Kaizer Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter says that he won’t put unnecessary pressure on his side by promising they will win silverware this season but insisted that he is building a team of soldiers who will be up for the fight.

The former Bafana Bafana coach spoke on Thursday afternoon via a virtual presser ahead of Sunday’s Carling Black Label pre-season match against Orlando Pirates at Orlando Stadium.

It was the first time the coach spoke to the media in the country following his return to the club where he was undoubtedly asked about Amakhosi’s six-year barren run, with their last piece of silverware coming under Baxter in his first spell in 2015.

There have been changes a plenty at Naturena with the appointments of another ex-Bafana Bafana head coach‚ Molefi Ntseki‚ as head of technical and the academy‚ and Kaizer Motaung Junior as sporting director‚ plus 10 ambitious player signings‚ have seen a change of atmosphere at the club.

Despite the positivity around the place, Baxter was clear not to make any big promises to the supporters.

Baxter was asked what can be expected of Chiefs in the 2021-22 season.

“As a coach you’ve got to be very careful making hot air type of promises just to stir up enthusiasm‚” the coach responded.

“Kaizer Chiefs have not won anything for a long time. They have gotten close‚ but they’ve not won anything. When I first came it was the same sort of situation.

“Now I didn’t promise that I would win something in the first year when I was here before‚ and I won’t promise that now. Because those sort of over-optimistic promises in some way put pressure on these players who have got to go out and deliver that.

“But what I will promise them [the supporters] is that the work that we do here at Naturena will prepare these soldiers for battle. And when we go into battle, I will promise them that we will not sell ourselves cheaply.

“That will be a promise that I will make them. Now hopefully that will lead to results‚ confidence in the group‚ belief in what we’re doing‚ and that will fuel better results‚ and we will then kick on‚ and start to bring some pride to the supporters‚ pride to the players.

“And I’m not saying it’s not been done before‚ but I’m just saying that is what needs to be done if we’re going to have the sort of results that we need to pick up some silverware.”