55 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Persepolis, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gleiker Mendoza provided it, and the 8.88 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Successful dribbles: 27. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ali Cheshmi has just signed for Persepolis, and for once the answer mattered.
Rah Ahan did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $1.6M for Ali Cheshmi, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
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.
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.
$1.6M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rah Ahan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
A brace, and Sardar Taremi takes the afternoon — 9.29
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Sardar Taremi provided it, and the 9.29 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
He is going to Persepolis, the club has $1.6M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $51.2K — a club that wants Sina Moridi enough to be asked twice.
$130.0K on the table at Malavan. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$50.0K on the table at Foolad. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The words a physio says slowly. 63 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 match ball belongs to Mehdi Hashemnejad, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
$1.6M settles it between the clubs for Ali Cheshmi
Rah Ahan have accepted the money. What Persepolis do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
$3.8M was the most the club would pay and Sepahan were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Persepolis asked and Esteghlal said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$3.8M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
He is going to Foolad, the club has $3.8M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
“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 Rah Ahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.1M — a club that wants Mohammad Amin Hosseini enough to be asked twice.
Ali Cheshmi 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.
18 matches without a win, and then this, against Gostaresh Foulad. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Rah Ahan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rah Ahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
The deal with Gostaresh Foulad 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.
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rah Ahan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer from Tractor for Ramin Noorafkan 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.
Ali Cheshmi 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.
Erfan Yousefzadeh was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $540.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Beiranvand was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Erfan Yousefzadeh is 20, and Rah Ahan have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
A loan enquiry to Gostaresh Foulad: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rah Ahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rah Ahan can pretend not to have heard.
Ali Cheshmi 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ali Nemati was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Rah Ahan have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Ali Cheshmi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Beiranvand 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rah Ahan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Iliya Imani has written the date down.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ali Al-Yammahi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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 Rah Ahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
$1.0M was the most the club would pay and Sepahan were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Beiranvand 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.
Add another name to the list: Saipa have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Suood Ali. The answer from Rah Ahan has not changed — yet.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.
“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 Rah Ahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Karim Khodadad was one of the reasons people came, and $2.0M does not replace that by itself.
Ali Cheshmi 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.
Rah Ahan have gone to Zob Ahan with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Esteghlal Khuzestan wanted more than $27.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rah Ahan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
$27.0K on the table at Esteghlal Khuzestan. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Beiranvand 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.
Rah Ahan asked and Esteghlal said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rah Ahan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Rah Ahan that is a harder question to answer.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rah Ahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Rah Ahan have done the hard part with Esteghlal, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Ali Cheshmi 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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Beiranvand 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.
30 games, 1 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Rah Ahan now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mehdi Moharrami has his answer from Rah Ahan; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The words a physio says slowly. 46 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.
Ali Cheshmi 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Beiranvand was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Rah Ahan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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.
Squad22 May 2028
Ali Nemati 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rah Ahan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutIliya Imani asks for a word with the manager
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Beiranvand was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rah Ahan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Rah Ahan says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Rah Ahan. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Rah Ahan has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
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.
Ali Cheshmi 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.
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.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Ashkan Rezaeian was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
He is 21, he came through every age group here, and a borrowed player of about the same level starts every week ahead of him. The academy has noticed and so have the parents.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rah Ahan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Rah Ahan says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Beiranvand was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rah Ahan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Rah Ahan. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
8 graduates, from a department now rated 7 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
Sepahan watched Sardar Taremi again at the weekend, and this time they did not bother hiding it. Clubs only stop hiding when they want the price to start moving.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Beiranvand was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Masoud Gholizadeh has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Ali Cheshmi 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.
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 easiest signature of my career.” Mohammad Reza Falahian and Rah Ahan agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Rah Ahan, and 10 appearances in 12 say he has earned the hearing.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager's exit leaves Adib Zarei exposed
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Rah Ahan has been clear about where Khaled Al-Jaberi stands, which is more than many ever get.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rah Ahan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rah Ahan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Ali Cheshmi 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Beiranvand was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A mark of 7.36, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Masoud Gholizadeh chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rah Ahan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
16 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Ali Cheshmi 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.
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.
Everybody at Rah Ahan saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 34 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Hasan Shoushtari will call it something else in private.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Rah Ahan, another week without a signature from Ehsan Nekounam.
12 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Rah Ahan can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Rah Ahan know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 11 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Ali Cheshmi 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Beiranvand was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Siah Jamegan have kept their man, and Rah Ahan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Masoud Gholizadeh after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
11 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 9 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“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 Rah Ahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ali Cheshmi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Beiranvand 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 name of Morteza Nekounam has come up in conversations Rah Ahan were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
8 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Rah Ahan can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Rah Ahan asked and Foolad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
0‑1 to Padideh, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Masoud Gholizadeh left the room before anybody could ask which.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Ali Cheshmi 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.
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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Majid Hosseini commits to Rah Ahan for another 3 years.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Beiranvand 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Rah Ahan are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Ali Cheshmi 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Beiranvand was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Foolad left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Masoud Gholizadeh left the room before anybody could ask which.
Sepahan next, and one man in the Rah Ahan dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Beiranvand was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7.44, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Rah Ahan had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Masoud Gholizadeh chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rah Ahan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
1‑4 against Persepolis, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Ali Cheshmi 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Beiranvand was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The goal that put Persepolis ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Rah Ahan equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Beaten 4 times, with 4 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Beiranvand 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hasan Shoushtari trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The medical room confirms 30 days on the sidelines for Karim Ghoddos, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Suood Ali 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 team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Esteghlal.
At 20 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Mohammad Reza Falahian’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Rah Ahan needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Rah Ahan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Rah Ahan. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Sardar Taremi did not need any: 8.02, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Ali Cheshmi 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Beiranvand 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Sardar Taremi has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sardar Taremi. 1‑0 against Esteghlal Ahvaz, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Ali Cheshmi 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.
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.
16 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Beiranvand was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 6.78, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Morteza Nekounam and Rah Ahan agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Masoud Gholizadeh was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Rah Ahan dressing room was either.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Naft Tehran defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Hasan Shoushtari’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Rah Ahan needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Rah Ahan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ali Cheshmi 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Beiranvand 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.
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 Iliya Imani has written the date down.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
In brief
Looking aheadLooking ahead: the trip to Naft Tehran
BoardroomThe Rah Ahan production line keeps running
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The medical room confirms 26 days on the sidelines for Karim Torabi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad13 Sep 2027
9 new faces, and Rah Ahan are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
In brief
Player ratingsNobody on the pitch touched Ali Cheshmi
Up for the corner, and Ali Cheshmi delivers — 5.80
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ali Cheshmi scored, was marked 5.80, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ehsan Nekounam 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 dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Ali Cheshmi's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rah Ahan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.30 on the card, and the Rah Ahan support went home talking about one name.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Masoud Gholizadeh was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Rah Ahan dressing room was either.
Successful dribbles: 9. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mehdi Moharrami trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Rah Ahan is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Mohammad Hossein Sadeghi 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.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ehsan Nekounam 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Masoud Gholizadeh after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 14 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.