Marked for Ehsan Taremi
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Oct 2029
A fracture rules Ehsan Taremi out for 17 days
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.
Match13 Oct 2029
11 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Esteghlal Khuzestan were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Saman Vafaei 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.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karim Mohammadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings15 Oct 2029
A performance of 8.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad15 Oct 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Saeid Gholizadeh and Gostaresh Foulad agree another 5 years.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Vahid Shojaei could afford to be generous.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Oct 2029
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Gostaresh Foulad are no longer polite ones.
Squad8 Oct 2029
A one-man rearguard from Omid Afshin
There were 11 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.
Squad8 Oct 2029
A fracture rules Ehsan Taremi out for 25 days
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.
Match6 Oct 2029
Beaten 0‑5 by Padideh, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market8 Oct 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gostaresh Foulad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Saman Vafaei 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.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Karim Mohammadi 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.
Boardroom8 Oct 2029
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.
The dugout8 Oct 2029
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Vahid Shojaei after 0‑5, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces1 Oct 2029
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.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Ehsan Taremi breaks a bone — 33 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match29 Sep 2029
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Gostaresh Foulad are no longer polite ones.
Match1 Oct 2029
Position 16, 2 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Saman Vafaei 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.
Match29 Sep 2029
Zob Ahan left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout1 Oct 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alireza Amirkhani, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 Oct 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Vahid Shojaei to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Sep 2029
A fracture rules Ehsan Taremi out for 40 days
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.
Match22 Sep 2029
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around Gostaresh Foulad are no longer polite ones.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Saman Vafaei and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
Marked 7.75 on 14 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Squad24 Sep 2029
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Gostaresh Foulad are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at Gostaresh Foulad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karim Mohammadi 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 dugout24 Sep 2029
The manager makes an example of Karim Mohammadi
“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.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
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.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Sep 2029
A fracture rules Ehsan Taremi out for 47 days
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.
Match15 Sep 2029
8 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.
Boardroom17 Sep 2029
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Reza Beiranvand has agreed terms with Saipa for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Saman Vafaei 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.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Karim Mohammadi 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.
Match15 Sep 2029
0‑2 to Malavan, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Vahid Shojaei to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ahmad Gholizadeh is on it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Sep 2029
54 days out for Ehsan Taremi 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.
Match5 Sep 2029
1‑2 against Persepolis, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Match8 Sep 2029
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Gostaresh Foulad are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Marked 7.64 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market10 Sep 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gostaresh Foulad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2029
No thanks: José Oliveira rejects the move
Gostaresh Foulad had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Botafogo, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Saman Vafaei 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.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2029
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.
Match8 Sep 2029
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Sep 2029
61 days out for Ehsan Taremi 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.
The terraces3 Sep 2029
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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
15 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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
A one-man rearguard from Omid Afshin
There were 6 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.
Match1 Sep 2029
No end in sight to Gostaresh Foulad's wait for a win
5 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.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Gostaresh Foulad close the window on a squad of their own making
19 in and 10 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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Saman Vafaei 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.
Match1 Sep 2029
Foolad left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Transfer targets3 Sep 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Aug 2029
69 days out for Ehsan Taremi 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.
Squad27 Aug 2029
22 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.
Match25 Aug 2029
Beaten 1‑4 by Esteghlal, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
The dugout27 Aug 2029
“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.
Match25 Aug 2029
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Gostaresh Foulad are no longer polite ones.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Saman Vafaei and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vahid Noorafkan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets27 Aug 2029
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.
Match25 Aug 2029
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Vahid Rezaeian had Gostaresh Foulad level again within 3 minutes, and Esteghlal never got to play with a lead at all.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Aug 2029
77 days out for Ehsan Taremi 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.
Squad20 Aug 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sardar Shojaei
30 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.
Market20 Aug 2029
Reza Ghoddos 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.
The dugout20 Aug 2029
Reza Ghoddos: 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.” Gostaresh Foulad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Vahid Noorafkan 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.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2029
Gostaresh Foulad asked and AEK 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 dugout20 Aug 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alireza Amirkhani, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2029
A loan move for Nikita Matysyuk is in the works
Gostaresh Foulad have made the call to Neman. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Match18 Aug 2029
A 1‑1 draw with Siah Jamegan leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad13 Aug 2029
A fracture rules Ehsan Taremi out for 84 days
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.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market13 Aug 2029
The offer from Al Shaab for Amirmehdi Bahmanpour 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.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Saman Vafaei 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.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vahid Noorafkan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
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.
Match11 Aug 2029
Persepolis left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout13 Aug 2029
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Vahid Shojaei after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
AEK 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
Squad6 Aug 2029
91 days out for Ehsan Taremi 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.
Match4 Aug 2029
0‑6 against Rah Ahan, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The terraces6 Aug 2029
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.
Market6 Aug 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gostaresh Foulad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Saman Vafaei 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.
Match4 Aug 2029
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Gostaresh Foulad and Rah Ahan in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Vahid Noorafkan 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 targets6 Aug 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Jul 2029
Ehsan Taremi breaks a bone — 98 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 98 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
The paperwork begins on Lukáš Franc
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Gostaresh Foulad have done the hard part with Sparta Prague, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Vahid Noorafkan 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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Gostaresh Foulad know it.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
Gostaresh Foulad asked and Racing Club said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad30 Jul 2029
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout30 Jul 2029
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
Market30 Jul 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Reza Ghoddos has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Gostaresh Foulad.
Market30 Jul 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Vahid Rezaeian signs something — a contract at Gostaresh Foulad or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Jul 2029
A fracture rules Ehsan Taremi out for 105 days
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.
Market23 Jul 2029
“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.
The dugout23 Jul 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Gostaresh Foulad may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Zayid Sultan is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Saman Vafaei 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.
Squad23 Jul 2029
At 24 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
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.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
Sparta Prague 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.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
A loan move for João Borne is in the works
Gostaresh Foulad have made the call to Corinthians. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Jul 2029
112 days out for Ehsan Taremi 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.
Boardroom16 Jul 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Gostaresh Foulad
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market16 Jul 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Gostaresh Foulad people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad16 Jul 2029
At 23 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.
Squad16 Jul 2029
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.
Squad16 Jul 2029
At 31 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2029
A loan enquiry to AEK: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout16 Jul 2029
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
The dugout16 Jul 2029
“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
Uneasy
Squad9 Jul 2029
A fracture rules Ehsan Taremi out for 120 days
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.
The terraces9 Jul 2029
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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Ahmad Gholizadeh is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Gostaresh Foulad have done the hard part with HNK Vukovar 1991, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
No thanks: Ramin Azizi rejects the move
Gostaresh Foulad had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Sepahan, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Saman Vafaei 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.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sparta Prague have kept their man, and Gostaresh Foulad go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
Racing Club 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.
The dugout9 Jul 2029
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Jul 2029
A fracture rules Ehsan Taremi out for 127 days
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.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
Vahid Shojaei 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.
Market2 Jul 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Gostaresh Foulad have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Saeid Cheshmi has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Vahid Noorafkan 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.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Karim Mohammadi 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 targets2 Jul 2029
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 dugout2 Jul 2029
“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
Uneasy
Squad25 Jun 2029
Ehsan Taremi breaks a bone — 135 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 135 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Vahid Noorafkan 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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Karim Mohammadi 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 targets25 Jun 2029
Gostaresh Foulad asked and Sparta Prague said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
A loan move for Bruno Mišura is in the works
Gostaresh Foulad have made the call to Hajduk Split. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2029
Rosario Central 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.
The dugout25 Jun 2029
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ahmad Gholizadeh is on it.
The dugout25 Jun 2029
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 May 2029
Vahid Shojaei 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.
Boardroom7 May 2029
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Squad7 May 2029
Vahid Ghoddos breaks a bone — 29 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market7 May 2029
Only the photograph left for Ali Khodadad
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ali Khodadad will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gostaresh Foulad the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad7 May 2029
Vahid Noorafkan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 May 2029
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Gostaresh Foulad are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad7 May 2029
It is sentimental, it is completely genuine, and it is the beginning of a departure nobody has announced. The club can be gracious about it or it can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout7 May 2029
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
Boardroom7 May 2029
A squad written off a fortnight ago has closed ranks. Whatever was said behind that door, it has held so far.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Gostaresh Foulad is running low.
Match26 Feb 2029
23 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.82 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Vahid Noorafkan 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.
Match24 Feb 2029
A 2‑1 win over Esteghlal Ahvaz, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Karim Mohammadi 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 dugout26 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alireza Amirkhani, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
The team sheet said everything about Ehsan Taremi
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Ehsan Taremi.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces19 Feb 2029
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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
12 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match17 Feb 2029
1‑4 against Tractor, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad19 Feb 2029
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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karim Mohammadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom19 Feb 2029
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.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
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 1‑4 Vahid Shojaei left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Reza Ghoddos, and the manager let it.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
Ehsan Taremi beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 12. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Feb 2029
Ali Khodadad has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gostaresh Foulad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Masoud Khodadad 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.
Match10 Feb 2029
Ehsan Taremi scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Saipa, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
The manager makes an example of Ehsan Taremi
“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.
Match10 Feb 2029
No time for Saipa to settle
The goal that put Saipa ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Gostaresh Foulad equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Vahid Shojaei after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
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.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
There was no pressure on him and nowhere he had to be. Gostaresh Foulad lost a goal to a decision that took half a second and will be discussed all week.
Market12 Feb 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Saman Vafaei’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Vahid Shojaei 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.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Gostaresh Foulad close the window on a squad of their own making
0 in and 4 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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Masoud 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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mehdi Vafaei and Gostaresh Foulad agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
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 ratings5 Feb 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.53, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at Gostaresh Foulad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karim Mohammadi 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.
Player ratings5 Feb 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.04, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Jan 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Masoud Khodadad
26 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.
Market15 Jan 2029
Only the photograph left for Ali Khodadad
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ali Khodadad will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gostaresh Foulad the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Masoud Khodadad 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.
Match13 Jan 2029
Ehsan Taremi scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Zob Ahan, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2029
Gostaresh Foulad asked and Gimnasia y Tiro 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 dugout15 Jan 2029
“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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karim Mohammadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad15 Jan 2029
The medical room confirms 26 days on the sidelines for Jérôme Ménard, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
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 1‑3 Vahid Shojaei left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Jan 2029
34 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.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Vahid Shojaei has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Masoud 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.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
Gostaresh Foulad asked and Basaksehir said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match6 Jan 2029
Saba made Gostaresh Foulad work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
A performance of 8.53 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match6 Jan 2029
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Saba spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Dec 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Masoud Khodadad
69 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.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Gostaresh Foulad
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Vahid Shojaei has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Masoud Khodadad and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces4 Dec 2028
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.
Match2 Dec 2028
It finished 1‑0, and it was Ehsan Taremi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Gostaresh Foulad.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karim Mohammadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings4 Dec 2028
Marked 7.95. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Nov 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Masoud Khodadad
77 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 terraces27 Nov 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.
Match25 Nov 2028
A 1‑4 beating by Persepolis was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match27 Nov 2028
Position 14, 10 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad27 Nov 2028
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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
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.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alireza Amirkhani, and the manager let it.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Karim Mohammadi 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.
Boardroom27 Nov 2028
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Nov 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Masoud Khodadad
85 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Masoud Khodadad 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.
Match18 Nov 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout20 Nov 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 1‑2 Vahid Shojaei left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
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.
Player ratings20 Nov 2028
The chances came and went for Ehsan Taremi
9 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Looking ahead20 Nov 2028
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Amir Hossein Mahmoudi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Gostaresh Foulad needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market20 Nov 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Vahid Rezaeian’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Nov 2028
Masoud Khodadad damages knee ligaments — 99 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 99 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.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 13 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Boardroom6 Nov 2028
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Gostaresh Foulad is running low.
Squad6 Nov 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vahid Noorafkan and Gostaresh Foulad agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Masoud Khodadad and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match4 Nov 2028
Ehsan Taremi scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Tractor, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
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 dugout6 Nov 2028
Well 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
Squad23 Oct 2028
113 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.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.15, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad23 Oct 2028
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match21 Oct 2028
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Naft Tehran were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Saman Vafaei 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.
Match21 Oct 2028
A 2‑1 win over Naft Tehran, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karim Mohammadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Amirreza Changalvaei, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Sep 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Masoud Khodadad
143 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 dugout25 Sep 2028
Omid Afshin: 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.” Gostaresh Foulad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match23 Sep 2028
No end in sight to Gostaresh Foulad's wait for a win
4 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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Masoud Khodadad 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.
Match23 Sep 2028
Saba left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karim Mohammadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Vahid Shojaei after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
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 dugout25 Sep 2028
Something was said to Pejman Gholizadeh and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Sep 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Masoud Khodadad
153 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.
Match16 Sep 2028
A 2‑6 beating by Malavan was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.85 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Masoud 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.
Match16 Sep 2028
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Gostaresh Foulad and Malavan, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
“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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
5 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
Boardroom18 Sep 2028
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad18 Sep 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Saeid Gholizadeh and Gostaresh Foulad agree another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Sep 2028
Masoud Khodadad damages knee ligaments — 161 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 161 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.
Match9 Sep 2028
Sepahan go through and Gostaresh Foulad go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
No thanks: João Costa rejects the move
Gostaresh Foulad had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al-Ettifaq, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad11 Sep 2028
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.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vahid Noorafkan, and the manager let it.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Gostaresh Foulad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Karim Mohammadi 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 dugout11 Sep 2028
“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.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
Ahmad Gholizadeh has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Gostaresh Foulad 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Sep 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Masoud Khodadad
168 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 terraces4 Sep 2028
The mood at Gostaresh Foulad 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.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
The caretaker keeps it: Vahid Shojaei confirmed
A month of looking elsewhere ended where it started. He already knows every name in the building; the rest of it he now has to prove in public.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 20 arrived, 18 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets4 Sep 2028
Everything agreed with Al-Ettifaq, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Saman Vafaei 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.
Match2 Sep 2028
Three points for Gostaresh Foulad, 2‑1 the final word against Foolad in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Karim Mohammadi 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.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Ehsan Taremi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Aug 2028
126 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.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Gostaresh Foulad may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Ahmad Gholizadeh is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Masoud Khodadad 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Market21 Aug 2028
Mehdi Rezaeian has left for Foolad in a $51.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
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.
Match19 Aug 2028
0‑2 to Siah Jamegan, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout21 Aug 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Transfer targets
A loan move for Miguel Ventos is in the works
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Transfer targets
A loan move for Raul Bezeljak is in the works
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Aug 2028
Vahid Noorafkan damages knee ligaments — 133 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 133 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Seyed Mehdi Hosseini is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
Everything agreed with Novi Pazar, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Al-Ettifaq is saying, and nobody at Gostaresh Foulad is enjoying the guessing.
Squad14 Aug 2028
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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
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.
Transfer targets14 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Jul 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ahmad Gholizadeh is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Market24 Jul 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gostaresh Foulad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Masoud Khodadad 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Gostaresh Foulad asked and Al-Orobah said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Karim Mohammadi 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 dugout24 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pejman Gholizadeh, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
A loan enquiry to Basaksehir: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
Saeid Cheshmi gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Saeid Cheshmi is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad17 Jul 2028
Saman Vafaei 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
Kaveh Hajsafi is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Saman Vafaei has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Transfer targets17 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 dugout17 Jul 2028
Ehsan Taremi 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Karim Mohammadi 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 targets17 Jul 2028
Olimpia 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
Uneasy
Boardroom27 Mar 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.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market27 Mar 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Gostaresh Foulad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Majid Dejagah 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 dugout27 Mar 2028
Omid Afshin 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces21 Feb 2028
The mood at Gostaresh Foulad 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.
Match19 Feb 2028
A 1‑6 beating by Tractor was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match21 Feb 2028
18 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Mohammad Reza Rezaei and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match19 Feb 2028
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Gostaresh Foulad and Tractor in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ehsan Taremi, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Karim Mohammadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead21 Feb 2028
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. Gostaresh Foulad know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom31 Jan 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Gostaresh Foulad
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad31 Jan 2028
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.
Transfer targets31 Jan 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.
Market31 Jan 2028
Add another name to the list: Naft Tehran have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Reza Ghoddos. The answer from Gostaresh Foulad has not changed — yet.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Karim Mohammadi 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 dugout31 Jan 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2028
A loan move for Arielson is in the works
Gostaresh Foulad have made the call to Al Dhafra. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match4 Dec 2027
1‑4 to Siah Jamegan, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Boardroom6 Dec 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Gostaresh Foulad
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Gostaresh Foulad may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Mohammad Reza Rezaei 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
At 21 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Gostaresh Foulad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juan Manuel Villalba 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 dugout6 Dec 2027
“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.
Boardroom6 Dec 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.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Kaveh Pouraliganji after 1‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.