SuperSport United threaten to call off Baxter-Safa talks

Weeks after SuperSport United officials gave Safa permission to speak to Baxter about possibly taking over as Bafana Bafana coach, SuperSport CEO Stan Matthews said he will call off the negotiations if Safa don’t reach a verdict by next week.

“It’s very simple – we gave them a week‚ they’ve taken three. It’s not satisfactory for us‚ and it’s not satisfactory for Stuart‚” Matthews said.

“And unfortunately he had to have an operation yesterday [Tuesday]‚ so he’s out of commission for a week‚ so I don’t want to stress him during that time.

“But if the situation isn’t resolved by the middle of next week‚ we’re going to call it off‚ or we are going to make our own announcement.”

“I can’t speak on his behalf but what I can say is that there are non-financial issues that Stuart has been requesting details of from Safa for three weeks‚ and they haven’t come back to him on‚” Matthews said.

“And it’s just getting unfair. I can’t sign pre-contracts for next season if he’s not my coach.

“I can’t move. I’ve got Africa to deal with and the group stages of the Caf Confederation Cup to think of now – I’ve got four spaces to fill in the squad for that.

“And I don’t know who I can fill those with because I don’t know who my coach is‚ which is wrong.”