Marked for Danial Eiri
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Oct 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mehrdad Mohammadi
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persepolis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match1 Oct 2029
Persepolis refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 21 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market1 Oct 2029
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Persepolis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match29 Sep 2029
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Persepolis did not have in the autumn.
Boardroom1 Oct 2029
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Market1 Oct 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Persepolis is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Jason Knight and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match29 Sep 2029
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Persepolis. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Match29 Sep 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Danial Eiri. 1‑0 against Esteghlal Khuzestan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Aug 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mehrdad Mohammadi
79 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persepolis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.96, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market13 Aug 2029
Esteghlal come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Persepolis did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market13 Aug 2029
Only the photograph left for Ali Alipour
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ali Alipour will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Persepolis the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market13 Aug 2029
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Jason Knight in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persepolis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Aug 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Yaghoub Barage commits to Persepolis for another 4 years.
The dugout13 Aug 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Payam Niazmand, and the manager let it.
Market13 Aug 2029
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Persepolis will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Jul 2029
Mehrdad Mohammadi damages knee ligaments — 95 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 95 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market30 Jul 2029
Ehsan Hajsafi hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persepolis can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Saeid Nekounam was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Dániel Gera falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout30 Jul 2029
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The dugout30 Jul 2029
When it matters, Danial Eiri plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market30 Jul 2029
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout30 Jul 2029
Kasra Taheri knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Persepolis, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Jul 2029
Mehrdad Mohammadi damages knee ligaments — 104 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 104 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market23 Jul 2029
Omid Alishah hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persepolis can pretend not to have heard.
Market23 Jul 2029
Farshad Faraji has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Persepolis they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad23 Jul 2029
At 25 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Saeid Nekounam and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sepahan have kept their man, and Persepolis go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout23 Jul 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Saeid Nekounam, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Jul 2029
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Jul 2029
119 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persepolis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match9 Jul 2029
73 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Market9 Jul 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Persepolis people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market9 Jul 2029
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Amir Shojaei had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market9 Jul 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad9 Jul 2029
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Market9 Jul 2029
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Persepolis heard it as anything else.
Squad9 Jul 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Danial Eiri and Persepolis agree another 5 years.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Jason Knight and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Jul 2029
Mehrdad Mohammadi damages knee ligaments — 127 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 127 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The dugout2 Jul 2029
Jordan Larsson: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Persepolis have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market2 Jul 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad2 Jul 2029
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Jason Knight and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad2 Jul 2029
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Persepolis will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Market2 Jul 2029
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Market2 Jul 2029
The name of Farshad Faraji has come up in conversations Persepolis were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The dugout2 Jul 2029
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 May 2029
The knee: Omid Alishah out for 121 days
121 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persepolis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad28 May 2029
Dario Casella is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.54 with 28 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match23 May 2029
The cup run ends for Persepolis
1‑2 against Tractor, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Player ratings28 May 2029
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 May 2029
Dario Casella falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad28 May 2029
Igor Sergeev in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persepolis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout28 May 2029
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout28 May 2029
Igor Sergeev left out for the big one
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Igor Sergeev will call it something else in private.
The dugout28 May 2029
Danial Eiri gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Danial Eiri is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Apr 2029
The knee: Omid Alishah out for 152 days
152 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persepolis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad30 Apr 2029
A muscle injury sidelines Hossein Kanaani for 15 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Persepolis will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad30 Apr 2029
A row about effort at Persepolis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dario Casella was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Igor Sergeev in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persepolis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
When it matters, Danial Eiri plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market30 Apr 2029
The Danial Eiri story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Danial Eiri signs something — a contract at Persepolis or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market30 Apr 2029
Persepolis have let the market know Aref Haji Eydi can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
Aref Haji Eydi knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aref Haji Eydi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Mohammad Reza Rezaei has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Apr 2029
Saeid Nekounam and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Apr 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mohammad Omri and Persepolis agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Apr 2029
A row about effort at Persepolis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dániel Gera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
Danial Eiri gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Danial Eiri is on it.
Market2 Apr 2029
The Danial Eiri story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Danial Eiri signs something — a contract at Persepolis or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market2 Apr 2029
Persepolis have let the market know Aref Haji Eydi can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Mar 2029
4 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match28 Feb 2029
A 1‑1 win over Sepahan, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
Up for the corner, and Zargham Saadavi delivers — 7.86
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Zargham Saadavi scored, was marked 7.86, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Saeid Nekounam and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match28 Feb 2029
Persepolis make home a hard place to visit
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad5 Mar 2029
A row about effort at Persepolis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dario Casella was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Mohammad Karimi has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Persepolis have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Defences have started doubling up on Oston O'runov
7 goals and a season average of 7.29 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
It was his to settle and he did not settle it. A long walk back to the halfway line, and a considerably longer week.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match2 Sep 2028
The run at home goes on for Persepolis
14 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Market4 Sep 2028
The offer from Padideh for Yaghoub Barage was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Age has not caught Dániel Gera yet — 7.98
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.98 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 18 signed and 22 gone
That is the business done at Persepolis until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Match2 Sep 2028
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Persepolis did not have in the autumn.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Saeid Nekounam and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match2 Sep 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mohammad Mehdi Mohebi. 2‑1 against Malavan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad4 Sep 2028
A row about effort at Persepolis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dániel Gera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Ninety minutes of Oston O'runov at his very best
Marked 8.31. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Persepolis.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market31 Jul 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Persepolis have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market31 Jul 2028
Malavan come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Persepolis did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market31 Jul 2028
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Persepolis can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
The offer went to Tractor this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Kasra Taheri is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad31 Jul 2028
At 24 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Market31 Jul 2028
Add another name to the list: Al Wahda have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Kasra Taheri. The answer from Persepolis has not changed — yet.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Igor Sergeev in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persepolis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom31 Jul 2028
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 Jul 2028
Thievy Bifouma damages knee ligaments — 88 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 88 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market3 Jul 2028
Sepahan come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Persepolis did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market3 Jul 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Persepolis people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Hossein Kanaani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market3 Jul 2028
Add another name to the list: Esteghlal have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Mojtaba Fakhrian. The answer from Persepolis has not changed — yet.
Market3 Jul 2028
Business is business: Marko Bakić goes
Tractor paid $220.0K and Persepolis took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad3 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Persepolis
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dániel Gera was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 Jul 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Farshad Faraji and Persepolis agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
8 new boys at the Persepolis academy
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.