15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tractor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tractor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
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.
Marked 8.10 — 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.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tractor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Igor Postonjski 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.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Ramin Pouraliganji chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Persepolis.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Persepolis in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ehsan Vafaei signs something — a contract at Tractor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
7.93, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Odiljon Hamrobekov. 1‑0 against Saipa, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Tractor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milad Zakipour 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Ramin Pouraliganji could afford to be generous.
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.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 87th, and Naft Tehran spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
1 for Odiljon Hamrobekov, marked 7.52, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh 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.
At 23 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.
“I watch every Tractor game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Rah Ahan runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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.” Ramin Pouraliganji, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Alireza Beiranvand may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
In brief
SquadWords at Tractor training over how hard people work
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Ehsan Vafaei was one of the reasons people came, and $4.8M does not replace that by itself.
The name of Omid Gholizadeh has come up in conversations Padideh were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $111.2K — a club that wants Reza Azmoun enough to be asked twice.
The offer went to Siah Jamegan this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Padideh spend $130.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $130.0K for Hamid Reza Shamsipour, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tractor can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
$4.2M on the table at Padideh. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $4.4M — a club that wants Omid Gholizadeh enough to be asked twice.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Ehsan Vafaei from Padideh for $4.8M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Padideh have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Reza Rezaeian did not need any: 7.78, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $126.5K — a club that wants Saeid Karimazar enough to be asked twice.
Milad Cheshmi 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Padideh and Naft Tehran, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Padideh offered $120.0K; Tractor said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Hossein Torabi at his very best
Tractor have gone to Padideh with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.91 for the rest of it.
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.
$900.0K on the table at Esteghlal. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Padideh have gone to Tractor with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Padideh this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sepahan have kept their man, and Padideh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout10 Aug 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 Amir Pouraliganji left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutHossein Torabi asks for a word with the manager