Four foreigners and one South African formed the five-man list of prospective candidates for the vacant Bafana Bafana job following the firing of Ephraim "Shakes" Mashaba.
Hassan Shehata, the serial Africa Cup of Nations winner with Egypt who conquered the continent in 2006, 2008 and 2010 was one of the names on the shortlist.
Carlos Queiroz, the Portuguese with a penchant to qualify countries for the World Cup - SA in 2002, Portugal in 2010 and Iran in 2014 and 2018 - was another name on the list.
Ruud Krol, he of the pink-shirt fame who delivered unbridled delirium to Orlando Pirates supporters when the Dutchman won a treble of Telkom Knockout, Premier Soccer League (PSL) and Nedbank Cup gongs, was also there.
Krol's countryman Frank Rijkaard, who won two Spanish La Liga titles and a Uefa Champions League with Barcelona, was another name. Four-time PSL championship winning coach Gavin Hunt completed the slate. This list was whittled down from a whopping 60 applications who hoped to become Mashaba's successor.
As you can see, the incumbent Bafana Bafana coach's name was nowhere to be seen on the register of prospective candidates under consideration.
A search committee had been appointed and tasked with finding SA's 109th coach. Members of the said committee comprised Anastasia Tsichlas, Lucas Radebe, Benni McCarthy, Budha Mathathe, Farouk Khan, Anna Nyman and SA Football Association president Danny Jordaan.
The million-dollar question is on whose recommendation, or imposition, did Stuart Baxter find himself as a frontrunner for the job? Three Safa officials have told me that Baxter's name came into the frame like a bolt from the blue.
"This development was surprising to us. We were all caught off guard by it. Baxter was never among the candidates for consideration. Never," said a high-ranking Safa official. "Let me tell you," added a colleague of his. "Baxter's name was never presented to the search committee. We never considered him after what happened with the 2005 World Cup campaign."
An ugly and scary picture of a pattern of a one-man show with disregard to governance at the organisation is emerging.
Nonetheless, Baxter's name was presented to the national executive committee as a recommendation from the search committee. Alas, it was a blue lie. And those with elephant memories will recall that both Radebe and McCarthy publicly distanced themselves from participating in any process that led to the appointment.
In any case, two months passed without any progress with Baxter's package. No t's were crossed. No i's were dotted thanks to haggling over his salary package.
At the time Baxter was attached to SuperSport United and they were perspiring at the prospect of losing their coach. They were also annoyed by the drawn-out saga and eventually issued Safa with an ultimatum: resolve the matter with Baxter or we will rescind our agreement to release him from his contract.
Baxter eventually signed for his second coming as Bafana coach. He proceeded to make the things that made the pots disappear by failing to qualify SA for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. That was a repeat of a feat he achieved in 2005, when he failed to take Bafana to Germany 2006. Damn! Talk about consistency, hey?
But football is a funny game. As Madagascar and Benin have showed us with their victories over Nigeria and Morocco, Davids can fell Goliaths. But the welding Bafana played in the group stages was such an assault to the eyesight, few had faith ahead of their encounter with Egypt last night.
Twitter: @bbkunplugged99
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