 when he helped the club annex four trophies, including two league championships, as relations between coach and club became frosty in the past few weeks.

At the base of discord between the parties, according to insiders, was reluctance from the coach to buy into club sporting director Kaizer Motaung jnr’s vision. He was also adamant in trusting only certain players while not giving others a look-in.

Baxter’s cause was not helped by poor results of late, which saw Chiefs’ slim chance of challenging for the DStv Premiership title evaporate.

Under Baxter Chiefs lost six of 23 league matches and with no prospect of winning anything after first-round exits in the MTN8 and the Nedbank Cup, the parties decided to prematurely terminate a contract that was to expire next winter.

Initial discussions about ending the deal happened on Wednesday where, Sowetan understands, emotions ran high, and the club were set to meet the coach’s representatives again  on Thursday when news broke that he had been sacked.

In fact, it seemed Baxter’s representatives had jumped the gun and forced Chiefs’ hand, as a termination deal had still not been concluded, hence the club could not confirm his departure until he had signed it.

The Briton will not be on the bench on Saturday when Chiefs visit Stellenbosch, with assistant coaches Arthur Zwane and Dillion Sheppard taking charge as the club attempts to finish among the league's top three.

Baxter’s post-match press conference after the defeat to SuperSport United last week was the trigger to his departure, where he openly remonstrated with fans who called for his head at FNB Stadium.

Among other comments which incensed the Chiefs hierarchy was his claim he was ready to leave if management agreed with fans that his time was up.

Baxter's departure means Amakhosi must now make another coaching change midseason. Since Steve Komphela was forced out by angry fans in April 2018, Chiefs have had Giovanni Solinas, Ernst Middendorp, Gavin Hunt and Baxter at the helm.