Reasons Amakhosi sacked Stuart Baxter

1. KAIZER CHIEFS ARE UNDERPERFORMING

Since Baxter took over from Gavin Hunt in June 2021, very little has changed if nothing at all, and that alone says the coach didn’t add anything positive to the team.

Hunt didn’t have the luxury to sign players, but with Baxter, Chiefs went all out to sign the best possible players they could get in the market.

However, Baxter failed to use that to his advantage – his tactics are outdated hence he persisted on using the older players whom he thought understood his philosophy better.

2. FAVOURITISM

Baxter shot himself in the foot by continuing to field his ‘favourite’ players ahead of those that the fans believed were good enough to play for Chiefs.

The likes of Bernard Parker, Erick Mathoho, Daniel Cardoso, and Cole Alexander are among the players that Chiefs fans felt should be rested.

But Baxter didn’t want to hear any of that, and went on to defend his decision by saying he is not a coach that likes rotation even with the talented ball players he had at his disposal.

For instance, the combination of Cardoso and Mathoho have cost Chiefs so many games but Baxter didn’t see anything wrong with it.

3. PLAYING PLAYERS OUT OF POSITIONS

Now, this is one of the many reasons Chiefs were underperforming under Baxter – and he did this with so many players.

Njabulo Ngcobo, PSL’s best defender last season, has found himself having to settle for a place in midfield despite all the red flags in the Chiefs defence from last season.

Baxter would prefer to play Reeve Frosler at left-back and leave out natural left-back Sibusiso Mabiliso out of the team for reasons known to him.

Another perfect example is that of Samir Nurkovic who has given Chiefs close to nothing this season – Baxter would sometimes play him far from goals on the left-hand side of the frontline with Khama Billiat as a false 9.

4. PICKING A FIGHT WITH THE FANS

And lastly, Baxter’s audicity to pick a fight with the Chiefs fans meant he cared less about them – and little did he know that he was fighting a losing battle.

His attitude when addressing what the fans think, wasn’t of a coach willing to be criticised by his own club fans – Baxter believed he was always right even when the team wasn’t winning games.