Hunt reacts to Baxter's appointment as Bafana coach: 'Good luck to him'

“Good luck. He’s got my support‚” was Gavin Hunt’s one-line answer to the news that Stuart Baxter has been appointed the new Bafana Bafana head coach.

Speaking after his Bidvest Wits side beat Orlando Pirates 1-0 at Bidvest Stadium on Thursday night to open up a three-point gap at the top of the Absa Premiership with four games to go‚ Hunt‚ perennially-linked to the Bafana job whenever it becomes available‚ had no more to say on the issue.

Pitso Mosimane‚ the coach of Mamelodi Sundowns and former Bafana boss‚ has said he respects Baxter’s appointment and will support him‚ but felt Hunt should have had the job.

This has been largely reflected in popular public opinion on social media.

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Hunt‚ according to reports‚ was not on a final short-list of five arrived at by the SA Football Association in a bizarrely convoluted four-month process of headhunting a new coach since Ephraim "Shakes" Mashaba’s sacking following a disciplinary hearing in December.

Perhaps Hunt’s outspokenness and lack on international experience counted against him this time round.

Perhaps the coach’s assessment that attractive football has no place in a winning mentality also ruled against him.

• Pitso Mosimane: Gavin Hunt should have had the Bafana jobMamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane will support new Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter but feels Gavin Hunt better deserved the opportunity to lead the senior national team. 

He was at it again on Thursday night when‚ commenting on his side’s next Absa Premiership match against Maritzburg United‚ Hunt said: “People live in cuckoo-land about football. Fairyland. They want to see‚ you know … you’re not going to see‚ prettiness.

“You’re going to see determination and hopefully good attitudes.”

Such statements might scare off a Safa administration wary of a backlash from a public traditionally expectant of aesthetically pleasing football.

• List of previous Bafana Bafana coaches since re-admission in 1992Briton Stuart Baxter returned to the Bafana Bafana coaching seat he vacated in 2005 when he was named national team coach on Thursday. 

In this case‚ though‚ the weight of public opinion so far seems one of sympathy for Hunt at being overlooked yet again‚ especially when Wits’ victory on Thursday leaves them poised for a first league title in their 96-year history.

Wits are three points clear of second-placed Sundowns‚ and Hunt appears set for a fourth championship‚ to add to the three in succession he won at SuperSport United in 2008 to 2010.

• Five men who should have never been allowed near the Bafana coaching jobStuart Baxter will hope he is more successful than these five men who have led the national team but without distinction. 

Perhaps current SuperSport United head coach Baxter’s toughest part of the Bafana job he now takes concurrently with his club post‚ until the end of the PSL season in late May‚ will be winning over the many doubters among SA’s skeptical and demanding soccer lovers.

It might seem secondary to what happens on the field‚ but the history of the 21 previous Bafana coaches‚ and Baxter’s own experiences in an at times torrid previous tenure in 2004 to 2005‚ show otherwise.

- TMG Digital/TMG Sport