Marked for Soheil Sarkari
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Jun 2030
111 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Padideh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad24 Jun 2030
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Padideh will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market24 Jun 2030
“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.
Transfer targets24 Jun 2030
$480.0K settles it between the clubs for Alireza Nazi
Persepolis have accepted the money. What Padideh do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The dugout24 Jun 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad24 Jun 2030
Words exchanged at Padideh
Vouria Hosseini 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.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Sina Ghanbarpour 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.
Transfer targets24 Jun 2030
Padideh asked and Persepolis said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout24 Jun 2030
Ramin Rezaeian has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Padideh will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 May 2030
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Padideh will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market27 May 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padideh can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout27 May 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Padideh may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
The dugout27 May 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad27 May 2030
Words exchanged at Padideh
Vouria Hosseini 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.
Squad27 May 2030
A row about effort at Padideh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mehdi Mohammadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom20 May 2030
The scrutiny sharpens at Padideh
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Padideh is running low.
Squad20 May 2030
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 116 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad20 May 2030
A falling-out at Padideh
Vouria Hosseini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad20 May 2030
Mehdi Mohammadi 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 dugout20 May 2030
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout20 May 2030
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.
The dugout20 May 2030
Soheil Sarkari asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market20 May 2030
The clock does Vahid Asgarpour’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Padideh could ask drops and the wages Vahid Asgarpour can ask rise.
Boardroom20 May 2030
The Padideh production line keeps running
24 graduates out of an academy now rated 7 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market29 Apr 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padideh can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout29 Apr 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout29 Apr 2030
Amir Khodadad: 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.” Padideh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Words exchanged at Padideh
Vouria Hosseini 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.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Mehdi Mohammadi 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 dugout29 Apr 2030
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 Kabangu Alex Teixeira is on it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market1 Apr 2030
“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.
The dugout1 Apr 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad1 Apr 2030
Words exchanged at Padideh
Vouria Hosseini 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.
Squad1 Apr 2030
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 dugout1 Apr 2030
Renato Piras loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Renato Piras's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
The dugout1 Apr 2030
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.
Market1 Apr 2030
“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.
Market1 Apr 2030
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Vouria Hosseini’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad1 Apr 2030
A season on the outside for Renato Piras
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Padideh has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Mar 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sardar Taremi
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Padideh lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom4 Mar 2030
Alireza Shojaei has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Padideh can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market4 Mar 2030
“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.
The dugout4 Mar 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad4 Mar 2030
Words exchanged at Padideh
Vouria Hosseini 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.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mehdi Mohammadi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout4 Mar 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mani Gholami, and the manager let it.
The dugout4 Mar 2030
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.
Market4 Mar 2030
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Padideh, another week without a signature from Alireza Naghizadeh.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Feb 2030
0‑5 to Sepahan, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Squad4 Feb 2030
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market4 Feb 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padideh can pretend not to have heard.
Match2 Feb 2030
No end in sight to Padideh's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Padideh has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout4 Feb 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
Window shuts: 0 in, 4 out at Padideh
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets4 Feb 2030
The deal with Racing Genk is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Vouria Hosseini 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Jan 2030
Chastening afternoon for Padideh
A 0‑3 beating by Siah Jamegan was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market14 Jan 2030
Mani Gholami 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 Padideh can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout14 Jan 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Padideh may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
The dugout14 Jan 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad14 Jan 2030
Words exchanged at Padideh
Vouria Hosseini 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.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mehdi Mohammadi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets14 Jan 2030
Padideh asked and Dinamo Zagreb said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout14 Jan 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Soheil Sarkari, and the manager let it.
Boardroom14 Jan 2030
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The terraces24 Dec 2029
The mood at Padideh has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market24 Dec 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.
Squad24 Dec 2029
A falling-out at Padideh
Vouria Hosseini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Mehdi Mohammadi 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.
Match22 Dec 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Vouria Hosseini. 1‑0 against Esteghlal Ahvaz, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad24 Dec 2029
50 goals for this club, and somewhere in the stand there is a person who can still tell you where they were for most of them.
Player ratings24 Dec 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout24 Dec 2029
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings24 Dec 2029
Marked 7.83. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Nov 2029
Alireza Naghizadeh damages knee ligaments — 50 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 50 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.
Market12 Nov 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.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Vouria Hosseini 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.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mehdi Mohammadi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match12 Nov 2029
Halfway: Padideh sit in position 13
9 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Player ratings12 Nov 2029
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.73 on the card, and the Padideh support went home talking about one name.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Padideh told Soheil Sarkari something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Match10 Nov 2029
A 1‑1 draw with Zob Ahan leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Oct 2029
65 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Padideh lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The terraces29 Oct 2029
The mood at Padideh has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match27 Oct 2029
8 matches without a win for Padideh
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Padideh are no longer polite ones.
Match29 Oct 2029
Padideh sink to position 14
5 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market29 Oct 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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad29 Oct 2029
A falling-out at Padideh
Vouria Hosseini and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Oct 2029
A row about effort at Padideh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mehdi Mohammadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market17 Sep 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padideh can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Vouria Hosseini 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.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Mehdi Mohammadi 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.
Match15 Sep 2029
0‑2 to Rah Ahan, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad17 Sep 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Masoud Mohammadi and Padideh agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Too much change too quickly at Padideh
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad13 Aug 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market13 Aug 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Padideh is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
The deal with Club Brugge is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad13 Aug 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad13 Aug 2029
A row about effort at Padideh
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Reza Ghobeishavi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad13 Aug 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alireza Naghizadeh and Padideh agree another 2 years.
The dugout13 Aug 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Soheil Sarkari, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 May 2029
128 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Foolad lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad21 May 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout21 May 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market21 May 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 Foolad, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout21 May 2029
Matheus Costa: 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.” Foolad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market21 May 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Foolad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad21 May 2029
A falling-out at Foolad
Ali Gholizadeh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 May 2029
A row about effort at Foolad
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Reza Soleimani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market21 May 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Apr 2029
159 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Foolad lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market23 Apr 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Foolad can pretend not to have heard.
Market23 Apr 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Foolad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad23 Apr 2029
A falling-out at Foolad
Ali Gholizadeh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at Foolad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ramin Rezaeian is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Foolad, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 35. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market8 Jan 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 Foolad, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad8 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Foolad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Jan 2029
A row about effort at Foolad
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ramin Rezaeian was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Saman Rezaeian has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Foolad have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
Foolad asked and Esteghlal Ahvaz said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Loan watch8 Jan 2029
“I watch every Foolad game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sepahan runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match6 Jan 2029
Foolad caught on 86 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Malavan scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.