From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Aug 2026
$6.3M from Zob Ahan for Sandro Negri. Money is money, but the dressing room has lost the man it looked to.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Siah Jamegan sell a favourite for $6.3M
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Sandro Negri was one of the reasons people came, and $6.3M does not replace that by itself.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Siah Jamegan have done the hard part with Esteghlal Khuzestan, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Siah Jamegan's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Siah Jamegan has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Shahriar Rezaeian and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Ali Taremi 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match22 Aug 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Siah Jamegan
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Aug 2026
2‑5 against Gostaresh Foulad, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market17 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A brace, and Ali Yazdani takes the afternoon — 8.51
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ali Yazdani provided it, and the 8.51 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Sandro Negri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match15 Aug 2026
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Siah Jamegan and Gostaresh Foulad in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Milad Rezaeian falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Aug 2026
Chastening afternoon for Siah Jamegan
A 0‑3 beating by Esteghlal was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market10 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: Foolad have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Sandro Negri. The answer from Siah Jamegan has not changed — yet.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sandro Negri and Siah Jamegan agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Sandro Negri 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 dugout10 Aug 2026
Ali Taremi gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Siah Jamegan 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 dugout10 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Hossein Taremi left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ehsan Moharrami was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 Aug 2026
Ali Yazdani asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 Aug 2026
Sandro Negri wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Siah Jamegan hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Vahid Rezaeian 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.
Boardroom3 Aug 2026
3 academy graduates step up at Siah Jamegan
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Siah Jamegan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandro Negri 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market3 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Milad Shojaei 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mohammad Rezaeian 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Saman Hosseini has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Shahriar Rezaeian, and the manager let it.