Kaizer jnr responds to criticism of coach Baxter preferring players over 30 at Chiefs

Kaizer Chiefs' new sporting director Kaizer Motaung Junior has assured supporters that a crucial part of his role is to bring down the average age of the Kaizer Chiefs squad.

He stressed, however, that how those players are used remains the decision of head coach Stuart Baxter.

Motaung Junior — appointed at the start of the season to the new position that oversees head of technical and the academy Molefi Ntseki, football manager Bobby Motaung and the first team — responded to criticism of Baxter preferring players over 30, and overlooking exciting academy products. He admitted the balance between youth and experience at Chiefs “is lacking” at present.

The son of chairperson and founder Kaizer Motaung said the objective for Chiefs in 2021-22 is to salvage a seventh season without silverware, thanks to their defeat to TS Galaxy in the Nedbank Cup, with a top two placing in the DStv Premiership and Caf Champions League spot.

“The first thing I want to say, which is very important, is that people get appointed with roles and responsibilities. The most important thing is that the head coach, Stuart Baxter, is the person who is responsible for team selection and how he chooses to play,” Motaung Junior said.

“Everyone else gives their inputs, and that's how football structures work.

“On the season, of course the biggest priority now is to compete as best we can to make sure we clinch a Champions League spot.

“Or anything can happen in the league. Sundowns can drop [points], it happened to us before. But of course it's to make sure that we can rectify [the campaign], because it has been a terrible sore point being knocked out in the first round of the Nedbank.

“At the same time, the plans for next season have already been done. The plans for the season after that and the next five years have already been done.”

Speculation and reports were that friction between the previous two coaches at Chiefs — Ernst Middendorp and Gavin Hunt — and some players, played a part in their lack of success at Chiefs.

Motaung Junior was asked if, given public speculation that Baxter's overlooking of young players might create unhappiness in the squad, that would be a concern for the sporting director.

“I'll be honest and say that I wouldn't be able to talk on how anything was sabotaged before. I think it would be more professional for me to address where I am now and how I am moving forward,” he said.

“I think it's key for everyone to understand, and something the club is always going to say, that youth is part of our main strategy. We have to reduce the average age of the team.

“And it's not just us — if you look at world football and how you can bring the right change, most clubs have had a great balance in youth, and you have to start somewhere.

“Most of the legends who have donned our jersey who have made us who we are today started as teenagers, whether it's Doctor [Khumalo], whether it's our own chairperson who was 16, whether it's Thabo Mooki.

“Of course you've got to have the right balance of quality youth and quality experience. But it's a huge component for us.

“In the [2020-21] Caf Champions League [where Chiefs were finalists], we achieved a piece of personal history and in the game that got us into the knockout stages we had five players from the academy on the field [in a 2-2 draw away against Horoya].

“So I think it is lacking the right balance between the right level of experience, the right quality, and the right quality in youth.

“And it's a huge point for me, in terms of my responsibility, to reduce the average age of the squad.”