Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 34 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Everything agreed with Siah Jamegan, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The offer went to Esteghlal Khuzestan 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.
The chase for Erfan Darvishaali ended with $680.0K changing hands and Tractor out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Antoni Kozubal 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 Saeid Karimi 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. Persepolis have kept their man, and Malavan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Malavan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 The request is on a desk at Malavan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mehdi Abdi has gone, the accounts have $1.2M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
The offer from Saba for Farjad Fayaz 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gholam Reza Sabetimani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Malavan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Malavan will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The name of Abolfazl Zoleykhaei has come up in conversations Malavan were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Saeid Karimi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Malavan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Quvondiq Ro'ziyev 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Esteghlal Khuzestan for Mehdi Abdi 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Malavan can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Malavan 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 Saeid Karimi 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. Malavan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Malavan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Quvondiq Ro'ziyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
The dugout29 May 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Farshad Faraji'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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saeid Karimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Afshar Sedaghat is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Malavan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 86 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Saeid Karimi 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 Quvondiq Ro'ziyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Malavan 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 Malavan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Malavan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Malavan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Quvondiq Ro'ziyev 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.
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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mehdi Abdi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Malavan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Malavan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Malavan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mehdi Abdi 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 2028
Words at Malavan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saeid Karimi 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Farzad Taiebipour trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Malavan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
This is not rotation. Abouazar Safarzadeh has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Malavan is pretending otherwise.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Malavan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saeid Karimi 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.
Everybody at Malavan 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.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Malavan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Malavan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mehdi Abdi 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 Saeid Karimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Malavan can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Malavan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ghaem Eslamikhah 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 Saeid Karimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Nobody at Malavan 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.
Saeid Karimi 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.
This is not rotation. Abouazar Safarzadeh has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Malavan is pretending otherwise.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Malavan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Quvondiq Ro'ziyev 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 Malavan 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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Malavan have no good answer.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 44 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Malavan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Malavan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saeid Karimi 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Malavan pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
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 Younes Akbarpour is on it.
A brace, and Ramin Azizi takes the afternoon — 8.34
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ramin Azizi provided it, and the 8.34 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Parham Ghannad will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Malavan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mehdi Abdi 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.
Words at Malavan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saeid Karimi 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.
At 19 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mohammad Alinejad has his answer from Malavan; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Gostaresh Foulad go through and Malavan go home, 0‑0 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Mahan Sadeghi, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.63
A mark of 7.63 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Malavan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ghaem Eslamikhah 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 Quvondiq Ro'ziyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
20 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Everybody at Malavan saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 37 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.
Mohammad Hossein Sadeghi 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 Saeid Karimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Malavan 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Saeid Karimi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Malavan needing him to play as if none of it matters.
8 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.89 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Saeid Karimi 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 Quvondiq Ro'ziyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 21 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.
3-0, and a corner of somebody else's ground that made more noise than the rest of it put together. Those coaches leave before dawn and nobody outside them ever mentions it.
“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 Malavan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Mehdi Abdi reports back to Malavan with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gholam Reza Sabetimani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Malavan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 3 gone
That is the business done at Malavan 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.
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.
Ghaem Eslamikhah 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.
Add another name to the list: Tractor have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Abouazar Safarzadeh. The answer from Malavan has not changed — yet.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Malavan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saeid Karimi 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 nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Malavan can pretend not to have heard.
Malavan had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Padideh, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Malavan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Talal Haji did not need any: 7.80, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Saeid Karimi 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Malavan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Ghaem Eslamikhah 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 Saeid Karimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Mohammad Hossein Sadeghi has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 8.23 — 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.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.17, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Ghaem Eslamikhah 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.
This is not rotation. Abouazar Safarzadeh has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Malavan is pretending otherwise.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Words at Malavan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saeid Karimi 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 85. Esteghlal Ahvaz had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Malavan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 9.00 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Mehdi Abdi 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 Saeid Karimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Abolfazl Zoleykhaei has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Malavan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Malavan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.06, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Stephane Keller 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 Saeid Karimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 85. Esteghlal Khuzestan had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Malavan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Malavan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saeid Karimi 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.
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.
At 20 he was the best of everybody his age in the division for one weekend. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Zargham Saadavi'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.
Padideh next, and one man in the Malavan dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Malavan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Talal Haji did not need any: 7.68, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Ghaem Eslamikhah 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Saeid Karimi 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Jafar Salmani
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Jafar Salmani has come out of that comparison in the side, and Malavan have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mohammed Marran provided it, and the 8.88 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.85 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Malavan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Saeid Karimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Hossein Gholizadeh on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Malavan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Malavan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saeid Karimi 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Malavan told Mahan Sadeghi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Hossein Gholizadeh after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Stephane Keller trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Esteghlal next, and one man in the Malavan dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mohammed Marran provided it, and the 8.89 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Malavan 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 Saeid Karimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 23 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 16 combined actions and a mark of 6.77, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Ghaem Eslamikhah 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 Saeid Karimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Malavan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Stephane Keller and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Malavan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Saeid Karimi 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.
He is 23 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.
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
1‑4 to Tractor, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The offer from Foolad for Mehdi Abdi 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 chase for Milad Kor ended with $1.3M changing hands and Tractor out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Ghaem Eslamikhah 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Saeid Karimi 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 7.12, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Malavan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Mehdi Abdi 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 Quvondiq Ro'ziyev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Hossein Gholizadeh after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Nobody at Malavan is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
The words a physio says slowly. 74 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.
“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 Malavan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Mehdi Abdi had Malavan level again within 1 minutes, and Rah Ahan never got to play with a lead at all.
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Rah Ahan; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Malavan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Malavan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
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 Hossein Gholizadeh left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Saeid Karimi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Malavan needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Nobody at Malavan is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Malavan than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Hossein Sadeghi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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.” Hossein Gholizadeh, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Saeid Karimi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Malavan needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mohammad Alinejad trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Two goals and a mark of 8.65 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Ghaem Eslamikhah 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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 33 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Hossein Gholizadeh after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Amir Savaed commits to Malavan for another 4 years.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Saeid Karimi
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Saeid Karimi has come out of that comparison in the side, and Malavan have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Mohammad Papi
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Hossein Gholizadeh on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Two goals and a mark of 8.60 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ghaem Eslamikhah provided it, and the 8.35 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Saeid Karimi 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.
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.
“I did not go to Foolad to sit and watch. I want to come back to Malavan and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Hossein Gholizadeh kept it short after the 4‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Malavan man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Seyed Ali Yahyazadeh was the best thing in any of them.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Zargham Saadavi's mistake