Quinton Fortune all but confirmed as one of Bafana coach Baxter's assistant

Bafana Bafana mentor Stuart Baxter has given the strongest hint yet that his search for a second assistant coach is over and the job is almost certain to go to controversial figure Quinton Fortune.

Baxter gave his South African Football Association (Safa) employers his list of preferred candidates a few weeks ago and if the Briton’s views this week are anything to go by‚ the former Manchester United player is a certainty for the job.

‘‘I think with Quinton‚ we wanted Quinton to come here (to SA) and speak to us — we wanted him to see what’s going on here‚” Baxter said.

‘‘I think that Quinton as a candidate ticks all the boxes. The guys that meet him in the streets are ectatic‚ even the younger ones‚ because they know the path he’s had in South African football.

‘‘We want to promote technical staff that follow qualifications and they have an appetitite to be students of the game.

‘‘Quinton is and I think that if we can tie down the nuts and bolts of how Quinton is going to work with us‚ partly abroad and partly here‚ and if we can make that a definite job description and we all accept it‚ then I think Quinton coming on board will be a big boost for everybody.”

Fortune arrived in SA last week at Baxter’s invitation and he took pride of place at the Bafana head table on Monday when the Briton announced the squad to face Cape Verde in back-to-back 2018 World Cup qualifiers next month.

The former United player remains a hugely polarising figure in SA after going on self-imposed exile and rejecting Bafana call-up letters during his playing days.

But Baxter is seemingly not too concerned by any of this and he said he’s hopes all the loose strings are tied up in the coming days.

‘‘And certainly I will ask the association (Safa) to tie it up quickly so that we know what’s happening and we do have Quinton as a resource moving into these important games (the two World Cup qualifiers against Cape Verde).”

 — TimesLIVE