Marked for Guy Refaelov
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Oct 2032
96 days out for Alireza Rezaeian after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Zob Ahan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market4 Oct 2032
“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 The request is on a desk at Zob Ahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout4 Oct 2032
Erfan Bahri: 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.” Zob Ahan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad4 Oct 2032
Parsa Jafari 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.
Squad4 Oct 2032
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The dugout4 Oct 2032
“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.
Market4 Oct 2032
“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.
The dugout4 Oct 2032
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Zob Ahan told Dhari Al-Anazi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad4 Oct 2032
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match28 Aug 2032
Beaten 0‑3 by Tractor, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
The dugout30 Aug 2032
Hossein Goudarzi: 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.” Zob Ahan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad30 Aug 2032
A one-man rearguard from Parsa Jafari
There were 8 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.
Market30 Aug 2032
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market30 Aug 2032
“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 Zob Ahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market30 Aug 2032
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Zob Ahan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad30 Aug 2032
A falling-out at Zob Ahan
Ali Eslami and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings30 Aug 2032
Behnam Teymourian ran the middle of the pitch — 7.06
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 13 combined actions and a mark of 7.06, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The dugout30 Aug 2032
The manager makes an example of Guy Refaelov
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Jun 2032
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Saba had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market14 Jun 2032
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market14 Jun 2032
The chase for Karim Dejagah ended with $470.0K changing hands and Rah Ahan out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad14 Jun 2032
Ali Eslami 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 Zob Ahan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets14 Jun 2032
$230.0K was the most the club would pay and Gostaresh Foulad were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Market14 Jun 2032
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Zob Ahan have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad14 Jun 2032
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dani Amerr and Zob Ahan agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad14 Jun 2032
No place for Guy Refaelov in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Zob Ahan are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout14 Jun 2032
Parsa Jafari gets picked when it counts
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 Parsa Jafari is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market12 Apr 2032
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Padideh they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 Apr 2032
Words exchanged at Padideh
Ahmad Cheshmi 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.
The dugout12 Apr 2032
Hossein Cheshmi has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Padideh will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout12 Apr 2032
The manager makes an example of Emanuel Pereira
“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.
Market12 Apr 2032
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Padideh know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout12 Apr 2032
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Market12 Apr 2032
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Padideh, another week without a signature from Guy Refaelov.
Squad12 Apr 2032
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Padideh will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Market12 Apr 2032
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Hossein Dejagah leaves Padideh the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Jan 2032
Padideh say no — this time
The offer from Arema for Guy Refaelov 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.
Squad19 Jan 2032
A falling-out at Padideh
Ahmad Cheshmi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets19 Jan 2032
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.
Match17 Jan 2032
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yaghoub Barage. 2‑0 against Rah Ahan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad19 Jan 2032
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Player ratings19 Jan 2032
Ninety minutes of Yaghoub Barage at his very best
Marked 8.24. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Padideh.
Player ratings19 Jan 2032
Marked 8.17 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout19 Jan 2032
“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.
Squad19 Jan 2032
Defences have started doubling up on Amir Dejagah
7 goals and a season average of 7.21 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Jan 2032
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Padideh they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market12 Jan 2032
The bid was some way short and Padideh did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets12 Jan 2032
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Padideh have done the hard part with Gostaresh Foulad, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Boardroom12 Jan 2032
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Guy Refaelov has agreed terms with Zob Ahan for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad12 Jan 2032
Words exchanged at Padideh
Ahmad Cheshmi 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.
Transfer targets12 Jan 2032
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.
Match10 Jan 2032
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Amir Dejagah. 1‑0 against Esteghlal Ahvaz, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings12 Jan 2032
Marked 8.27 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings12 Jan 2032
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market12 Jan 2032
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom12 Jan 2032
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $54.7K of what Zob Ahan paid for Mohammad Reza Bordbar is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
Market12 Jan 2032
“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 Zob Ahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market12 Jan 2032
Esteghlal pay $3.2M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
The dugout12 Jan 2032
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Zob Ahan may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market12 Jan 2032
Business is business: Arash Hashemi goes
Persepolis paid $1.8M and Zob Ahan took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Transfer targets12 Jan 2032
Everything agreed with Saipa, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad12 Jan 2032
Words exchanged at Zob Ahan
Parsa Jafari 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 ratings12 Jan 2032
Marked 7.89. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market5 Jan 2032
Mobin Dehghan has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Padideh they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Ahmad Cheshmi 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.
Boardroom5 Jan 2032
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Raouf Soltani has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Padideh have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Transfer targets5 Jan 2032
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Esteghlal Khuzestan have kept their man, and Padideh go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match3 Jan 2032
A bad afternoon for Padideh against Tractor
0‑1 to Tractor, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market5 Jan 2032
Add another name to the list: Arema have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Guy Refaelov. The answer from Padideh has not changed — yet.
The dugout5 Jan 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Otabek Ahadov, and the manager let it.
The dugout5 Jan 2032
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Player ratings5 Jan 2032
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match28 May 2031
Nobody wins at Padideh
27 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Boardroom2 Jun 2031
Padideh book their European place
Done, and with games to spare. Next season has floodlit nights against clubs from other countries in it, and the accounts have a line they did not have last year.
Match28 May 2031
Padideh out of the cup
Esteghlal ended it 0‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The dugout2 Jun 2031
Payam Niazmand: 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.
Market2 Jun 2031
Padideh say no — this time
The offer from Persepolis for Mohammad Ghorbani 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.
Squad2 Jun 2031
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad2 Jun 2031
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Padideh had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Transfer targets2 Jun 2031
The offer went to Tractor this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets2 Jun 2031
The offer went to Tractor this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.