Marked for Hossein Rezaeian
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Jan 2036
Tebogo Moreri is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.63 with 24 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings21 Jan 2036
A brace, and Maksym Kalinkin takes the afternoon — 8.09
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Maksym Kalinkin provided it, and the 8.09 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad21 Jan 2036
Amin Heydari 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.
Squad21 Jan 2036
Tebogo Moreri 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 ratings21 Jan 2036
Tebogo Moreri was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.60. 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.
Squad21 Jan 2036
A muscle injury sidelines Hossein Rezaeian for 15 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Naft Tehran will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Match19 Jan 2036
It needed Maksym Kalinkin to find the net to bring anything home at all: 3‑3 against Persepolis, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings21 Jan 2036
Chances created: 12. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Jun 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Majid Nekounam
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Naft Tehran lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad12 Jun 2034
A fracture rules Hossein Rezaeian out for 35 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Naft Tehran will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market12 Jun 2034
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 Jun 2034
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.
Squad5 Jun 2034
A fracture rules Hossein Rezaeian out for 42 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Naft Tehran will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market5 Jun 2034
“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 Naft Tehran, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Jun 2034
Saman Mohammadi gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Saman Mohammadi has just signed for Naft Tehran, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad5 Jun 2034
Amin Heydari 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 Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jun 2034
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gonçalo Sousa 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.
Market5 Jun 2034
He is 18, and nobody at Naft Tehran signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Boardroom5 Jun 2034
$2.0M taken back off the Naft Tehran table
What was available in the summer has quietly gone. Upstairs nobody will call it a change of ambition; downstairs nobody will call it anything else.
Market5 Jun 2034
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Morteza Beiranvand leaves Naft Tehran the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces29 May 2034
Anger at Naft Tehran 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.
Squad29 May 2034
A fracture rules Hossein Rezaeian out for 49 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Naft Tehran will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market29 May 2034
Only the photograph left for Gonçalo Sousa
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gonçalo Sousa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Naft Tehran the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad29 May 2034
Amin Heydari 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.
Squad29 May 2034
Santiago Paz 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.
Squad29 May 2034
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alireza Ghoddos commits to Naft Tehran for another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom22 May 2034
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Naft Tehran
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad22 May 2034
A fracture rules Hossein Rezaeian out for 56 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Naft Tehran will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market22 May 2034
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Naft Tehran they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 May 2034
A fracture rules Hossein Rezaeian out for 63 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Naft Tehran will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad15 May 2034
Amin Heydari 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.
Squad15 May 2034
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sina Ghanbarpour 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
Squad8 May 2034
A fracture rules Hossein Rezaeian out for 70 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Naft Tehran will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad8 May 2034
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Naft Tehran may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad8 May 2034
Amin Heydari 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 Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces1 May 2034
Anger at Naft Tehran 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.
Squad1 May 2034
A fracture rules Hossein Rezaeian out for 77 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Naft Tehran will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market1 May 2034
Only the photograph left for Gonçalo Sousa
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gonçalo Sousa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Naft Tehran the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market1 May 2034
“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 Naft Tehran, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 May 2034
Amin Heydari 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.
Squad1 May 2034
Santiago Paz 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
Crisis
Boardroom24 Apr 2034
Pressure builds in the Naft Tehran boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad24 Apr 2034
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 84 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market24 Apr 2034
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Naft Tehran they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Apr 2034
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 91 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad17 Apr 2034
Amin Heydari 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 Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Apr 2034
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Santiago Paz 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
Squad10 Apr 2034
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 98 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad10 Apr 2034
Amin Heydari 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 Apr 2034
Santiago Paz 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
Crisis
The terraces3 Apr 2034
The mood at Naft Tehran 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.
Squad3 Apr 2034
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.
Market3 Apr 2034
Only the photograph left for Gonçalo Sousa
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gonçalo Sousa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Naft Tehran the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market3 Apr 2034
Matas Klimas 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 Naft Tehran can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Apr 2034
Amin Heydari 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 Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Apr 2034
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mohammad Reza Falahian and Naft Tehran agree another 2 years.