SuperSport United demand coach Baxter's compensation fee, but Safa unaware of debt

SuperSport United chief executive officer Stanley Matthews says they are yet to be compensated by the South African Football Association (Safa) over their approach for ex-coach Stuart Baxter, who are unaware of the debt.

The British coach was appointed Bafana Bafana head coach towards the end of the 2016/17 season after he guided SuperSport to the Nedbank Cup trophy.

Baxter was still contracted to Matsatsantsa at the time and Safa reportedly agreed to pay the Tshwane giants over R1 million as a compensation fee.

Matthews has now confirmed that they are still waiting for a payment from the country's football ruling body.

“Yes, I can confirm that we haven’t been compensated for Baxter but I can’t share more than that because of the respect that I have for Safa as the mother of our football,” Matthews told IOL.

Baxter rejoined Bafana for his second spell as the national team head coach having previously coached the team between 2004 and 2005.

The Wolverhampton-born tactician replaced Ephraim 'Shakes' Mashaba who had fallen out of favour with the Safa management.

But Safa's chief executive officer Tebogo Motlanthe insisted that they are in the dark regarding the outstanding compensation fee.

“There’s no one who knows where this Baxter thing comes from. I don’t have an invoice from SuperSport," Motlanthe told the same publication.

"When I owe, you must give me an invoice to say this is what you owe me. Safa is an [professional] institution, I can’t just say I had an agreement with you and I’ve not been paid, you send a letter of demand.

“I was not the CEO then, the people who were involved were the CFO [Chief Financial Officer, Gronie Hluyo]. I’ve sent all the queries to the CFO. He doesn’t have an invoice."

Baxter resigned as Bafana coach last August after guiding the team to the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations quarter-finals where they were narrowly defeated by Nigeria's Super Eagles.

The former Kaizer Chiefs head coach was replaced by local tactician Molefi Ntseki, who is expected to ensure that Bafana qualifies for the next Afcon finals and the 2022 Fifa World Cup.

Bafana players recently received their payments from Safa for the camp that took place in November 2019.