adminTHE spectacular fallout between coaches Stuart Baxter and Arthur Zwane has revealed the chaos which has been blighting Kaizer Chiefs over the last couple of years.
It probably explains why players like Khama Billiat have struggled to find their best touch since they arrived at the Amakhosi.
Yesterday, Zwane strongly hit back at his predecessor Baxter’s claims of hidden “agendas” within the club over squad selections.
Baxter told SABC Sport that he felt there were hidden agendas within the club during his time at the helm.
The 69-year-old openly admitted to “butting heads” with football director Kaizer Motaung Jr, while alluding that assistant coaches Zwane and Dillon Sheppard, went against his selection decisions.
“After I had Covid around the mid-season break, I realised even before then that there were agendas within the club.
“Those agendas were going to be satisfied whether I liked it or not,” Baxter said.
Zwane has now strongly refuted these claims while detailing the selection process at the time when the club was hit by a Covid-19 crisis.
“I’m a little bit disappointed but to be honest I don’t care,” Zwane hit back.
“I don’t care because we are in the business of football, and when I listen to him [Baxter] carefully the problem started when he was sick.
“So, if I am to break it down in how it started, it’s simple and he’s actually exposing himself. That weekend when we played against Swallows, I was also sick.
“Then coach Sheppy followed [contracted Covid-19. We then had the fixture against Cape Town City.
“When you look at the starting eleven who started most of the youngsters played as we already had Covid cases.
“Unfortunately the following week that number increased.”
Zwane went on to strongly refute any insinuations by Baxter that team selections were made against his instructions.
“When you have players who are much fitter than those who were sick, there was no way we could play players who are not ready to play 90 minutes.
“We had to manage some, but at some point, we were told [by Baxter] we have to play this one.
“How can anyone want to say you have to play so-and-so who is not ready when you yourself are sitting at home sick?
“Then you come and say the team is going in another direction as we [Zwane and Sheppard] came in and changed things.
“No, those were the players who were available! Those players were also fit and available for the [previous] game against Royal AM.” – Sports Reporter/KickOff
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter