Marked for Ehsan Beiranvand
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Morteza Hosseini
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Siah Jamegan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad14 Dec 2026
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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Vahid Hajsafi 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.
Loan watch14 Dec 2026
“I watch every Siah Jamegan game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Rah Ahan runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match12 Dec 2026
0‑1 to Esteghlal, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rahim Alboughobaish was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ehsan Beiranvand, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
56 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Siah Jamegan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vahid Hajsafi and Siah Jamegan agree another 5 years.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Pejman Rezaeian 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 Siah Jamegan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vahid 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Pejman Rezaeian has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Siah Jamegan will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market16 Nov 2026
Reza Taremi told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Reza Taremi has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Siah Jamegan.
Market16 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Pejman Rezaeian’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The terraces16 Nov 2026
The stands have heard the Vahid Hajsafi talk too
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Siah Jamegan would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Nov 2026
70 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Siah Jamegan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vahid Hajsafi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match31 Oct 2026
Saipa left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Mehdi Noorafkan is the month’s best young player
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Siah Jamegan will try not to make too much of it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Saeid Irankhah, and the manager let it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad2 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Sardar Vafaei 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 Siah Jamegan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market2 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Vahid Hajsafi signs something — a contract at Siah Jamegan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
Morteza Hosseini damages knee ligaments — 98 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 98 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 dugout5 Oct 2026
Ehsan Khodadad: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Siah Jamegan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Siah Jamegan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Siah Jamegan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vahid 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
3 matches without a goal for Siah Jamegan
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout5 Oct 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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
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.” Majid Shojaei chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer from Malavan for Pejman Rezaeian 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A one-man rearguard from Alireza Nazi
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market10 Aug 2026
The name of Ehsan Ghoddos has come up in conversations Siah Jamegan were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Pejman Rezaeian commits to Siah Jamegan for another 5 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Pejman Rezaeian 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Siah Jamegan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Shojaei 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 targets10 Aug 2026
A loan move for Igor Serrote is in the works
Siah Jamegan have made the call to Al Jazira. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Match8 Aug 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Esteghlal leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ehsan Beiranvand, and the manager let it.