Indian Super League club Odisha FC have sacked head coach Stuart Baxter after his distasteful post-match analogy caused headlines worldwide on Monday.
The 67-year-old former South Africa national team coach was widely criticised for an outburst after his side lost 1-0 to Jamshedpur, with Odisha denied a penalty late in the game.
Afterwards Baxter claimed that his players would need "to rape someone or get raped" if they were going to win a penalty. The club immediately offered an unreserved apology for the awful analogy, but on Tuesday decided to take things further and end the manager's spell at the club.
"Odisha FC has decided to terminate Head Coach, Stuart Baxter's contract with immediate effect. The interim coach for the remainder of the season will be announced soon," explained a club in a statement on Twitter.
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Odisha are struggling in this season's Indian Super League. Monday's defeat leaves the team bottom of the table after 14 games, with just one win and five draws.
However it seems clear the sacking of Baxter is less to do with Odisha's poor form and more to do with the manager's dreadful choice of words in describing his frustrations with the officials on Monday.
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British coach Baxter has had success managing clubs in Japan, Sweden and South Africa, before he got the job of Bafana Bafana boss in 2017. He resigned in 2019 and took the Odisha role in 2020.
He's not the first football coach or pundit to make a seriously regretful analogy, particularly when emotions are running high. But he has now seemingly paid for his error with his job.
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Baxter has yet to comment on the incident.
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