Marked for Ehsan Hosseini
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Dec 2026
30 days out for Pejman Nekounam after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Siah Jamegan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match12 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Ashkan 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.
Match12 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rahim Alboughobaish, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ehsan Hosseini and Siah Jamegan agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Mehdi Noorafkan to a room that had heard them before.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match21 Nov 2026
Beaten 1‑4 by Esteghlal, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad23 Nov 2026
53 days out for Pejman Nekounam after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Siah Jamegan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Siah Jamegan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Ashkan 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Vahid Karimi beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Vouria Noorafkan did the work nobody counts — 6.90
13 combined actions and 6.90. 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
No time for Esteghlal to settle
The goal that put Esteghlal ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Siah Jamegan equalised, 3 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
The dugout23 Nov 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.
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Sep 2026
The small margins put Siah Jamegan out
Out, 0‑4 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
7 matches without a win for Siah Jamegan
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Siah Jamegan are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Sep 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.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
A cup hiding at Esteghlal leaves Siah Jamegan explaining themselves
0-4, 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.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 25 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Siah Jamegan close the window on a squad of their own making
9 in and 3 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Siah Jamegan have done the hard part with Catania, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Corinthians keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.