Marked for Ehsan Cheshmi
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market15 Dec 2031
“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 The request is on a desk at Saba, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Dec 2031
Saeid Vasei 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 Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Dec 2031
A row about effort at Saba
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Reza Ghobeishavi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match13 Dec 2031
Saipa take the points off Saba
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings15 Dec 2031
Successful dribbles: 20. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match13 Dec 2031
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Amir Shahim had Saba level again within 3 minutes, and Saipa never got to play with a lead at all.
The dugout15 Dec 2031
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 1‑3 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout15 Dec 2031
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.
The dugout15 Dec 2031
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 Dec 2031
The drought breaks for Saba
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Naft Tehran were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad8 Dec 2031
Words exchanged at Saba
Amir Shahim 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.
Squad8 Dec 2031
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.
Squad8 Dec 2031
The medical room confirms 49 days on the sidelines for Reza Ebrahimi, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match6 Dec 2031
It finished 1‑0, and it was Esmaeil Gholizadeh’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Saba.
Player ratings8 Dec 2031
Esmaeil Gholizadeh was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.37. 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.
Squad8 Dec 2031
Ali Mohammadi makes the team of the month
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 dugout8 Dec 2031
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.” Interim Coach, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout8 Dec 2031
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Saba, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout17 Nov 2031
“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.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Saeid Vasei 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 Saba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Nov 2031
Words at Saba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Reza Ghobeishavi 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 dugout17 Nov 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Amir Shahim, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 Nov 2031
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 Esmaeil Gholizadeh is on it.
Market17 Nov 2031
Saba and Amit David are talking past each other
“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.
Looking ahead17 Nov 2031
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Amirmehdi Bahmanpour’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Saba needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Market17 Nov 2031
The Amir Shahim talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Saba know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout17 Nov 2031
Amit David 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 Saba, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
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Boardroom
The Saba production line keeps running
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Looking ahead
Looking ahead: the trip to Padideh
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Squad
The training reports on Ali Mohammadi are not good
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Oct 2031
Words exchanged at Saba
Amir Shahim 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.
Squad13 Oct 2031
Words at Saba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Reza Ghobeishavi 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 dugout13 Oct 2031
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.
The dugout13 Oct 2031
“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.
The dugout13 Oct 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ehsan Cheshmi, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead13 Oct 2031
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ali Khodadadi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Saba needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Aug 2031
Mehran Ahmadi damages knee ligaments — 63 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 63 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.
Match2 Aug 2031
Saba leaking at the back
15 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.
The terraces4 Aug 2031
Anger at Saba 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 Aug 2031
No end in sight to Saba's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Saba has to find a result from somewhere.
Market4 Aug 2031
Saba say no — this time
The offer from Tractor for Amir Shahim 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.
Player ratings4 Aug 2031
Two goals and a mark of 8.70 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout4 Aug 2031
“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.
Squad4 Aug 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ali Khodadadi commits to Saba for another 2 years.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Words exchanged at Saba
Mehran Ahmadi 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.
In brief
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Boardroom
17 academy players handed senior numbers at Saba
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Match
Naft Tehran take the points off Saba
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Squad
A row about effort at Saba
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Mar 2031
Reza Galedar 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 Saba can pretend not to have heard.
Market31 Mar 2031
Only the photograph left for Mohammad Amini
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mohammad Amini will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Saba the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad31 Mar 2031
A falling-out at Saba
Mehran Ahmadi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Mar 2031
A row about effort at Saba
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Reza Ghobeishavi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 Mar 2031
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 Esmaeil Gholizadeh is on it.
The dugout31 Mar 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Reza Ebrahimi, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 Mar 2031
“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.
Market31 Mar 2031
The Amir Shahim talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Saba know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout31 Mar 2031
The manager makes Amir Shahim a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Saba. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.