Odisha FC on Wednesday announced the appointment of Gerald Peyton as their interim head coach till the end of the ongoing Indian Super League season after sacking Stuart Baxter for using a rape analogy to criticise a refereeing decision following the team’s defeat to Jamshedpur FC.
Peyton was assistant to Baxter before he was sacked.
“I have agreed to become the Odisha FC Interim Head Coach for the rest of the games, we have six games left. I am going to go with a lot of hardwork that’s been done already by myself and Stuart (Baxter),” Peyton said in a statement from Odisha FC.
“I am going to carry on and try and win as many games as possible with the young players, with the team that we have and the way we have been playing.”
He said his job will be to make sure that the team shows fight, resolve and pride in every game.
“Hopefully, we can give the fans a lot of good things to be proud of as we have been grateful for their support so far.”
On Tuesday, Odisha FC sacked Baxter with immediate effect and issued a public apology after the coach said “one of my players will have to rape someone or get raped himself to get a penalty.”
Odisha FC lost a tightly-contested match, leaving Baxter displeased by the refereeing. Odisha made a late penalty claim after Diego Mauricio was tripped by TP Rehenesh in the penalty area but it was turned down by the referee.
“You need decisions to go your way, and they didn’t. I don’t know when we are going to get our penalty. One of my players will have to rape someone or get raped himself if he was going to get a penalty...,” Baxter had said in the post-match interview.