Kaizer Chiefs Stuart Baxter

Stuart Baxter. Image: @alfavina / Twitter

Stuart Baxter set for massive payday as coach at Simba?

Former Chiefs head coach Stuart Baxter could reportedly become the highest-earning coach ever in Tanzanian football

Kaizer Chiefs Stuart Baxter

Stuart Baxter. Image: @alfavina / Twitter

Back in April it was dramatically confirmed that Stuart Baxter – who was in his second stint with Kaizer Chiefs – had been officially shown the door by Amakhosi.

Kaizer Chiefs embarrassingly crashed out of the Nedbank Cup earlier this season, while they had underperformed in the DStv Premiership to be left stranded in fifth position when Baxter was let go.

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It all stood in stark contrast to his first stint with the team between 2012 and 2015, which included four trophies and two league titles.

According to reports out of Tanzania, it’s been stated that Simba CEO Barbara Gonzalez met Baxter and his agent in Johannesburg this week to discuss the possibility of him succeeding Pablo Franco Martin.

Talks are apparently already at an advanced stage with the club, and although wage demands could present an issue, this could be ironed out in the near future.

According to KickOff.com, Patrick Aussems was paid 45 million Tanzanian shillings (approximately R300 000) during his time as head coach, while the offer for Baxter could stretch to about 60 million Tanzanian shillings (approximately R400 000) in order to secure his services.

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Baxter was linked with the AmaZulu job recently, but Brandon Truter is set to be appointed as head coach instead

In the latest issue of iDiski Times, Baxter admits it may have been a mistake going back to Chiefs, but insists he has not given up on the prospects of finding a new coaching gig.

“I’ve had certain approaches that I’ve contemplated,” he told iDiski Times (you can read the full interview here). 

“You try and think ‘well, is it better for me to get back straight into work or should I chill for a while and make sure I’m not making a bad decision.’ 

“But then you do that and in three or four months’ time, you don’t have an offer. So then you’re left sort of wishing that you’d taken the one a couple of months back…

“As long as I have the passion to want to withstand those arrows and bullets that get fired at you if you fail on the field, then I want to do it. Because I want to do that as long as I can,” he added.

“What I don’t want it to be is an untimely decision, Arsene (Wenger) warned me about being stubborn as he’d reflected on that many times at Arsenal. 

“I said, ‘I will look at myself, I will say, is there genuinely the passion there to keep on going?’ Because if there is, I’m fit, I’m alert and there is no reason (for me to quit). 

“I mean, I understand the modern game. I’m not locked into a 4-4-2 from 15, 20 years ago, and I can adapt. I’ve gone with the game and the developments that are happening in the game, I’m well addressed in that. 

“I’m still well equipped to remain in South Africa. After my experience with Chiefs, it would have to be a project that I thought that I could get my teeth into, that I understand.”

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