From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 Sep 2027
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Gostaresh Foulad are no longer polite ones.
Market27 Sep 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gostaresh Foulad can pretend not to have heard.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gostaresh Foulad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match25 Sep 2027
Saba left with the points after a 0-2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad27 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Ehsan Karimi
“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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
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.
Market5 Jul 2027
Hajer come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Gostaresh Foulad did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market5 Jul 2027
“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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Gostaresh Foulad will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Majid Yazdani knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gostaresh Foulad, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market5 Jul 2027
9 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Jun 2027
$1.1M 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
“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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Ehsan Karimi gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Mehdi Khodadad 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Somebody is after Ali Khodadad’s shirt
A new face in his position, and Ali Khodadad suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Gostaresh Foulad have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom3 May 2027
Mohammad Dejagah has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Gostaresh Foulad can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market3 May 2027
“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.
Squad3 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Karim Khodadad
“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.
Squad3 May 2027
Gostaresh Foulad will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
Squad3 May 2027
Mehdi Khodadad 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.
Market3 May 2027
The clock runs on Nikola Perić's contract
11 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
Pressure builds in the Gostaresh Foulad boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market26 Apr 2027
“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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Dec 2026
“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.
Match12 Dec 2026
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Gostaresh Foulad are no longer polite ones.
Match12 Dec 2026
Foolad left with the points after a 0-1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Gostaresh Foulad are no longer polite ones.
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 0-1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Ehsan Karimi gets it from the manager
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Sep 2026
“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.
Match19 Sep 2026
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Gostaresh Foulad are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
“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 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Ehsan Karimi
“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.