Baxter: Zwane and Sheppard will be on Chiefs’ bench, Ntseki in the stands

Arthur Zwane and Dillon Sheppard will remain on the bench as the dual assistant coaches to Stuart Baxter, Kaizer Chiefs’ head coach confirmed ahead of his team’s MTN8 season-opener against Mamelodi Sundowns.

Chiefs’ head of technical, Molefi Ntseki, will watch from the stands, Baxter explained of the team’s match technical structure for the 2021-22 season.

For clarification purposes, given the administrative and technical staff changes at Chiefs, Baxter confirmed the makeup of his bench going into Sunday’s quarterfinal at Lucas Moripe Stadium will be as most would have speculated.

Baxter also confirmed that goalkeeper-coach Lee Baxter resumed his duties this week after travelling to Sweden last week, where his wife gave birth to a baby boy.

Zwane and Sheppard — who steered Chiefs to wins in their last two DStv Premiership matches to scrape an eighth-placed finish and entry into the MTN8 — remain on the bench. The duo also steered Chiefs through a 1-0 aggregate shock victory over Wydad Casablanca in the Caf Champions League semifinals, with new appointees Baxter and Ntseki in the stands and having an input on build-up and tactics.

“In terms of the bench, I think that we’ve worked on the assumption that Arthur and Dillon will be on the bench, and Molefi stays in touch with us from the stands,” Baxter said.

“Because I believe it’s good to have a good pair of eyes looking at that different angle, who comes down at halftime and gives us his take on things, and then we work out the tactical changes if they need to be done at the break.

“So as far as I know Arthur and Dillon will be on the bench.”

The technical staff has an interesting makeup and synergy. Baxter, in his second stint at the club, had Ntseki as his assistant when Bafana reached the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations quarterfinals shocking hosts Egypt in the second round.

Ntseki, appointed to Chiefs’ new position of head of technical and the academy in late May, succeeded Baxter as Bafana head coach, and had Amakhosi’s ex-development coach Zwane as his national assistant, who also still worked for Chiefs at the time.

Baxter confirmed his son Lee had returned from Sweden in time for the season kickoff, after Chiefs’ coach and goalkeeper coach became a grandfather and father respectively last week.

“Lee had seven days home [in Sweden], so his leave of absence was not over-exaggerated. He both wanted to be there and support his missus, who gave birth to quite a large baby boy,” Baxter said.

“Baby Leo was 50cm and 4kg, so he’s a big lad. I think maybe there’s a goalkeeper in there somewhere.

“Lee is back. He arrived back and was to be at training today [on Wednesday] and will be taking the keepers towards the weekend.

“Rory [Minnaar, Chiefs’ development goalkeeper coach] has been working in his place and as usual when he fills in he does a good job.”