Marked for Ehsan Pouraliganji
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Jun 2036
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Foolad will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market9 Jun 2036
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Rah Ahan waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Foolad is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market9 Jun 2036
“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 The request is on a desk at Foolad, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad9 Jun 2036
Words exchanged at Foolad
Mahan Beheshti 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.
Market9 Jun 2036
Ehsan Pouraliganji has left for Tractor in a $720.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Transfer targets9 Jun 2036
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Malavan have kept their man, and Foolad go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market9 Jun 2036
Add another name to the list: Siah Jamegan have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Reza Rezaeian. The answer from Foolad has not changed — yet.
Squad9 Jun 2036
A muscle injury sidelines Ali Rezaeian for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Foolad will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout9 Jun 2036
Winsley Boteli asks for a word with the manager
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Jun 2036
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Foolad will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom2 Jun 2036
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.
Boardroom2 Jun 2036
Crisis meeting at Foolad
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market2 Jun 2036
Padideh come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Foolad did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market2 Jun 2036
“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 Foolad, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market2 Jun 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Foolad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad2 Jun 2036
A row about effort at Foolad
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mahan Beheshti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets2 Jun 2036
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.
Market2 Jun 2036
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 May 2036
“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 Foolad, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 May 2036
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad12 May 2036
A falling-out at Foolad
Mahan Beheshti and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout12 May 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mahan Beheshti, and the manager let it.
Squad12 May 2036
Words at Foolad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Khodadad 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 dugout12 May 2036
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ehsan Pouraliganji trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout12 May 2036
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.
Market12 May 2036
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Foolad, another week without a signature from Shahriar Shojaei.
Market12 May 2036
6 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Foolad money.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 May 2036
A fracture rules Milad Gholizadeh out for 36 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Foolad will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market5 May 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Foolad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad5 May 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Foolad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 May 2036
37 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Market5 May 2036
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad5 May 2036
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ali Rezaeian and Foolad agree another 3 years.
The dugout5 May 2036
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ehsan Pouraliganji trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout5 May 2036
The manager makes an example of Reza Rezaeian
“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.
The dugout5 May 2036
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Apr 2036
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market28 Apr 2036
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Foolad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad28 Apr 2036
Tempers go at Foolad
Mahan Beheshti 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 dugout28 Apr 2036
Winsley Boteli 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 Foolad, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout28 Apr 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mehdi Azmoun, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Apr 2036
When it matters, Iliya Imani plays
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 dugout28 Apr 2036
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.
Market28 Apr 2036
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Hossein Hajsafi signs something — a contract at Foolad or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market28 Apr 2036
4 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Foolad could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Mar 2036
Pejman Noorafkan damages knee ligaments — 30 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Foolad may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market31 Mar 2036
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Foolad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad31 Mar 2036
A row about effort at Foolad
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mahan Beheshti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad31 Mar 2036
Words exchanged at Foolad
Iliya Imani 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.
Market31 Mar 2036
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Foolad, another week without a signature from Ehsan Pouraliganji.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
Mahan Beheshti knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mahan Beheshti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohammad Khodadad, and the manager let it.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
When it matters, Iliya Imani plays
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Mar 2036
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Foolad lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad24 Mar 2036
Words at Foolad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mahan Beheshti 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.
Squad24 Mar 2036
Everybody at Foolad saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 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.
Squad24 Mar 2036
Tempers go at Foolad
Iliya Imani 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 dugout24 Mar 2036
Airton Patricio has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Foolad 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 dugout24 Mar 2036
“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.
The dugout24 Mar 2036
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ehsan Pouraliganji trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout24 Mar 2036
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Market24 Mar 2036
The name of Winsley Boteli keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Foolad say nothing, which says plenty.
In brief
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Market
Winsley Boteli runs his contract down
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Match
Continental football is in reach for Foolad
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Boardroom
Foolad keep producing them
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Mar 2036
Full time on the season at Foolad
Position 6 on 47 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
The dugout17 Mar 2036
“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 Mar 2036
Defences have started doubling up on Winsley Boteli
19 goals and a season average of 7.22 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad17 Mar 2036
A falling-out at Foolad
Mahan Beheshti and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces17 Mar 2036
At 23 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.
Match15 Mar 2036
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Winsley Boteli. 2‑0 against Tractor, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings17 Mar 2036
7.79, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Foolad had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout17 Mar 2036
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Morteza Ebrahimi could afford to be generous.
The dugout17 Mar 2036
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings18 Feb 2036
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.87, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market18 Feb 2036
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Rah Ahan moved on, Ali Jahanbakhsh reports back to Foolad, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Squad18 Feb 2036
A falling-out at Foolad
Mahan Beheshti and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets18 Feb 2036
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.
Match16 Feb 2036
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mahan Beheshti. 2‑1 against Padideh, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces18 Feb 2036
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.
Match16 Feb 2036
Foolad keep winning on the road
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Market18 Feb 2036
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Omid Shojaei has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market18 Feb 2036
One of our own: Reza Ghoddos joins the Foolad first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Reza Ghoddos is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings11 Feb 2036
Two goals and a mark of 8.92 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout11 Feb 2036
Reza Rezaeian: 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.” Foolad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market11 Feb 2036
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Foolad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market11 Feb 2036
The deal that would have taken Shahriar Beiranvand to Naft Tehran has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Foolad with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad11 Feb 2036
17 goals and a season average of 7.20. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad11 Feb 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Foolad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match9 Feb 2036
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Transfer targets11 Feb 2036
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sepahan have kept their man, and Foolad go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market11 Feb 2036
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Foolad, another week without a signature from Winsley Boteli.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Jan 2036
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Foolad people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market21 Jan 2036
“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 Foolad, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market21 Jan 2036
Tractor come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Foolad did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad21 Jan 2036
A falling-out at Foolad
Mahan Beheshti and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets21 Jan 2036
Foolad have gone to Sepahan with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets21 Jan 2036
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Malavan have kept their man, and Foolad go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market21 Jan 2036
The phone has started ringing about Milad Noorafkan again, and this time the name on the line is Naft Tehran. Foolad are listening politely and promising nothing.
The terraces21 Jan 2036
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.
Match19 Jan 2036
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Winsley Boteli. 1‑0 against Sepahan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings31 Dec 2035
Two goals and a mark of 9.03 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings31 Dec 2035
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings31 Dec 2035
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.91 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad31 Dec 2035
Words exchanged at Foolad
Mahan Beheshti 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.
Match29 Dec 2035
Siah Jamegan made Foolad work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The terraces31 Dec 2035
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.
The dugout31 Dec 2035
“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.
The dugout31 Dec 2035
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.” Morteza Ebrahimi, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Squad31 Dec 2035
A Foolad teenager takes the young player award
Ehsan Pouraliganji is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Dec 2035
A hiding for Foolad
Beaten 1‑4 by Persepolis, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad24 Dec 2035
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market24 Dec 2035
“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.
Squad24 Dec 2035
A falling-out at Foolad
Mahan Beheshti and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout24 Dec 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Milad Rezaeian, and the manager let it.
Boardroom24 Dec 2035
Doors closed at Foolad
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Player ratings24 Dec 2035
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad24 Dec 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kaveh Ghoddos and Foolad agree another 4 years.
The dugout24 Dec 2035
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market17 Dec 2035
“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 Foolad, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market17 Dec 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Foolad they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 Dec 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Foolad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Dec 2035
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mojtaba Fakhrian. 1‑0 against Rah Ahan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings17 Dec 2035
Marked 7.77 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Foolad had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout17 Dec 2035
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.” Morteza Ebrahimi, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout17 Dec 2035
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 Airton Patricio is on it.
The dugout17 Dec 2035
Mahan Beheshti 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 Foolad, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout17 Dec 2035
“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
Market10 Dec 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Foolad can pretend not to have heard.
Squad10 Dec 2035
Mahan Beheshti 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.
Match8 Dec 2035
Esteghlal Ahvaz left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout10 Dec 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ehsan Pouraliganji, and the manager let it.
Boardroom10 Dec 2035
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad10 Dec 2035
Words exchanged at Foolad
Iliya Imani 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.
Squad10 Dec 2035
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mohammad Mohammadi and Foolad agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout10 Dec 2035
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 0‑1 Morteza Ebrahimi left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout10 Dec 2035
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Nov 2035
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad26 Nov 2035
A falling-out at Foolad
Mahan Beheshti and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match24 Nov 2035
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Foolad and Saipa in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Match24 Nov 2035
Three points for Foolad, 4‑2 the final word against Saipa in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings26 Nov 2035
A performance of 9.54 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad26 Nov 2035
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
The dugout26 Nov 2035
The manager makes an example of Airton Patricio
“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.
The dugout26 Nov 2035
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Player ratings26 Nov 2035
Ten men and a goalkeeper behind him, and it still finished in the net. He knew before anybody told him, and nobody at Foolad needed to.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout19 Nov 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Foolad may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market19 Nov 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Amir Mehdi Maghsoudi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Foolad the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Saeid Noorafkan is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Nov 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Foolad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout19 Nov 2035
The manager makes an example of Alireza Koushki
“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 Nov 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ashkan Noorafkan and Foolad agree another 4 years.
The dugout19 Nov 2035
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.
Looking ahead19 Nov 2035
Saipa next, and one man in the Foolad dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market19 Nov 2035
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Foolad know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Oct 2035
“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.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Mahan Beheshti 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.
The dugout15 Oct 2035
The manager makes an example of Winsley Boteli
“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.
Squad15 Oct 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Foolad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Oct 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ramin Gholizadeh and Foolad agree another 4 years.
The dugout15 Oct 2035
The manager has not finished forgetting Saeid Noorafkan's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Squad15 Oct 2035
“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 Foolad will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Looking ahead15 Oct 2035
Zob Ahan next, and one man in the Foolad dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market15 Oct 2035
The name of Mojtaba Fakhrian keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Foolad say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Oct 2035
“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 Foolad, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout1 Oct 2035
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Foolad have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad1 Oct 2035
A falling-out at Foolad
Mahan Beheshti and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match29 Sep 2035
A 1‑0 win over Malavan, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad1 Oct 2035
Words at Foolad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Mehdi Ahmadi 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 ratings1 Oct 2035
Marked 7.71 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Foolad had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout1 Oct 2035
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Morteza Ebrahimi could afford to be generous.
The dugout1 Oct 2035
“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.
Squad1 Oct 2035
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Sep 2035
“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.
Player ratings24 Sep 2035
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market24 Sep 2035
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Amir Mehdi Maghsoudi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Foolad the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom24 Sep 2035
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.
Squad24 Sep 2035
Words at Foolad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mahan Beheshti 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.
Squad24 Sep 2035
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Squad24 Sep 2035
A falling-out at Foolad
Iliya Imani and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings24 Sep 2035
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.75 on the card, and the Foolad support went home talking about one name.
Match22 Sep 2035
A 1‑1 draw with Sepahan leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
In brief
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The dugout
Airton Patricio has become a man the manager trusts
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Somebody else is better right now than Ehsan Pouraliganji
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market6 Aug 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Foolad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market6 Aug 2035
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Foolad have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match4 Aug 2035
Foolad cannot stop winning
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
The dugout6 Aug 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Foolad may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2035
Everything agreed with Zob Ahan, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market6 Aug 2035
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom6 Aug 2035
8 academy players handed senior numbers at Foolad
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Esteghlal have kept their man, and Foolad go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad6 Aug 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Foolad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 May 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Foolad is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market7 May 2035
“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 Foolad, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 May 2035
A falling-out at Foolad
Mahan Beheshti and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout7 May 2035
“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.
Squad7 May 2035
Words at Foolad training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ji-hun Park 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.
Market7 May 2035
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout7 May 2035
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 Shahriar Ebrahimi is on it.
Market7 May 2035
3 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Foolad could get for him.
Squad7 May 2035
“Ask me in the summer. I will know before anybody else does.” He is 32 with 141 appearances behind him, and Foolad have to plan for both answers.