Marked for Omid Hosseini
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Aug 2028
No end in sight to Gostaresh Foulad's wait for a win
35 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gostaresh Foulad has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Aug 2028
47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gostaresh Foulad lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad28 Aug 2028
77 days out for Omid Hosseini after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gostaresh Foulad will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Milad Kor and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at Gostaresh Foulad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Majid Hajsafi 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 targets28 Aug 2028
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.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2028
A loan move for Albert Amoah is in the works
Gostaresh Foulad have made the call to Hajer. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
Falah Daram 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Aug 2028
The run now stands at 34, and the questions being asked around Gostaresh Foulad are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Shahriar Cheshmi damages knee ligaments — 54 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 54 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Omid Hosseini breaks a bone — 84 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 84 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
“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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Gostaresh Foulad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Majid Hajsafi 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 targets21 Aug 2028
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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Morteza Khodadad 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 dugout21 Aug 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Amir Hossein Mahmoudi, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ahmad Hosseini after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Aug 2028
No end in sight to Gostaresh Foulad's wait for a win
33 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gostaresh Foulad has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad14 Aug 2028
62 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gostaresh Foulad lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad14 Aug 2028
91 days out for Omid Hosseini after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gostaresh Foulad will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market14 Aug 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market14 Aug 2028
Sardar Karimi 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 Gostaresh Foulad can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom14 Aug 2028
13 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Milad Kor 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Aref Seifi 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
Squad17 Jul 2028
Shahriar Cheshmi damages knee ligaments — 90 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 90 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.
Boardroom17 Jul 2028
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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
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.
Market17 Jul 2028
“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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
6 senior players on the treatment table at once, and a team sheet that has stopped looking like the team. The physio room has become the busiest part of the building.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Zob Ahan keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Gostaresh Foulad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Majid Hajsafi 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 targets17 Jul 2028
Gostaresh Foulad asked and Naft Tehran said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market17 Jul 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Omid Hosseini has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Gostaresh Foulad.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces10 Jul 2028
Supporters organise against the Gostaresh Foulad board
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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Shahriar Cheshmi
98 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gostaresh Foulad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad10 Jul 2028
43 days out for Morteza Khodadad after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gostaresh Foulad will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market10 Jul 2028
“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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 18 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Milad Kor 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 targets10 Jul 2028
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.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
“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.
Market10 Jul 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Shahriar Yazdani’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Jun 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Shahriar Cheshmi
126 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gostaresh Foulad lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces12 Jun 2028
Anger at Gostaresh Foulad spills outside the ground
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.
Market12 Jun 2028
Omid Hosseini 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 Gostaresh Foulad can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Milad Kor 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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alireza Noorafkan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
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.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
The manager makes an example of Pejman Rezaeian
“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.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
A loan move for Ali Azadmehr is in the works
Gostaresh Foulad have made the call to Saipa. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
Persepolis have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 May 2028
140 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Gostaresh Foulad lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad29 May 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gostaresh Foulad will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match29 May 2028
10 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad29 May 2028
Majid Hajsafi 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Everybody at Gostaresh Foulad saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 37 the decline is real and measurable — 4 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
The dugout29 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Omid Hosseini
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Feb 2028
25 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.
Match7 Feb 2028
Every point is an argument now for Gostaresh Foulad
Position 16 and 7 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Amir Jahanbakhsh has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Match5 Feb 2028
9 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Gostaresh Foulad may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Gostaresh Foulad 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.
Market7 Feb 2028
The shirt still fits. Pejman Rezaeian is back at Gostaresh Foulad, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Milad Kor in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gostaresh Foulad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match25 Sep 2027
0‑3 against Malavan, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match25 Sep 2027
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Gostaresh Foulad are no longer polite ones.
Match25 Sep 2027
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Pouria Meshalgerdi 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Shahriar Cheshmi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“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.
Boardroom27 Sep 2027
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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Omid Hosseini and Gostaresh Foulad agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Feb 2027
No end in sight to Gostaresh Foulad's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Gostaresh Foulad has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Ali Pouraliganji and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Gostaresh Foulad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Majid Karimi 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
1‑2 to Naft Tehran, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Prince Guèye, and the manager let it.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Omid Hosseini and Gostaresh Foulad agree another 3 years.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Amir Jahanbakhsh after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Market22 Feb 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Gostaresh Foulad know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.