Marked for Majid Jahanbakhsh
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Aug 2027
Saeid Sadeghi damages knee ligaments — 96 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 96 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.
Match14 Aug 2027
No end in sight to Foolad's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Foolad has to find a result from somewhere.
Market16 Aug 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad16 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Foolad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Hamed Lak
“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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Yousef Mazrae 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 ratings16 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market16 Aug 2027
Foolad bring in an old head
Majid Jahanbakhsh is 34 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market16 Aug 2027
“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.
Match14 Aug 2027
4 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alireza Beiranvand and Gostaresh Foulad agree another 4 years.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Alireza 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.
Market16 Aug 2027
Majid Jahanbakhsh has left for Foolad in a $23.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Match14 Aug 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Gostaresh Foulad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saman Moharrami 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 ratings16 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Aug 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Aug 2027
Ashkan Shojaei damages knee ligaments — 15 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
Market2 Aug 2027
“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.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Majid Jahanbakhsh 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.
Market2 Aug 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Pejman Pouraliganji has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market2 Aug 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Omid Hajsafi has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom26 Jul 2027
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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kaveh Shojaei
17 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.
Market26 Jul 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Saman Moharrami 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.
Squad26 Jul 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 Gostaresh Foulad, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Jul 2027
Kaveh Shojaei damages knee ligaments — 25 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
“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 Gostaresh Foulad, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market19 Jul 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Gostaresh Foulad have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Alireza 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Majid Jahanbakhsh 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
He is 15, and nobody at Gostaresh Foulad signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces12 Jul 2027
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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kaveh Shojaei
33 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.
Market12 Jul 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad12 Jul 2027
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.
Market12 Jul 2027
Saipa paid $170.0K and Gostaresh Foulad took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market5 Jul 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.
Market5 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Alireza 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Gostaresh Foulad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saman Moharrami 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market7 Jun 2027
“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.
Market7 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Alireza 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Majid Jahanbakhsh 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Pejman Jahanbakhsh loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Pejman Jahanbakhsh's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom31 May 2027
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.
Squad31 May 2027
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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Gostaresh Foulad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Majid Jahanbakhsh 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces17 May 2027
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.
Market17 May 2027
Ramin Vafaei 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.
Squad17 May 2027
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 May 2027
Words at Gostaresh Foulad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Majid Jahanbakhsh 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.
Squad17 May 2027
“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
Uneasy
Market10 May 2027
“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.
Squad10 May 2027
Alireza 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Majid Jahanbakhsh 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom3 May 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.
Boardroom3 May 2027
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market3 May 2027
“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.
Squad3 May 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Gostaresh Foulad may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad3 May 2027
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.
Squad3 May 2027
Saman Moharrami 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Apr 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Alireza 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Majid Jahanbakhsh 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces19 Apr 2027
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.
Market19 Apr 2027
“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 Gostaresh Foulad, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Gostaresh Foulad may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Alireza 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Majid Jahanbakhsh 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
“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
Uneasy
Market12 Apr 2027
“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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Saman Moharrami 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Vahid Taremi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
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.
Market5 Apr 2027
“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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Alireza 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Majid Jahanbakhsh 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Gostaresh Foulad may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market29 Mar 2027
“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 Gostaresh Foulad, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad29 Mar 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Mar 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
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 Mar 2027
Words at Gostaresh Foulad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Majid Jahanbakhsh 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
The interim tag comes off Vahid Taremi
Gostaresh Foulad interviewed the field and appointed the corridor: Vahid Taremi keeps the job he had been doing in all but title. Sometimes the safest pair of hands is the one already holding the wheel.
Market8 Mar 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Alireza 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces22 Feb 2027
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.
Market22 Feb 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Hossein Hajsafi: 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Alireza 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.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Majid Jahanbakhsh 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 ratings22 Feb 2027
Marked 7.77 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Gostaresh Foulad had the best player on the pitch.
Squad22 Feb 2027
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Match20 Feb 2027
It needed Ehsan Taremi to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Esteghlal Ahvaz, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market15 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
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.
Boardroom15 Feb 2027
14 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Gostaresh Foulad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Majid Jahanbakhsh 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
Tractor left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Majid Vafaei 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
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 38. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market1 Feb 2027
Milad Vafaei 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
The deal that would have taken Milad Vafaei to Padideh has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Gostaresh Foulad with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad1 Feb 2027
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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Gostaresh Foulad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Majid Jahanbakhsh 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 ratings1 Feb 2027
A performance of 8.10 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad1 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Ramin Vafaei
“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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Majid Jahanbakhsh will call it something else in private.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces25 Jan 2027
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.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 39. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
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.
Match25 Jan 2027
15 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match23 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Gostaresh Foulad's wait for a win
9 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.
Market25 Jan 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Alireza 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Majid Jahanbakhsh 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
1‑2 to Esteghlal Khuzestan, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Jan 2027
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Gostaresh Foulad are no longer polite ones.
Market11 Jan 2027
The offer from Saipa for Milad Vafaei 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.
Market11 Jan 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“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.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Alireza 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
Business is business: Majid Hajsafi goes
Saipa paid $7.0K and Gostaresh Foulad took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Majid Jahanbakhsh 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.
Match9 Jan 2027
0‑1 to Zob Ahan, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
Karim Torabi 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
Milad Vafaei 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Gostaresh Foulad's wait for a win
6 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.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Milad Vafaei, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.66
A mark of 7.66 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market4 Jan 2027
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.
Match2 Jan 2027
6 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Market4 Jan 2027
Add another name to the list: Saipa have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Milad Vafaei. The answer from Gostaresh Foulad has not changed — yet.
Squad4 Jan 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces28 Dec 2026
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.
Match28 Dec 2026
14 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
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.
Market28 Dec 2026
Ramin Vafaei 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
No sign of nerves from Milad Vafaei at 20 — 7.83
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Milad Vafaei did not need any: 7.83, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match26 Dec 2026
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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Alireza 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Dec 2026
0‑4 against Sepahan, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match19 Dec 2026
4 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gostaresh Foulad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Gostaresh Foulad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Majid Jahanbakhsh 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom21 Dec 2026
Nobody left the Gostaresh Foulad 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Majid Hajsafi
“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
Squad14 Dec 2026
Alireza 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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Majid Jahanbakhsh 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Foolad left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Majid Jahanbakhsh, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Match5 Dec 2026
Esteghlal go through and Gostaresh Foulad go home, 1‑5 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
1-5, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Market7 Dec 2026
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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.62, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Squad7 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gostaresh Foulad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match5 Dec 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Gostaresh Foulad and Esteghlal in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Majid Vafaei 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Saman Moharrami 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 47. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
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.
Match30 Nov 2026
Position 14, 13 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.
Market30 Nov 2026
“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 Gostaresh Foulad, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Alireza 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Majid Jahanbakhsh 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ehsan Taremi. 2‑0 against Siah Jamegan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match28 Nov 2026
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Siah Jamegan tried to reorganise, Gostaresh Foulad did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Nov 2026
0‑4 against Persepolis, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match21 Nov 2026
6 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gostaresh Foulad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match21 Nov 2026
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Gostaresh Foulad can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Gostaresh Foulad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Majid Jahanbakhsh 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Morteza Yazdani
“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.
Boardroom23 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Gostaresh Foulad 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
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
Crisis
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market9 Nov 2026
Majid Hajsafi 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Gostaresh Foulad are no longer polite ones.
Squad9 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gostaresh Foulad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Ramin Vafaei pulls a muscle — 14 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Gostaresh Foulad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Majid Jahanbakhsh 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces2 Nov 2026
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.
Match2 Nov 2026
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.
Market2 Nov 2026
“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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Alireza 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Tractor left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Majid Jahanbakhsh 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 ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Majid Vafaei
“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 Oct 2026
0‑3 against Padideh, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match3 Oct 2026
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Alireza 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Gostaresh Foulad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saman Moharrami 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Nobody left the Gostaresh Foulad 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
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.
Match19 Sep 2026
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Gostaresh Foulad are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Milad Vafaei, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.84
A mark of 7.84 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Alireza 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Milad Vafaei among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Milad Vafaei on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Gostaresh Foulad and Saba.
Match19 Sep 2026
Milad Vafaei scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑4 to Saba, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Gostaresh Foulad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saman Moharrami 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 ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Sep 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Aug 2026
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Alireza 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match22 Aug 2026
1‑2 to Esteghlal, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market24 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Majid Hajsafi again, and this time the name on the line is Rah Ahan. Gostaresh Foulad are listening politely and promising nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gostaresh Foulad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Gostaresh Foulad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Majid Jahanbakhsh 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Majid Vafaei, and the manager let it.
Market10 Aug 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 36. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market3 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Alireza 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.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
2 academy players handed senior numbers at Gostaresh Foulad
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Majid Jahanbakhsh 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Saman Cheshmi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market3 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Morteza Nekounam has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Majid Jahanbakhsh, and the manager let it.
Match1 Aug 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Rah Ahan leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.