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BAXTER RESIGNS AS SOUTH AFRICAN COACH
Stuart Baxter resigned as coach of South Africa on Tuesday, ending furious speculation over his continued role at the helm of the country’s team after a run of nine matches without a win, the South African Football Association announced.
The English coach’s resignation came eight months short of the end of his contract and just two months before South Africa are set to the go to the African Nations Cup finals.
He had been expected to take the team to the Nations Cup tournament in Egypt in January but was not expected to be offered an extension after that.
Baxter had speculated over his own future in recent days and demanded the removal of several of the football association’s staff, who he accused of undermining his work.
The 52-year-old Baxter had been in the job for less than two years but failed to qualify for the South African side for the World Cup finals as they collapsed in the final stretch of the qualifying campaign, turning a three point lead with three matches left to play into a third place finish in their group standings.
Baxter was hired in April last year to gel together a disparate group of players and while he had success at first in persuading several disparate stars, like Benni McCarthy of FC Porto and Manchester United’s Quinton Fortune, to return to playing for their country, he failed to get their continued commitment.
South Africa’s failure to qualify for the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany was a major embarrassment for the country who will host the 2010 edition.
South African Football Association officials will meet on Wednesday to discuss a successor before the Nations Cup starts on January 20, general secretary Raymond Hack said.
South Africa, readmitted to world football in 1992, have employed 11 coaches in 13 years of international competition.
They fired Carlos Queiroz just months before the 2002 World Cup finals and Clive Barker six months before they went to the tournament in France in 1998.