It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naft Tehran can pretend not to have heard.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Naft Tehran will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Naft Tehran 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 Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Abedzadeh 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 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.14 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Ashkan Pouraliganji and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Abedzadeh 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 given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Naft Tehran know it.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Milad Ebrahimi on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Amir Abedzadeh 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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Naft Tehran and Esteghlal Ahvaz in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Tarantino 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 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.
Marked 8.60 — 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.
“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 Naft Tehran, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ashkan Pouraliganji was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Tractor left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Milad Ebrahimi to a room that had heard them before.
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.
In brief
The dugoutAli Kamali has become a man the manager trusts
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.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Vincent Bonnet obliged against Padideh. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Naft Tehran.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vouria Cheshmi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Naft Tehran the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al-Fateh keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Lech have kept their man, and Naft Tehran go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Minute 92, against Saipa, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
“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.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 12 signed and 12 gone
That is the business done at Naft Tehran 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Naft Tehran asked and Saipa said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Tarantino 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.
Ashkan Pouraliganji and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Naft Tehran asked and Cerro said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Mahan Sadeghi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.48. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Milad Ebrahimi after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Foolad have accepted the money. What Naft Tehran do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Ashkan Pouraliganji 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.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Abedzadeh 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑5, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
4 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Law McCabe is in the works
The mood at Naft Tehran has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Naft Tehran they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
12 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonardo Tarantino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Naft Tehran asked and Ferencvaros 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 end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Ahmad Ghoddos clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amir Abedzadeh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Naft Tehran asked and Ferencvaros said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Kaveh Ebrahimi has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
“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 Naft Tehran, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Shakhtar is saying, and nobody at Naft Tehran is enjoying the guessing.
Ashkan Pouraliganji 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Amirreza Changalvaei commits to Naft Tehran for another 4 years.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Abedzadeh 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.
Naft Tehran asked and Dinamo Zagreb said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Ali Kamali has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Naft Tehran and Rah Ahan have settled on $520.0K. 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rodrigo Granillo is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Vouria Cheshmi has agreed terms with Foolad for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Amir Abedzadeh 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.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Naft Tehran is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Naft Tehran have done the hard part with Ferencvaros, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran 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 Amir Abedzadeh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ashkan Pouraliganji and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Abedzadeh 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.
Naft Tehran have made the call to Ferencvaros. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Hajduk Split is saying, and nobody at Naft Tehran is enjoying the guessing.
Amir Abedzadeh 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Josh Bickerton is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonardo Tarantino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Vouria Cheshmi has his answer from Naft Tehran; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Naft Tehran is running low.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Naft Tehran have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Foolad for Amirreza Changalvaei 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 Naft Tehran can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al-Fateh keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Ashkan Pouraliganji was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Naft Tehran have made the call to Hajduk Split. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Saeid Jahanbakhsh has just signed for Naft Tehran, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Siah Jamegan wanted more than $110.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Abedzadeh 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.
Naft Tehran asked and Esteghlal Ahvaz said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Naft Tehran have made the call to Al Ain. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“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 Naft Tehran, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Sepahan for Abolfazl Zoleykhaei 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 offer went to Rah Ahan 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.
Add another name to the list: Foolad have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Amirreza Changalvaei. The answer from Naft Tehran has not changed — yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer went to Siah Jamegan 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 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.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Nobody at Naft Tehran 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Ehsan Hajsafi's mistake
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ahmad Ghoddos has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naft Tehran can pretend not to have heard.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Vincent Bonnet has, at Naft Tehran, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Ashkan Pouraliganji and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Vincent Bonnet and Naft Tehran agree another 2 years.
Atlético Tucumán 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.
Esteghlal Khuzestan 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.
113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Naft Tehran lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Amir Abedzadeh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Tarantino 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Naft Tehran know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Karim Dejagah trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
120 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Naft Tehran lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Amir Abedzadeh and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
127 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Naft Tehran lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Amir Abedzadeh 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.
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 dugout14 May 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Ehsan Hajsafi'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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Naft Tehran, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The words a physio says slowly. 134 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 Naft Tehran, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 May 2029
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Tarantino 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 did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Naft Tehran will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The words a physio says slowly. 142 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Naft Tehran is running low.
Amir Abedzadeh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Tarantino 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Naft Tehran know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The mood at Naft Tehran has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Amir Abedzadeh 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.
Amir Abedzadeh 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 Leonardo Tarantino 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.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Ehsan Hajsafi'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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Karim Dejagah and Naft Tehran agree another 2 years.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Tarantino 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Naft Tehran know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Ashkan Pouraliganji 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.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Abedzadeh is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Naft Tehran will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Naft Tehran, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Ashkan Pouraliganji 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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Abedzadeh 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 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mehdi Gholizadeh trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Naft Tehran told Leonardo Tarantino something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Naft Tehran, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I want to stay in the game when I stop, and I am not going to wait until I stop to prepare for it.” At 38 the badges have begun, and every manager in the division remembers doing the same.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naft Tehran can pretend not to have heard.
Amir Abedzadeh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Tarantino 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Naft Tehran, another week without a signature from Hadi Mohammadi.
He went out to keep goal every week and came back with 1 games and 1 of them shut out. Somebody at Naft Tehran argued for this move last summer; nobody is arguing for it now.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Naft Tehran, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The money the manager was told he had is now money the manager used to have. $1.6M, gone from the table without a statement, and a dressing room that understands what it means.
The mood at Naft Tehran has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naft Tehran can pretend not to have heard.
Amir Abedzadeh 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 Leonardo Tarantino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.16 — 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.
Amir Abedzadeh 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.
8.08. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“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 dugout19 Feb 2029
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.” Ahmad Ghoddos kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Nobody at Naft Tehran 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 dugout19 Feb 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Ehsan Hajsafi'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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Mahan Sadeghi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Naft Tehran needing him to play as if none of it matters.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Naft Tehran and Foolad in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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.
At 22 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.
Successful dribbles: 32. 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.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Naft Tehran close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 6 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.
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Naft Tehran has been clear about where Karim Dejagah stands, which is more than many ever get.
The mood at Naft Tehran has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Amir Abedzadeh 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.
7.90, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Naft Tehran had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
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.” Ahmad Ghoddos kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naft Tehran can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Amir Abedzadeh 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hadi Mohammadi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Naft Tehran asked and Esteghlal Khuzestan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“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.
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 Amir Abedzadeh is on it.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Leonardo Tarantino reports back to Naft Tehran with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
“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 Naft Tehran, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hadi Mohammadi 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 Naft Tehran pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naft Tehran can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AEK have kept their man, and Naft Tehran go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Naft Tehran, and 0 appearances in 29 say he has earned the hearing.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Saman Mehrabizadeh and Naft Tehran agree another 2 years.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Amirreza Changalvaei, and the manager let it.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Ahmad Ghoddos to a room that had heard them before.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Amir Abedzadeh and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
Ashkan Pouraliganji and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He is 22 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gustavo Ulguim. 1‑0 against Saipa, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Naft Tehran lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran 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 Sirvan Ghorbani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alireza Pouraliganji and Naft Tehran agree another 3 years.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran 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 Amir Abedzadeh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 1‑0 win over Esteghlal Khuzestan, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Naft Tehran, and 0 appearances in 25 say he has earned the hearing.
The mood at Naft Tehran has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naft Tehran can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Naft Tehran have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Amir Abedzadeh and Naft Tehran agree another 2 years.
Ashkan Pouraliganji was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Soroush Rafiei
BoardroomNobody left the Naft Tehran dressing room in a hurry
Amir Abedzadeh 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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 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.
“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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Erfan Najjari 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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Naft Tehran will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amir Abedzadeh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 22 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Naft Tehran, and 0 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
Half the programme played, position 12, 13 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Ashkan Pouraliganji had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Sepahan were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Amir Abedzadeh 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Naft Tehran, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naft Tehran can pretend not to have heard.
Ashkan Pouraliganji 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Amirreza Changalvaei commits to Naft Tehran for another 4 years.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Abedzadeh 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ahmad Ghoddos after 1‑2, 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naft Tehran can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Gostaresh Foulad left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Ahmad Ghoddos to a room that had heard them before.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Naft Tehran, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
“I watch every Naft Tehran game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Al-Shabab runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
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.” Ahmad Ghoddos kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
0‑3 against Persepolis, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Ashkan Pouraliganji was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naft Tehran can pretend not to have heard.
Ashkan Pouraliganji 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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Abedzadeh 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
He is 22 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Feta Fetai is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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 Naft Tehran, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 dugout25 Sep 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 0‑1 Ahmad Ghoddos left the room before anybody could ask which.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Naft Tehran lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Abedzadeh 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.
19 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Naft Tehran, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ahmad Ghoddos after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Naft Tehran lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Ashkan Pouraliganji 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Abedzadeh 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 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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 deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Amir Abedzadeh 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.
48 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Naft Tehran lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
10 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.
At 22 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naft Tehran can pretend not to have heard.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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 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.
56 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Naft Tehran lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
At 23 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.
Naft Tehran asked and Baltika said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The words a physio says slowly. 63 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gustavo Ulguim is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Flamengo keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Amir Abedzadeh 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.
71 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Naft Tehran lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
7 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hadi Mohammadi and Naft Tehran agree another 2 years.
Ashkan Pouraliganji 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.
4 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Reza Moharrami is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The words a physio says slowly. 79 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.
At 22 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naft Tehran 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 Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
87 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Naft Tehran lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The mood at Naft Tehran has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The words a physio says slowly. 94 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Naft Tehran have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gustavo Ulguim is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Flamengo keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Ashkan Pouraliganji 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sepahan have kept their man, and Naft Tehran go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Abedzadeh 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Erfan Sazegari
The words a physio says slowly. 101 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Naft Tehran will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Naft Tehran have done the hard part with Flamengo, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Al Dhafra keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Ashkan Pouraliganji 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 22 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.
109 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Naft Tehran lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Naft Tehran will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Everything agreed with Al Dhafra, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Naft Tehran will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CSKA Moscow have kept their man, and Naft Tehran go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Vouria Cheshmi is 35 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
The mood at Naft Tehran has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Naft Tehran asked and Tractor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ashkan Pouraliganji 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.
$39.0K was the most the club would pay and Persepolis 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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Ramin Azizi from Sepahan for $590.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Naft Tehran will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Ramin Azizi is 20, and Naft Tehran have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Position 14 and 18 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Amir Abedzadeh 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 name of Farzad Rahimi has come up in conversations Naft Tehran were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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 Amir Abedzadeh is on it.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Naft Tehran will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
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.
“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 Naft Tehran, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Sepahan 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.
$140.0K on the table at Saipa. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Marcelo Cop has, at Naft Tehran, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Abedzadeh 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 18, and nobody at Naft Tehran signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran 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 Amir Abedzadeh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Naft Tehran, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Naft Tehran have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
The mood at Naft Tehran has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Naft Tehran have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Shoja Khalilzadeh and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Naft Tehran 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hadi Mohammadi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Alireza Pouraliganji is on it.
The mood at Naft Tehran has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Naft Tehran have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Shoja Khalilzadeh and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Naft Tehran 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Naft Tehran, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Naft Tehran have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amir Abedzadeh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Naft Tehran, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Shoja Khalilzadeh 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Abedzadeh 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.
Position 14 and 18 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Amir Abedzadeh 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.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
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.
Shoja Khalilzadeh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Abedzadeh 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hadi Mohammadi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Naft Tehran would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
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.
Boardroom6 Mar 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Naft Tehran
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Abedzadeh 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.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Abolfazl Zoleykhaei is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Shoja Khalilzadeh's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
He went out to keep goal every week and came back with 0 games and 0 of them shut out. Somebody at Naft Tehran argued for this move last summer; nobody is arguing for it now.
In brief
BoardroomNaft Tehran pull $1.8M back off the table
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 18 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Amir Abedzadeh 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.
8 goals in one match, Karim Dejagah on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Naft Tehran and Malavan.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
Amir Abedzadeh and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Erfan Sazegari, and the manager let it.
Boardroom21 Feb 2028
Nobody left the Naft Tehran dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout21 Feb 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 0‑3 Ahmad Ghoddos left the room before anybody could ask which.
Amir Abedzadeh and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alireza Ebrahimi 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.
Naft Tehran asked and Al-Ettifaq said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Hadi Mohammadi.
Marked 7.92 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Naft Tehran close the window on a squad of their own making
5 in and 1 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.
The deal with Emirates Club 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Persepolis keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Naft Tehran, and 0 appearances in 25 say he has earned the hearing.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Amir Abedzadeh 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 Alireza Ebrahimi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Naft Tehran 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.
Emirates Club 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.
0‑3 against Persepolis, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Naft Tehran can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Amir Abedzadeh 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 Alireza Ebrahimi 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. Sepahan have kept their man, and Naft Tehran go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The fee is $1.3M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Padideh drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The deal with Esteghlal Khuzestan 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.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Ashkan Pouraliganji from Padideh for $1.3M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Naft Tehran asked and Foolad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 22 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Naft Tehran will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have shaken hands with Padideh; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Tarantino is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Saipa have kept their man, and Naft Tehran go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Level with 92 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Naft Tehran had all but put away. Esteghlal Ahvaz will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Naft Tehran are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Saman Mehrabizadeh will call it something else in private.
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.
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Naft Tehran lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Naft Tehran and Tractor, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mohammad Moharrami is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Naft Tehran lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Naft Tehran will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Amirreza Changalvaei provided it, and the 8.72 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Mahan Sadeghi, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.63
A mark of 8.63 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.
He is 21 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.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Naft Tehran will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
Amir Abedzadeh 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 Leonardo Tarantino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
0‑2 to Esteghlal, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
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 0‑2 Ahmad Ghoddos left the room before anybody could ask which.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Saman Mehrabizadeh’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Naft Tehran needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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.
Amir Abedzadeh 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 Leonardo Tarantino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Nobody at Naft Tehran 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 Abolfazl Zoleykhaei’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Naft Tehran needing him to play as if none of it matters.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Naft Tehran this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Naft Tehran, and 0 appearances in 16 say he has earned the hearing.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Abdollah Hosseini has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonardo Tarantino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sirvan Ghorbani, and the manager let it.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Ahmad Ghoddos to a room that had heard them before.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Naft Tehran told Mohammad Nekounam something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Karim Gholizadeh’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Naft Tehran needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Amir Abedzadeh 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Saba were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Naft Tehran training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Leonardo Tarantino 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 22 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Leonardo Tarantino. 1‑0 against Saba, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Ahmad Ghoddos could afford to be generous.
6 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.
Amir Abedzadeh 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.
Position 15, 7 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Boardroom15 Nov 2027
Nobody left the Naft Tehran dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
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 0‑3 Ahmad Ghoddos left the room before anybody could ask which.
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 Amir Abedzadeh is on it.
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.