Kaizer Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter doesn’t take the social media backlash he receives from the club’s supporters to heart.
Baxter believes that social media users lack a deep understanding of the beautiful game. A section of the Chiefs faithful didn’t approve of Baxter’s appointment.
And Baxter, in his second stint at Chiefs, has barely managed to silence his critics as the trophy drought continues at the club, once revered as ‘the Cup Kings’. The Soweto giants are yet to lift silverware in seven years.
Under Baxter’s tutelage, they were recently knocked out of the Nedbank Cup by TS Galaxy and are seemingly out of the DStv Premiership title race. The Soweto giants are 18 points behind leaders Mamelodi Sundowns with three games in hands.
“I don’t need to take part in social media. I don’t need to speak or listen to the opinions of some people that make a profession out of going online and commenting about things that they don’t really have the deepest knowledge about,” said Baxter.
“It’s got to be the knowledge of a supporter. And I don’t mind the supporters having their banter and sitting at bars, or wherever, discussing or criticising.”
“If I get hammered because someone came to watch me at training and said, ‘you were not organised, the players didn’t enjoy it, or the tactical aspects were wrong,’ then I’ll listen to that. Not many people have that much knowledge.
“I’ll listen to you guys (the media) because you watch us all the time. But social media is something completely separated from that. A lot of opinions of people with less information.
Baxter did admit concerns over the mental well-being of his Amakhosi players, more especially the youngsters, due to the heavy criticism week in, week out on socials.
“When you’ve got young players that are deeply affected to the point of depression and medication, I don’t think the advice from me would be to switch into social media to such a level,” he added.
“You have to take part if you want to. But you also have to be able to take a step back from it and see social media as a phenomenon. It’s like a judge and a jury. So we have to be able to do that. I can’t be able to sit down with every player. I don’t know who gets hammered.”
