Marked for Rustamjon Ashurmatov
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces10 Sep 2029
Supporters organise against the Saipa board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Match5 Sep 2029
Saipa out of the cup
Malavan ended it 1‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match8 Sep 2029
The wait goes on for Saipa
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad10 Sep 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saipa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Ilhan Fakili falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Marked 6.57 on 12 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 terraces10 Sep 2029
Saipa supporters have found a favourite in Ilhan Fakili
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ilhan Fakili 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.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Marked 8.11 — 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Saipa close the window on a squad of their own making
24 in and 5 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.
Market3 Sep 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Tempers go at Saipa
Amir Savaed 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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Ilhan Fakili falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match1 Sep 2029
A point taken on 93 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Squad3 Sep 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rustamjon Ashurmatov and Saipa agree another 2 years.
Squad3 Sep 2029
9 new faces, and Saipa are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout3 Sep 2029
“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
Market30 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Saipa can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mehdi Sorkhi is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
Everything agreed with Ferencvaros, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Olympiacos keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad30 Jul 2029
A falling-out at Saipa
Ali Dehghan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words at Saipa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ashkan Gholizadeh 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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
At 33 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
Al-Fateh have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Market30 Jul 2029
Naft Tehran are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Saipa will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Mar 2029
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Saipa lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market12 Mar 2029
“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 Saipa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market12 Mar 2029
Only the photograph left for Aref Seifi
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aref Seifi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Saipa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Mar 2029
A falling-out at Saipa
Ashkan Gholizadeh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at Saipa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Esmaeil Gholizadeh 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 Mar 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rustamjon Ashurmatov, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Mar 2029
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Saipa will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Market12 Mar 2029
The Amir Taremi talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Saipa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
Charles Agada 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Dec 2028
11 matches without a win for Saipa
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around Saipa are no longer polite ones.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Saipa may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad25 Dec 2028
A falling-out at Saipa
Ali Dehghan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Dec 2028
A row about effort at Saipa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Esmaeil Gholizadeh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match23 Dec 2028
0‑1 to Naft Tehran, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad25 Dec 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ali Azadmehr commits to Saipa for another 3 years.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout6 Nov 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Saipa may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match4 Nov 2028
The wait goes on for Saipa
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Ali Dehghan in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saipa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Esmaeil Gholizadeh 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.
Match4 Nov 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
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 1‑2 Saeid Moharrami left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad6 Nov 2028
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Diyorjon Turopov is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rustamjon Ashurmatov, and the manager let it.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Sep 2028
Saipa out of the cup
Malavan ended it 2‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match9 Sep 2028
No end in sight to Saipa's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Saipa has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
7.77, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
Saipa had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Al-Ra'ed, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Amir Taremi and Saipa agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad11 Sep 2028
A falling-out at Saipa
Ali Dehghan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Saipa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ashkan Gholizadeh 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.
Match9 Sep 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Aug 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Saipa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
A brace, and Mehdi Sorkhi takes the afternoon — 9.20
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mehdi Sorkhi provided it, and the 9.20 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
The dugout14 Aug 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Saipa may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
Saipa had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Pafos, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad14 Aug 2028
A falling-out at Saipa
Ali Dehghan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Aug 2028
At 30 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Boardroom14 Aug 2028
Still nobody in the Saipa dugout
13 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Mehdi Beiranvand clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Saipa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad7 Aug 2028
A one-man rearguard from Amir Taremi
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
Market7 Aug 2028
“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 Saipa, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match5 Aug 2028
No end in sight to Saipa's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Saipa has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad7 Aug 2028
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad7 Aug 2028
15 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Saipa
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Jul 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Saipa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom31 Jul 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Saipa
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mehdi Sorkhi is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Tempers go at Saipa
Ali Dehghan 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
At 30 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
Saipa asked and Al-Khaleej said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Jul 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Saipa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Neftchi keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at Saipa
Ali Dehghan 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 Jul 2028
A muscle injury sidelines Hasan Pourhamidi for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Saipa will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Dilshod Rahmatullayev has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Saipa have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Jul 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Saipa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad17 Jul 2028
A falling-out at Saipa
Ali Dehghan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Jul 2028
At 24 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
Saipa asked and Al Shabab said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hasan Pourhamidi, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
A loan enquiry to Al-Khaleej: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
A loan enquiry to Neftchi: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market17 Jul 2028
Amir Taremi linked with a move away
The name of Amir Taremi keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Saipa say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Jul 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Arya Delavari is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Ali Dehghan in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saipa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Saipa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ashkan Gholizadeh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
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.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
Aref Seifi gets it from the manager
“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.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
A loan move for Jehad Thikri is in the works
Saipa have made the call to Al-Qadisiyah. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets10 Jul 2028
A loan move for Fahad Saeed is in the works
Saipa have made the call to Baniyas. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
Amir Taremi 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 Saipa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Jul 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Saipa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market3 Jul 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Saipa people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
Pressure builds in the Saipa boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
No thanks: Abdoulie Njie rejects the move
Saipa had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Basaksehir, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad3 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saipa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Saipa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hamid Golzari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout3 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Reza Mirzaeian, and the manager let it.
The dugout3 Jul 2028
Ali Dehghan is still being punished for one mistake
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.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
7 new boys at the Saipa academy
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Jun 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
$3.1M was the most the club would pay and Cambridge United were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al-Taawoun keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words exchanged at Saipa
Ali Dehghan 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.
Market26 Jun 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Saipa have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad26 Jun 2028
A row about effort at Saipa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ashkan Gholizadeh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
Saipa asked and Khazar said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
“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.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
A loan move for Afonso Patrão is in the works
Saipa have made the call to Pafos. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Jun 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Saipa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Saipa have gone to Cambridge United 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
A falling-out at Saipa
Hamid Golzari and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Saipa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ashkan Gholizadeh 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.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Saipa asked and Al-Shabab said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hasan Pourhamidi, and the manager let it.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Saipa have made the call to Al-Taawoun. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad19 Jun 2028
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Saipa are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
Reza Ghoddos 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Jun 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 87 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market12 Jun 2028
“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.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
Everything agreed with Gostaresh Foulad, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market12 Jun 2028
Saipa say no — this time
The offer from Naft Tehran for Ali Derakhshan 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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Keykhosro Siahpour has just signed for Saipa, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Tempers go at Saipa
Ashkan Gholizadeh 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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
A row about effort at Saipa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hamid Golzari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Fateh have kept their man, and Saipa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2028
A loan enquiry to Khazar: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Jun 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Saipa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad5 Jun 2028
The division’s best young player: Mehdi Sorkhi
A whole season of being the finest 21-year-old anybody in this league could put on a pitch. Saipa have him, and everybody else now knows it.
Market5 Jun 2028
Reza Ghoddos hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Saipa can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
Saipa and Esteghlal Khuzestan have settled on $2.2M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Saipa
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Saipa is running low.
Squad5 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saipa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market5 Jun 2028
Add another name to the list: Naft Tehran have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ali Derakhshan. The answer from Saipa has not changed — yet.
Squad5 Jun 2028
A row about effort at Saipa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hamid Golzari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Ali Dehghan'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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Mar 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Saipa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Hamid Golzari 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 dugout13 Mar 2028
“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
Squad31 Jan 2028
15 saves: Amir Taremi was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 15 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match29 Jan 2028
Nowhere to hide for Saipa
0‑4 against Persepolis, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market31 Jan 2028
Mehdi Abdi hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Saipa can pretend not to have heard.
Market31 Jan 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match29 Jan 2028
The wait goes on for Saipa
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match29 Jan 2028
The goals have deserted Saipa
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Saipa can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad31 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Saipa
Ali Dehghan and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Saipa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rustamjon Ashurmatov 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.
Transfer targets31 Jan 2028
Saipa asked and Sepahan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Jan 2028
A muscle injury and 17 days out for Mohammad Sattari
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Saipa will quote 17 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
The deal with Sepahan is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Tempers go at Saipa
Ashkan Gholizadeh 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Saipa
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rustamjon Ashurmatov was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match22 Jan 2028
3 matches without a goal for Saipa
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.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
“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.
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Mehdi Beiranvand after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.