Johannesburg – Kaizer Chiefs’ coach Stuart Baxter says he hopes that the decision that will be made by the independent arbitrator will allow the team to play the matches that they forfeited amid the Covid-19 outbreak at their base in Naturena early December.
After failing to honour two of their five league matches in December during the outbreak, Amakhosi were found guilty by the PSL's Disciplinary Committee. But they appealed, pleading for the case to go for arbitration.
The DC compiled, with the league and Amakhosi asked to find an arbitrator on Monday. Reports emerged that they both nominated the name of Nassir Cassim, the advocate who handled the arbitration of the “Tendai Ndoro saga” in 2018.
But in the meantime, there are more chances that the DC’s decision to find Chiefs guilty will stand, given that the Board of Governors, the 32 club owners in the PSL, agreed that matches should be played despite any rising Covid-19 complications.
But with leagues such as the English Premier League having been flexible to alter that agreement and allow matches to be postponed, Baxter is hoping that the Cassim could take a leaf out from the same book when he hands down his verdict.
“Global football has been suffering. What I would say is that many leagues have been learning this as they are going along. They’ve made a ruling and they’ve realised that we’ve got to be more flexible than that,” Baxter said this week.
“I would just hope - although I realise there’s arbitration and all these things and I can’t say much - that would be what comes out this year. So, that we can move along with the knowledge that we have with the situation (and its challenges).
“I don’t think there’s anybody in the Premier League that has had near what we had. But there have been clubs that have had their matches postponed and rearranged. So, I hope we get to that point. But I won’t use that as an excuse."
With defunct Cape Umoya United having lost a game and deducted points when they forfeited their match against Cape Town Spurs amid Covid-19, it remains a mystery whether Chiefs' wish will be granted. But Baxter is not sulking.
The Brit has accepted should they be deducted six points from their 28 and goals from their seven, they’d be out of the title race as they’d trail leaders Sundowns by 22 points ahead of the start of the second half of the term this month.
“It'd have been nice to play the games and try to exert some pressure on Sundowns. Currently, they are playing with no one breathing down their necks. And we would, potentially, hypothetically, be the one to do that,” he said.
Sundowns have already outsmarted Chiefs this year, acquiring the signature of the most-prized player in local football, Teboho Mokoena, while the latter didn’t make any additions to their squad after only extending the contracts of their players.
Of course, Baxter knows that this left a bitter taste in the mouth of their fans but says “I can't say I don't understand what the supporters are feeling. But I can assure that goes on in terms of targeting people and getting a 'no' back in the end".
With Chiefs’ fate is still up in the air, they’ll have to seek some redemption, of claiming a silverware and qualifying for continental football, via the Nedbank Cup so far. They’ll meet bogey TS Galaxy in the last 32 next Saturday at FNB Stadium.
IOL Sport