Marked for Mohammad Ebrahimi
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
At 36 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.02, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market19 Feb 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mehdi Kiani Dehkiani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Saipa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match17 Feb 2029
The wait goes on for Saipa
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.
Match17 Feb 2029
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Saipa and Foolad in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match17 Feb 2029
Beaten 2‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Words at Saipa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Esmaeil Gholizadeh 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 ratings19 Feb 2029
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.
Match17 Feb 2029
Saipa leaking at the back
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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Tempers go at Saipa
Aref Seifi 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Feb 2029
“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 The request is on a desk at Saipa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market12 Feb 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Saipa people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market12 Feb 2029
Aref Seifi has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Saipa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets12 Feb 2029
No thanks: Pedro Rebocho rejects the move
Saipa had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al-Khaleej, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Boardroom12 Feb 2029
Aref Seifi has agreed to leave Saipa for nothing
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words exchanged at Saipa
Ali Dehghan 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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
A row about effort at Saipa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ashkan Gholizadeh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets12 Feb 2029
Saipa asked and Al-Ra'ed said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match10 Feb 2029
Gostaresh Foulad left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Saeid Moharrami has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Saipa can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Match5 Feb 2029
Every point is an argument now for Saipa
Position 14 and 16 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market5 Feb 2029
“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.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Pressure builds in the Saipa boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
The dugout5 Feb 2029
“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.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Saipa close the window on a squad of their own making
10 in and 2 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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saipa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Esmaeil Gholizadeh 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.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 May 2028
Mehdi Abdi 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 Saipa can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout1 May 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Saipa may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad1 May 2028
A falling-out at Saipa
Ashkan Gholizadeh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout1 May 2028
“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 May 2028
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Saipa has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Squad1 May 2028
Nobody writes a headline about a tutor. Nobody has to be told, either, what happens to a signing who spends two years being the man nobody can talk to at lunch.