“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 The request is on a desk at Rah Ahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 20 signed and 9 gone
That is the business done at Rah Ahan 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.
The deal that would have taken Ahmad Cheshmi to Gostaresh Foulad has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Rah Ahan with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
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.
At 20 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Rah Ahan will try not to make too much of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ramin Noorafkan signs something — a contract at Rah Ahan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
Mohammad Beiranvand 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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sepahan have kept their man, and Rah Ahan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Gostaresh Foulad paid $22.0K and Rah Ahan took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ehsan Nekounam was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Adib Zarei is in the works
“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.
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.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ehsan Nekounam was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Add another name to the list: Gostaresh Foulad have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ahmad Cheshmi. The answer from Rah Ahan has not changed — yet.
Three points for Rah Ahan, 1‑0 the final word against Gostaresh Foulad in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad9 Aug 2027
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.
“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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Rah Ahan have done the hard part with Zob Ahan, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Mohammad Beiranvand 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 phone has started ringing about Masoud Cheshmi again, and this time the name on the line is Esteghlal Khuzestan. Rah Ahan are listening politely and promising nothing.
Rah Ahan asked and Gostaresh Foulad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ehsan Nekounam was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The fee is $200.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Esteghlal Khuzestan drove a hard bargain; time will say who won 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.
$280.0K was the most the club would pay and Persepolis 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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Ahmad Savari from Esteghlal Khuzestan for $200.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Rah Ahan have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad19 Jul 2027
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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Rah Ahan will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
14 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.
He is going to Esteghlal Ahvaz, the club has $79.0K 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Esteghlal Khuzestan have kept their man, and Rah Ahan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Rah Ahan have gone to Padideh 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 Ahvaz pay $79.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Add another name to the list: Gostaresh Foulad have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ahmad Cheshmi. The answer from Rah Ahan has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ehsan Nekounam was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Rah Ahan can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The terraces7 Jun 2027
The mood at Rah Ahan 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.
“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 offer from Saipa for Morteza Gholizadeh 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.
Mohammad Beiranvand 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Zob Ahan have kept their man, and Rah Ahan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ehsan Nekounam 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Rah Ahan will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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.
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.
Squad3 May 2027
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 dugout3 May 2027
Ali Rezaeian loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Ali Rezaeian's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
“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 Suood Ali.
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 Khaled Al-Jaberi has written the date down.
“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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Morteza Gholizadeh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Rah Ahan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mohammad Hossein Sadeghi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2027
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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Rah Ahan will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Mohammad Hossein Sadeghi 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Vouria Nekounam has come out of that comparison in the side, and Rah Ahan have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The money the manager was told he had is now money the manager used to have. $6.2M, gone from the table without a statement, and a dressing room that understands what it means.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ali Rezaeian signs something — a contract at Rah Ahan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
At 20 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.
At 34, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Squad22 Mar 2027
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Behnam Barzay trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Rah Ahan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Persepolis 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 36 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
Rah Ahan had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Esteghlal Khuzestan, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Mohammad Beiranvand 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Krasnodar have kept their man, and Rah Ahan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 22 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mohammad Hossein Sadeghi. 2‑0 against Padideh, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
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.
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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Rah Ahan told Mohammad Hossein Sadeghi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Successful dribbles: 10. 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.
Mohammad Beiranvand 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.
Squad16 Nov 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Persepolis in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ali Rezaeian signs something — a contract at Rah Ahan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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.
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.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Ramin Noorafkan will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Rah Ahan escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Mohammad Hossein Sadeghi 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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ehsan Nekounam was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
In brief
Looking aheadRah Ahan take on the side everybody is chasing
Player ratingsAmir Vafaei beats them one at a time
6 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.
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.
At 20 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Rah Ahan will try not to make too much of it.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Karim Khodadad is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
“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.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
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.
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.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad14 Sep 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Rah Ahan close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Independiente keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
Squad7 Sep 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.
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Ali Rezaeian
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ali Rezaeian has come out of that comparison in the side, and Rah Ahan have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rah Ahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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.
The offer from Zob Ahan for Morteza Gholizadeh 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 ratings24 Aug 2026
Sardar Taremi, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.93
A mark of 7.93 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Rah Ahan 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Young Boys keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Mohammad Beiranvand 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.
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rah Ahan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Masoud Khodadad has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mehdi Taremi has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Karim Mohammadi has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsSardar Taremi beats them one at a time