TOP SECRET: Stuart Baxter reveals how "digging in and winning ugly" has lifted Kaizer Chiefs to the top of the pile in South Africa

WWWWWINNER: Baxter won the PSL and
Nedbank Cup double at the first attempt
with Kaizer Chiefs last season

THE Stuart Baxter story gets better and better. Just like his table-topping Kaizer Chiefs, who are unbeaten since last Fireworks Day, November 5, 2013. That's THIRTEEN games in all competitions.

Speaking on my BOLLOCKZ! football show on www.ballz.co.za today  (see video below), the 60-year-old from Wolverhampton admitted his side could play a lot better than they did on Wednesday night when they overcame tricky Bloemfontein Celtic 3-0 with two cracking goals from Bernard Parker and Knowledge Musona.

Former South Africa national coach Baxter, who last season became the first foreign boss to win the PSL in his first season in charge, finds himself nine points clear of Mamelodi Sundowns at the top of the table and freely admits he has taught his side to "win ugly".

When I put it to him that my awful beard will continue to grow unmolested until the AmaKhosi's astonishing WWWWWWWWWDW finally features an L, Baxter laughed: "Winning makes the wind blow at your back, not in your face."


Despite a few telephonic problems, Baxter battled on to tell us: "Big leads have been blown before and they will be blown again in the future. If you can look at the mirror at the end of the season and look at that face without throwing up, you can't do any more!


"We shouldn't make the job any easier for the opposition by being Big-Time Charlies. We can't get carried away. We do our work, I try to take the pressure off as much as I can. Let's see where that takes us.


"But I know with the African Champions League running alongside the domestic competitions, it could be difficult. We've seen it in Europe, where teams competing on the continent end up struggling at home."



But the secret ingredient of Baxter's success? THIS: "There are certain things we take for granted in Europe. Digging in, winning a game ugly. That's not really part of the language of the beautiful game in Africa.



"At Chiefs, we all dig in, get the points. That gives us that little bit of extra confidence, extra belief. We can go a goal down and come back to take the points."

BOLLOCKZ! my innovative football show on www.ballz.co.za airs every Thursday from 9am-11am. See Ballz' channel for our growing library of fascinating football interviews with the big names. 

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Revealed: Baxter to the Future for double-winning Kaizer Chiefs. Naturena Junior on the drawing board

No going Baxter: Chiefs double-winning coach Stuart

AFTER his "once upon a time" start, the Stuart Baxter fairy-tale is only just getting underway.

After a season which sees Sir Alex Ferguson bow out at 71 with the English Premier League title under his belt and Jupp Heynckes leave Bayern Munich at 68 with the Bundesliga and Champions League wrapped up, an end-of-era atmosphere pervades large swathes of football-speaking Europe.

But in South Africa, the 58-year-old Baxter from Wolverhampton will not be thrown to the wolves.

Last night, as he picked up Coach of the Season at the PSL awards, Baxter said: "There was pressure at Kaizer Chiefs, a big club without a trophy for so long. But it's been great.

"Thank you to the fans who stuck with the team, the chairman, who has been an inspiration. And to those people who don't get the credit, the people who cut the grass, wash the kit, make the food, we must thank them too."

With our initial misgivings about the former Bafana Bafana boss now firmly thrust aside by Kaizer Chiefs double success in an historic first season, minds were turning to the future of the AmaKhosi within hours of the gritty 1-0 extra-time Nedbank Cup success over SuperSport United.

The roars of the 51,200 at Moses Mabhida had barely died down when "Reclaiming the Glory" turned to "The Glory Continues" - with the Motaung family seeking to secure "Baxter to the future" success for South Africa’s biggest club, with a reputed 15million pilgrims turning the nation’s streets to miles of of black and gold smiles.

Baxter says: “I didn’t want to talk to much about the future until after the Cup final. But the plans are in place.

“Firstly, we have produced a CD which will go out to junior clubs around the country. This will explain how Kaizer Chiefs youngsters are formed, what the club expects, how a promising kid might play for the Amakhosi. We want to develop a Chiefs style of play, universally.

“Then we have the new academy all planned out. We will be breaking ground over the road from Naturena soon. Two pitches, an academy building. All the plans are in place, I'll send you an invite!”

In England, the Cliff is Liverpool’s hallowed production line, for Manchester United it’s Carrington. Arsenal have London Colney, Chelsea recently built an expensive facility at Cobham.

Now for Naturena Too. Baxter promises: “We have nutritionists to ensure our players – current and future – stick to the correct diet. It’s so important in modern football.

“Everybody needs a sports psychologist these days too. This is a top-ranked, professional football club. We will offer counselling and advice to our players, young and old. That is vital too.

“We have also put an academic programme in place with a local university. We want our players to learn, not just play football. That’s is the way ahead.

“I know there have been problems with academies in South Africa before (both Chiefs and Pirates junior set-ups have been disbanded due to age-cheating allegations) but we have to plan for the future.

“I said when I got here, development would be crucial. That I would involved myself in all aspects of Kaizer Chiefs. We’ve won the league and the cup in my first season. But I have been working on these plans for years.”

Just in case that sounds like hot air, how about this from Aaron “Mbazo” Mokoena, the man Baxter appointed as his Bafana Bafana captain during his all-too-brief tenure a decade ago? 

Mokoena told me: “Stuart has had plans to develop South African footballers for years. SAFA didn’t give him the chance ten years ago. Now he will get the opportunity to put his development programme in place at Chiefs.

“I’ve always been a Baxter fan. You just watch him now he's achieve success.”

We will. Baxter has won us over on the pitch this season, surviving a difficult run-in to claim the PSL and seeing of Gavin Hunt’s tenacious SuperSport in Durban on Saturday.

After the game, Baxter grinned: "You come to a club and win the double in your first year? It's incredible and I'm immensely proud of my players.

"If someone had told me at the start of the season we would win the double I'd ask them what how much they were drinking?

"But remember, we start from scratch next season. We won't be champions of anything if we get beaten 3-0 every week!

"We'll try to repeat this year obviously, that’s what we have to do.”

Impressive stuff. Now Baxter gets the chance to impress OFF the field. I’ll keep you posted on just how successful he is. Happy ever after would be some epitaph.

Cavin Johnson and Platinum Stars: what we need to know about the surprising double hunters

Starring role: Cavin Johnson

CAVIN JOHNSON. Took me a while to get the hang of that name. Not Kevin. Not Calvin. Not Gavin. CAVIN. It simply doesn’t feature on any list of popular South African names.

But with his Platinum Stars unexpectedly competing for the double of Premier Soccer League and Nedbank Cup at the squeaky-bottom end of the season, Cavin says: “We started badly, we weren’t quite ready - but now we’re super fit. We can climb the mountain.”

I saw Cavin last Sunday when two late goals sealed a Nedbank quarter-final win over his old club Mamelodi Sundowns at Loftus. I told the tiny band of Dikwena fans they’d win 2-1 (I have Brazilian witnesses), remarkably they did with seconds to spare. They’ve got SuperSport United in the last four. I predict a similar outcome.

And after the come-from-behind 2-1 win over Wits this week, they are now two points ahead of Orlando Pirates in second and just four points short of favourites Kaizer Chiefs at the top of the league.

The top two meet on April 28 in Polokwane with Johnson well aware that his side is the only club to down the AmaKhosi in the league this season. And football analysts are finally starting to talk about Dikwena, the crocodiles snapping at the heels of the lumbering Soweto giants.

Johnson accepts: “The League is there for Chiefs to lose. They have the best side and – in Stuart Baxter – the best tactician in the country. It’s up to them to make mistakes – that would open the door for us.

"My challenge is to make this team peak at the right time – I’m happy we’re doing that.”

Then he issues the stock: “For us it is one game at a time and we cannot get ahead of ourselves and put players under unnecessary pressure.”

In the old Gaelic, Cavin is spelt Caoimhan, it means “beautiful at birth”. It’s listed as the 18,267th most popular name in the USA and apparently one in every 351,102 Americans is called Cavin. So the bloke who has taken South African Premier Soccer League by storm this season is fairly unique.

But we knew that. Perhaps Cavin’s greatest claim to fame is discovering a lad called Steven Pienaar in Cape Town. Now 54, Johnson came across the lad from Westbury in 1994, when the Everton star was a mere 12-year-old.

At the time, Pienaar was playing street football (for R5 a goal) and Johnson had just set up the Transnet School of Excellence. Johnson recalls: "There were other players around just as good but Stevie's attitude 

stood out, not just his technical quality.”

And perhaps that’s the key to Johnson’s rise. His ability to spot attitude. He soon added Dillon Sheppard and Brent Carelse to his finds and he became youth coach when Ajax Cape Town emerged from the merger of Seven Stars and Cape Town Spurs in 1999.

Then he took a similar role at Sundowns before rising to assistant coach under a bloke called Gordon Igesund when Msandawana won the PSL in 2007. Those were heady days in Mamelodi.

Both Johnson and his current Platinum-plated star Thuso Phala soon found themselves struggling to stay afloat in Patrice Motsepe’s money-no-object environment.

But they have reunited just outside Rustenburg after Owen de Gama’s controversial reign - and the club is finally fulfilling  King Leruo’s ambitions in the kingdom of the Bafokeng (more of that later).

Phala came to prominence as Igesund’s surprise Bafana Bafana package at the African Cup of Nations earlier in the year and Johnson grins: "Thuso is just reaching his peak at 26. His first touch has improved, we do a lot of technical work in training. His decision-making has improved too.”

Benson Mhlongo is another former Sundowner who has found his feet under Johnson. The former Orlando Pirates centre-back is the fulcrum for Dikwena with Johnson confessing: "Benson was told he would never play again when he injured his knee at Pirates.

“But I knew him from Sundowns and I bought him mostly to offer his experience to our youngsters. But it turned out much better than I thought it would. He won't play 35 games for us, but he's made a huge difference."

There are gems only Johnson could unearth in the mineral-rich, 14,000 square kilometre kingdom of the Bafokeng. Players like Vuyo Mere, the fullback from Chloorkop, another former Pirate in winger Patrick Malokase - and he spotted the former Leopard, Robert Ng’ambi.

Up front, Botswana’s Mogakolodi Ngele (9 after his brace against Wits this week) and Namibian Henrico Botes (7) have scored 16 between them to form one of the most-feared dynamic duos in the country this season.

And then Cavin offers this secret behind his success: "Kabelo Rangoaga does our fitness and Godfrey Sepuru is my physio. They are vital. We have not had a strained groin or hamstring for 18 months."

Or is it this? He wears TWO wristwatches – a posh one and a cheap digital - to keep Ferguson-like tabs on the referee’s time-keeping. He grins: "It's my only muti!”

PLATINUM STARS?

There’s a toughie too. Used to be Silver Stars. The name first came up, for me, in 2009. A bloke called Martin Bekker, spokesman for the Royal Bafokeng family, told me all about King Leruo’s plans for the little team that started out as Khakhu Fast XI in 1937 in the eponymous town 170km east of Polokwane.

A couple of months later I watched England and Wayne Rooney beat them 3-0 in a pre-World Cup friendly. Steve Komphela was in charge then. I saw nothing special, though Gavin Hunt told me at the time: “England aren’t going to win the World Cup!”

But the memory stuck. Bekker showed me a 35-year plan for Leruo’s Bafokeng nation which included shoving Platinum Stars to the top of the footballing tree in South Africa.

But I could find little evidence of impending success back then. And precious little record of Platinum Stars’ footballing feats until 1998 when the club’s then-owner Joseph “Tycoon” Mapfulagasha moved his team to Mapate, 30km south of Khakhu. They changed their name to the Mapate Silver Stars and were promoted from the Vodacom League to the National First Division in 1999.

Then came a link with the old white National Football League titans Highlands Park, when a Sandton businessman called Larry Brookstone purchased half of the club and linked them with his juniors at Highlands North, though “HP Silver Stars” continued to play their games just over 300km north of Johannesburg.

After four seasons in the NFD graveyard, they came to life in 2004 and were promoted to the PSL. They finished 11^th, 7^th and 5^th – and that’s when the Royal Bafokeng Nation took an interest.

It started off with a sponsorship deal, closely followed by a provincial border-crossing from Limpopo to 

North West. In December 2006, they beat Ajax Cape Town 3-1 in the first-ever Telkom Knock-Out final and they finshed the season as runners-up in the PSL.

That encouraged Royal Bafokeng Holdings to buy 51% of Silver Stars’ shares in May 2007 – and the name was changed to the local mineral, Platinum.

The catalytic benefits are obvious. This week Botes, the 33-year-old who was voted the best PSL player in Q2, signed a new deal, joining Ng’ambi, Msomi, Kagiso Mlambo, Lindokuhle Mbatha and Solomon Mathe as long-term investments. But the club has already lost Phala and Enocent Mkhabela to Nedbank Cup rivals SuperSport next season.

There are further problems as the club struggles to attract decent crowds at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium for their home games, despite being the only PSL club in the Northwest province.

Johnson is working on that: "We have to create a brand of football that pulls more supporters. We want to compete with well-supported clubs like Bloemfontein Celtic - but it's difficult to change footballing loyalties. So we have to attract a younger generation. It's a long-term thing."

Claiming the Nedbank Cup or the Absa Premier League title – or both - might help.

Follow me on www.twitter.com/nealcol and see me on eNCAnews, DSTV channel 403 every Monday at 8.15pm.

Itumeleng Khune: Africa's best goalkeeper pushes Kaizer Chiefs towards the double

Safe hands: Itumeleng Khune

ITUMELENG KHUNE. The name is familiar. The style is impeccable. The distribution is innovative. The hunger is endless.

Voted the best player of the Professional Soccer League’s third quarter this month, Khune – the asthmatic lad from Tshing near Ventersburg – has recovered from the embarrassment of his untimely AFCON celebrations two years ago and a mysterious five-month injury sabbatical to emerge as South Africa’s undisputed No1.

Though the widely-hyped relationship break-up with restyled football analyst Minnie Dlamini has taken its toll, his form on the international and domestic stage has seen talk of an overseas move resurface.

Stuart Baxter, the widely-travelled Englishman in charge of the AmaKhosi’s double crusade, said after Saturday night’s 1-0 Nedbank Cup quarter-final win against Bloemfontein Celtic: “He’s probably the best goalkeeper on the continent right now.

“Naturally I am very pleased with the result and very pleased with the performance of the players. I thought we played quite well in the first half, I thought we defended the box well.

“But Celtic just kept pumping away and you worried at one point that things were going to break in the box, and it did, but when it breaks in the box we have the best goalkeeper probably on the continent so I’m just very happy to have him.”

Khune, still only 25, certainly has what every goalkeeper requires. Safe hands. As the son of a miner in Tshing, just outside Ventersdorp, he was ready to become a cricketer.

One of six children, Khune idolised the South African cricketers – and still enjoys watching the Proteas. He says: “Shaun Pollock and Lance Klusener used to be my favourites when I was growing up. Nicky Boje was my idol. As a kid in Ventersdorp we used to have a rubbish bin as the wickets and use a spade as the bat.”

He only chose football at the tender age of 12 when Chiefs came calling in 1999. Khune recalls: “When we were kids we used to gather at a disused hall before classes and kick a tennis ball around. After school it was the same thing.”

Travelling to the Chiefs academy was a problem. He said: “My parents were not happy because I would only arrive home late at night. Sometimes I had to sleep at the train station as I couldn’t get home. There wasn’t food, there wasn’t money, but we had to accept the situation.”

Khune was a defender back then. He did well in trials – chosen as the 32nd best player on the day, that’s still the number he wears - but breathing problems relegated him to ball boy status. And his enthusiastic diving for the loose ball attracted the attention of youth coach Terror Sephoa and Chiefs’ veteran goalkeeper Brian Baloyi “my mentor, on and off the field”.

By 2004, aged 17, he was training with the first team. Three years later, Khune got the nod as Chiefs’ regular No1 when Rowen Fernandez left for Germany’s Arminia Bielefeld and Emile Baron was forced out by injury.

He made his local Premier Soccer League debut against Jomo Cosmos in 2007 and immediately impressed, forcing his way into the national squad where he made his debut against Zimbabwe in 2008.

A broken finger put Khune out for three months in 2010 but World Cup-winning Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira stuck with the lad who famously saved a penalty from David Villa during the 2009 Confederations Cup.

An impressive World Cup was followed by the awful upset of his time-wasting antics during the infamous draw against Sierra Leone at Mbombela when South Africa thought they had qualified for the 2011 African Cup of Nations.

Then came two successive injuries – first his shoulder, then his groin - and Khune literally disappeared from the face of football for months on end with veteran Arthur Bartman unable to maintain the AmaKhosi title challenge in the face of arch-rivals Orlando Pirates, or Drawlando as they are now known.

Having Khune on hand – literally and figuratively – all season has undoubtedly kept Baxter’s bid for both the PSL and Nedbank Cup on the rails.

Though SuperSport youngster Ronwen Williams is also regarded as a serious South African glovemeister for the future , Khune – the Bafana No1 and goalkeeper for the nation’s current form team – looks peerless despite a slightly vampire-tinged aversion to crosses.

Former Liverpool and Holland gloveman Sander Westerveld, the Ajax Cape Town goalkeeper reputed to be the best-paid custodian in the PSL, says: “Khune’s distribution is the best you will see anywhere. He kicks right to the attacker’s feet, wherever they are.

“But he also makes great saves. Against Brazil in Gordon Igesund’s first friendly, he was unbeatable. I don’t know why he is not playing in Europe. Maybe not in England because it is so physical, but he could be playing for Valencia and would not look out of place.”

Khune insists he has not received any written offers from Arsenal, Turkey’s Besiktas or any other foreign club, preferring to concentrate on getting those safe hands on his first ever PSL winners’ medal.

With his team seven points ahead five games from the end of the season, he says: “We know the title can still be lose, that’s why we are not getting carried away. Anything can still happen, but everything is in our control. It’s up to us to secure the title.

“We don’t want to lose it now … we can’t allow that to happen. There’s a saying that it’s hard to get to the top, but it’s easy to fall. We have to keep our focus until the season is over.”

A shorter version of this article will appear as my Neal and Pray column in www.thenewage.co.za this week. You can also see me on eNCSnews (DSTV channel 403, Sky channel 518) talking about the weekend's football tomorrow morning just after 8am.