Marked for Saeid Yazdani
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Jul 2029
Raouf Soltani breaks a bone — 69 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 69 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market2 Jul 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Saba waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Rah Ahan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market2 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 Rah Ahan can pretend not to have heard.
Market2 Jul 2029
Esteghlal come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Rah Ahan did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad2 Jul 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Saeid Aghaei commits to Rah Ahan for another 2 years.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Words exchanged at Rah Ahan
Ashkan Gholizadeh 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
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arshia Sarshogh 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 targets2 Jul 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Esteghlal have kept their man, and Rah Ahan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
Intake day at the Rah Ahan academy
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jun 2029
Raouf Soltani breaks a bone — 100 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 100 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market4 Jun 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 Rah Ahan can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout4 Jun 2029
This is not rotation. Ramin Cheshmi has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Rah Ahan is pretending otherwise.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words exchanged at Rah Ahan
Ashkan Gholizadeh 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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Hossein Hajsafi commits to Rah Ahan for another 3 years.
Squad4 Jun 2029
A row about effort at Rah Ahan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ramin Cheshmi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets4 Jun 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 dugout4 Jun 2029
Saeid Yazdani has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Rah Ahan 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.
The dugout4 Jun 2029
Pejman Shojaei 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 Rah Ahan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout7 May 2029
This is not rotation. Ramin Cheshmi has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Rah Ahan is pretending otherwise.
Squad7 May 2029
A falling-out at Rah Ahan
Ashkan Gholizadeh 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
Ramin Cheshmi 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 dugout7 May 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.
The dugout7 May 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.
Market7 May 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout9 Apr 2029
This is not rotation. Ramin Cheshmi has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Rah Ahan is pretending otherwise.
Squad9 Apr 2029
A falling-out at Rah Ahan
Ashkan Gholizadeh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Apr 2029
14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ramin Cheshmi 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 dugout9 Apr 2029
Saeid Yazdani 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 Yazdani is on it.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
The manager makes an example of Artin Rostami
“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
Match3 Mar 2029
The small margins put Rah Ahan out
Out, 1‑2 to Esteghlal, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The terraces5 Mar 2029
Rah Ahan are taken apart by Esteghlal — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Squad5 Mar 2029
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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
A move Arshia Sarshogh would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Arshia Sarshogh is living that version at Rah Ahan, and it tends to show in the first month.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
Up for the corner, and Ali Karimi delivers — 7.02
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ali Karimi scored, was marked 7.02, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Match3 Mar 2029
4 matches without a win for Rah Ahan
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Rah Ahan are no longer polite ones.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Hossein Cheshmi and Rah Ahan agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Mar 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 Rah Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
Amir Savaed beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 17. 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
Upbeat
Squad26 Feb 2029
A fracture rules Saeid Aghaei out for 20 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Rah Ahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The dugout26 Feb 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Ashkan Gholizadeh 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
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Rah Ahan did not have in the autumn.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Yaghoub Barage did the work nobody counts — 7.19
11 combined actions and 7.19. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Squad26 Feb 2029
A row about effort at Rah Ahan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ramin Cheshmi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Nobody on the pitch touched Saeid Yazdani
7.69, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Rah Ahan had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
No place for Ali Karimi on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Rah Ahan pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout26 Feb 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Ashkan Alijani
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Looking ahead
A test against the best for Rah Ahan
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Match
Point won or two lost for Rah Ahan?
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Dec 2028
94 days out for Saeid Aghaei after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Rah Ahan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match16 Dec 2028
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.90 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market18 Dec 2028
“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 Rah Ahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market18 Dec 2028
Ashkan Alijani has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Rah Ahan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
This is not rotation. Ramin Cheshmi has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Rah Ahan is pretending otherwise.
Squad18 Dec 2028
A falling-out at Rah Ahan
Ashkan Gholizadeh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Dec 2028
A season average of 7.21 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Saman Dejagah, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Nov 2028
Ashkan Gholizadeh 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.
Match4 Nov 2028
Esteghlal Ahvaz left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout6 Nov 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.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Saman Dejagah after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Arya Delavari slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Arya Delavari is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Squad6 Nov 2028
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 dugout6 Nov 2028
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 Ashkan Gholizadeh is on it.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Rah Ahan will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
Market6 Nov 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Zafarbek Rahimjonov has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Rah Ahan.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Jul 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The terraces10 Jul 2028
Milad Ghoddos has gone, the accounts have $860.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
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 Rah Ahan can pretend not to have heard.
Market10 Jul 2028
Business is business: Milad Ghoddos goes
Padideh paid $860.0K and Rah Ahan took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Ashkan Gholizadeh 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.
Market10 Jul 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Rah Ahan have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad10 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Rah Ahan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ramin Cheshmi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad10 Jul 2028
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
Saeid Irankhah 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 Rah Ahan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad6 Mar 2028
84 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rah Ahan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Saeid Yazdani and Rah Ahan agree another 3 years.
Squad6 Mar 2028
A falling-out at Rah Ahan
Ashkan Gholizadeh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Milad Khodadad 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 dugout6 Mar 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.
Match4 Mar 2028
It needed Ashkan Gholizadeh to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Esteghlal, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Market6 Mar 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Saman Dejagah was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Rah Ahan dressing room was either.
Looking ahead6 Mar 2028
The leaders are next for Rah Ahan
Persepolis top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Dec 2027
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Rah Ahan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings20 Dec 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.69 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market20 Dec 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Ashkan Gholizadeh 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Rah Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pejman 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.
Match18 Dec 2027
A 2‑0 win over Foolad, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Saman Dejagah, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout20 Dec 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.
Market20 Dec 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Rah Ahan, another week without a signature from Milad Ghoddos.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Oct 2027
Hossein Cheshmi damages knee ligaments — 88 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 88 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.
Market25 Oct 2027
Mehdi Beiranvand wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Rah Ahan hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Ashkan Gholizadeh 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 Oct 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Ashkan Gholizadeh’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Rah Ahan.
Squad25 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Rah Ahan
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amir Hossein Neshatjoo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
A mark of 7.63, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Saman Dejagah on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ramin Cheshmi, and the manager let it.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Rah Ahan, and both men came out saying it was fine.