Position 3, 60 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.
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.
Ali Eslami 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.
Squad24 Mar 2036
Words at Zob Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ashkan Rashedi 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.
Nobody at Zob Ahan 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.
4‑0, and Majid Dejagah took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Zob Ahan tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings25 Feb 2036
A brace, and Majid Dejagah takes the afternoon — 8.73
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Majid Dejagah provided it, and the 8.73 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 The request is on a desk at Zob Ahan, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.14 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
Ali Eslami 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ashkan Rashedi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Mani Gholami
5 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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.92 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
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.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zob Ahan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ashkan Rashedi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Majid Dejagah. 2‑1 against Esteghlal Khuzestan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match8 Dec 2035
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Zob Ahan. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Zob Ahan, another week without a signature from Saeed Amiri.
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.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.12 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Ali Eslami 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.
6 goals in one match, Esmaeil Gholizadeh on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Zob Ahan and Rah Ahan.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ashkan Rashedi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Padideh have kept their man, and Zob Ahan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
“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 deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 17 arrived, 27 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The offer from Naft Tehran for Lisandro Morrone 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Ehsan Ghoddos reports back to Zob Ahan with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Majid Dejagah 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Artin Rostami and Zob Ahan agree another 4 years.
Squad3 Sep 2035
Words at Zob Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saeed Amiri 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.
“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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zob Ahan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zob Ahan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Majid Dejagah 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ashkan Rashedi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zob Ahan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zob Ahan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zob Ahan can pretend not to have heard.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.78 for the rest of it.
Ali Eslami 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.
Squad13 Aug 2035
Saeed Amiri 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.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zob Ahan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zob Ahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zob Ahan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saeed Amiri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Zob Ahan asked and Esteghlal said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ashkan Rashedi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ali Eslami signs something — a contract at Zob Ahan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zob Ahan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The offer from Siah Jamegan for Behnam Teymourian 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Karim Dejagah will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zob Ahan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
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.
The phone has started ringing about Ehsan Ghoddos again, and this time the name on the line is Naft Tehran. Zob Ahan are listening politely and promising nothing.
The words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zob Ahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Gostaresh Foulad waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zob Ahan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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.
Majid Dejagah 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.
Squad9 Jul 2035
Words at Zob Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ashkan Rashedi 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 words a physio says slowly. 65 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zob Ahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Tractor for Behnam Teymourian 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zob Ahan have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zob Ahan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Behnam Teymourian was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ehsan Ghoddos will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zob Ahan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Majid Dejagah 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.
Squad9 Apr 2035
Words at Zob Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Behnam Teymourian 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.
“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 Zob Ahan will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Zob Ahan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Zob Ahan can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ehsan Ghoddos will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zob Ahan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ashkan Rashedi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Zob Ahan have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Majid Dejagah 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 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.
Marked 6.73 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Amir Hossein Jalalivand and Zob Ahan agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Gostaresh Foulad will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Zob Ahan were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Hossein Hosseini provided it, and the 8.14 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Ehsan Ghoddos had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Boardroom5 Feb 2035
Zob Ahan close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 7 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Nicolás Afonso reports back to Zob Ahan with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Ali Eslami 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Zob Ahan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zob Ahan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zob Ahan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Behnam Teymourian was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Padideh will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Denis Titow has pre-agreed a move to Zob Ahan, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Zob Ahan asked and Esteghlal said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Hossein Hosseini will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Zob Ahan escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Hossein Hosseini provided it, and the 8.09 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zob Ahan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Ali Eslami 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.
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.
The new man at Zob Ahan has worked with Saeed Amiri before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ehsan Ghoddos will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zob Ahan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ali Eslami 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Behnam Teymourian was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Zob Ahan, another week without a signature from Behnam Teymourian.
Two goals and a mark of 8.26 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ravshan Xayrullayev will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zob Ahan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Abolfazl Zamani scored, was marked 7.66, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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.
Majid Dejagah 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Behnam Teymourian was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Zob Ahan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Player ratings4 Sep 2034
A brace, and Majid Dejagah takes the afternoon — 8.74
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Majid Dejagah provided it, and the 8.74 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $60.6K of what Zob Ahan paid for Artin Rostami is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“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.
Boardroom4 Sep 2034
Deadline passes with 26 signed and 20 gone
That is the business done at Zob Ahan until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ehsan Ghoddos will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Zob Ahan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ali Eslami 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 Sep 2034
Words at Zob Ahan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ashkan Rashedi 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Persepolis have kept their man, and Zob Ahan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Siah Jamegan waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Zob Ahan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Zob Ahan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tractor have kept their man, and Zob Ahan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Everybody at Zob Ahan saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 33 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.