Marked for Reza Nekounam
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 Mar 2036
Reza Nekounam breaks a bone — 16 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad10 Mar 2036
Roy Shedo 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 Mar 2036
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pejman 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 Mar 2036
Roy Shedo is still paying for one afternoon at Padideh
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Market10 Mar 2036
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Abolfazl Zamani signs something — a contract at Padideh or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market10 Mar 2036
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Ghasem Latifi may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
In brief
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Boardroom
The Padideh production line keeps running
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Boardroom
The Padideh board choose calm
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 Mar 2036
24 goals and a season average of 8.26. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match27 Feb 2036
Padideh out of the cup
Sepahan ended it 2‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad3 Mar 2036
Reza Nekounam breaks a bone — 23 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings3 Mar 2036
Pejman Khodadad, 35, rolls back the years — 8.50
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.50 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad3 Mar 2036
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Padideh may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market3 Mar 2036
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad3 Mar 2036
“The easiest signature of my career.” Pejman Jahanbakhsh and Padideh agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings3 Mar 2036
Ninety minutes of Abolfazl Zamani at his very best
Marked 9.20. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Padideh.
Boardroom3 Mar 2036
Padideh release $2.0M for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match23 Feb 2036
Nobody wins at Padideh
22 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad25 Feb 2036
A season average of 7.56 with 23 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Reza Nekounam breaks a bone — 30 days out
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.
Player ratings25 Feb 2036
Two goals and a mark of 8.95 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings25 Feb 2036
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.91 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match23 Feb 2036
Nobody wants to play Padideh right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Omid 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.
Squad25 Feb 2036
Words at Padideh training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pejman 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.
Match23 Feb 2036
Zob Ahan made Padideh work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match16 Feb 2036
30 unbeaten for Padideh
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 30 matches without defeat is a foundation Padideh did not have in the autumn.
Squad18 Feb 2036
Defences have started doubling up on Abolfazl Zamani
25 goals and a season average of 8.04 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match16 Feb 2036
4‑1, and Hossein Cheshmi took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Padideh tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad18 Feb 2036
A fracture rules Reza Nekounam out for 38 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Padideh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match18 Feb 2036
Padideh refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 66 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings18 Feb 2036
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.33 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad18 Feb 2036
Roy Shedo in a row with a teammate
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.
Squad18 Feb 2036
Pejman 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 ratings18 Feb 2036
Abolfazl Zamani was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.43. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match9 Feb 2036
Whatever happens, Padideh do not lose
29 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Match9 Feb 2036
Nobody wins at Padideh
21 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad11 Feb 2036
24 goals and a season average of 8.01. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad11 Feb 2036
Reza Nekounam breaks a bone — 46 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad11 Feb 2036
A one-man rearguard from Roy Shedo
There were 6 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.
Squad11 Feb 2036
Omid 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.
Match9 Feb 2036
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Omid Gholizadeh. 1‑0 against Malavan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings11 Feb 2036
Omid Gholizadeh was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.35. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings11 Feb 2036
Nobody could get near Aníbal Paz
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match2 Feb 2036
28 unbeaten for Padideh
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 28 matches without defeat is a foundation Padideh did not have in the autumn.
Squad4 Feb 2036
24 goals and a season average of 8.24. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad4 Feb 2036
A fracture rules Reza Nekounam out for 54 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Padideh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings4 Feb 2036
Two goals and a mark of 8.74 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings4 Feb 2036
Omid Khodadad, 37, rolls back the years — 8.16
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.16 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad4 Feb 2036
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Omid Khodadad commits to Padideh for another 2 years.
Squad4 Feb 2036
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.
Match2 Feb 2036
Ahmad Noorafkan among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Ahmad Noorafkan on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Padideh and Sepahan.
Player ratings4 Feb 2036
Ninety minutes of Abolfazl Zamani at his very best
Marked 9.32. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Padideh.
In brief
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Match
Honours even between Padideh and Sepahan
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Boardroom
Padideh release $2.0M for the manager
-
Boardroom
93% of the income goes out in wages at Padideh
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Jan 2036
27 unbeaten for Padideh
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 27 matches without defeat is a foundation Padideh did not have in the autumn.
Squad28 Jan 2036
Defences have started doubling up on Abolfazl Zamani
23 goals and a season average of 7.99 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match26 Jan 2036
Padideh make home a hard place to visit
20 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.
Squad28 Jan 2036
A fracture rules Reza Nekounam out for 61 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Padideh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings28 Jan 2036
Two goals and a mark of 9.54 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings28 Jan 2036
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.22 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad28 Jan 2036
Amir Hasanov: 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.” Padideh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad28 Jan 2036
Roy Shedo 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.
Match26 Jan 2036
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Abolfazl Zamani. 2‑1 against Foolad, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Jan 2036
Still nobody has beaten Padideh
The unbeaten run reaches 26. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad21 Jan 2036
A fracture rules Reza Nekounam out for 68 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Padideh will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match21 Jan 2036
Padideh up to position 2
56 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad21 Jan 2036
Defences have started doubling up on Pejman Khodadad
20 goals and a season average of 7.53 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings21 Jan 2036
Aníbal Paz, 33, rolls back the years — 8.84
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.84 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad21 Jan 2036
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Padideh have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad21 Jan 2036
Roy Shedo in a row with a teammate
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.
Player ratings21 Jan 2036
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.27, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match12 Jan 2036
Still nobody has beaten Padideh
The unbeaten run reaches 25. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad14 Jan 2036
Defences have started doubling up on Abolfazl Zamani
21 goals and a season average of 7.94 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match12 Jan 2036
Nobody wins at Padideh
19 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad14 Jan 2036
Reza Nekounam breaks a bone — 78 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match12 Jan 2036
Omid Gholizadeh wins it after the whistle should have gone
91 minutes played. Omid Gholizadeh found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Siah Jamegan went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Player ratings14 Jan 2036
Two goals and a mark of 8.59 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings14 Jan 2036
Pejman Khodadad, 35, rolls back the years — 9.01
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.01 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad14 Jan 2036
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.
Squad14 Jan 2036
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Padideh may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match5 Jan 2036
24 unbeaten for Padideh
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 24 matches without defeat is a foundation Padideh did not have in the autumn.
Squad7 Jan 2036
24 goals and a season average of 8.23. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match5 Jan 2036
The run at home goes on for Padideh
18 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad7 Jan 2036
Reza Nekounam breaks a bone — 87 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 87 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings7 Jan 2036
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.93 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad7 Jan 2036
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Market7 Jan 2036
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Padideh can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Jan 2036
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Padideh have had the benefit of it.
Match5 Jan 2036
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Padideh and Persepolis, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad31 Dec 2035
A season average of 8.18 with 21 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match29 Dec 2035
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 7‑1 against Rah Ahan, and it could have been more.
Match29 Dec 2035
Padideh cannot stop winning
8 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad31 Dec 2035
Reza Nekounam breaks a bone — 96 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 96 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings31 Dec 2035
A brace, and Pejman Khodadad takes the afternoon — 9.14
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Pejman Khodadad provided it, and the 9.14 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings31 Dec 2035
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 10.00 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad31 Dec 2035
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Padideh will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad31 Dec 2035
Roy Shedo 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.
Match29 Dec 2035
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Padideh and Rah Ahan, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad24 Dec 2035
Defences have started doubling up on Abolfazl Zamani
19 goals and a season average of 7.85 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match22 Dec 2035
Padideh make home a hard place to visit
17 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.
Squad24 Dec 2035
Reza Nekounam breaks a bone — 105 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 105 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match24 Dec 2035
Padideh are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 48 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Match22 Dec 2035
Padideh make it 7 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Padideh have 7 straight wins of it.
Player ratings24 Dec 2035
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.30, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings24 Dec 2035
Age has not caught Ehsan Nekounam yet — 8.46
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.46 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad24 Dec 2035
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.
Squad24 Dec 2035
Pejman 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.