South Africa Premier Soccer League giants Kaizer Chiefs have appointed the much-travelled Scottish coach Stuart Baxter as their new head coach.
Baxter, who returns to the club for a second spell after guiding the same club to two PSL league titles between 2012 and 2015, replaces Gavin Hunt, who was shown the door following series of poor results.
The 67-year-old previous job was with Odisha FC in the Indian Super League, where he left four months before the end of his twelve months deal.
Today, Kaizer Chiefs announced that Baxter has returned to the club and his first game will be against Wydad Casablanca in the African Champions League semi-final clash next weekend.
“After extensive reviews and consultations, we decided to appoint Stuart because we believe he is one coach who understands our philosophy and culture. We know his work ethic and believe he will work with the team we have at the moment while trying to rebuild and ensure we have a formidable side for the new season,”said Kaizer Chiefs chairman Kaizer Motaung.
“It has been six years since Stuart left Chiefs after winning the league trophy in 2015, but he departed on good terms and remains a well-liked figure by many supporters, colleagues and some of the players he coached at the time. We believe he will be able to work within our current set up and will use the time to understand some of the players he’s not familiar with.
“We need the coach to have enough time and prepare adequately for the new season.”
Baxter will commence his duties as soon as the paper work has been finalised and he will work with Arthur Zwane and Dillon Sheppard as his assistants with support from Ntseki.
A former midfielder, Baxter played for Preston North End, Morecambe, Dundee United, Stockport County, South Melbourne, Helsingborgs, San Diego Sockers and Orebro.
He went on to manage Orebro in Sweden, where also has spells with Halmstads and AIK. He also coached Skarp and Lyn in Norway, Vitoria Setubal in Portugal and Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Vissel Kobe in Japan.
