Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Saba waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Siah Jamegan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Siah Jamegan and Saipa have settled on $910.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Siah Jamegan have done the hard part with Olympique de Marseille, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Amir Azmoun 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 terraces14 Jun 2027
Siah Jamegan spend $1.6M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $1.6M for Farhan Jafari, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Majid Beiranvand was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Siah Jamegan will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Majid Beiranvand and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ramin Azmoun, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Vahid Khodadad's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Muhammadbobur Karimov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Milad Gholizadeh signs something — a contract at Siah Jamegan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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.
Amir Azmoun 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.
“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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Siah Jamegan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Muhammadbobur Karimov 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.
Majid Beiranvand was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Siah Jamegan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vahid Khodadad is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Siah Jamegan has been clear about where Kaveh Torabi stands, which is more than many ever get.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Siah Jamegan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Siah Jamegan, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mohammad Karimi and Siah Jamegan agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
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 Omid Rezaeian left the room before anybody could ask which.
Hossein Nekounam 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.
In brief
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Amir Azmoun
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Gostaresh Foulad the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Siah Jamegan will enjoy reviewing.
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.
Majid Beiranvand and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
1‑5 to Esteghlal, 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Siah Jamegan and Esteghlal, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Boardroom23 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Siah Jamegan dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑5, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Esteghlal Khuzestan will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑2, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Siah Jamegan were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.46 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Majid Beiranvand and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Marked 9.93 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Siah Jamegan and Esteghlal Khuzestan in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vahid Khodadad was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.