Esteghlal go through and Tractor go home, 0‑4 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Masoud Zayer Kazemayn provided it, and the 8.81 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 The request is on a desk at Tractor, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.16 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Tractor can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Masoud Zayer Kazemayn. 2‑0 against Siah Jamegan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.12 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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 Tractor, and 0 appearances in 28 say he has earned the hearing.
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 Tibor Halilović.
Position 3, 56 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Igor Postonjski 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.
“I watch every Tractor game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Esteghlal Ahvaz runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Persepolis next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Tractor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammad Reza Bordbar 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.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Ahmad Torabi 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.
8.01. 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Tractor pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Reza Beiranvand on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Tomislav Štrkalj'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.
The offer from Lokomotiv Moscow for Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh 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 deal that would have taken Mohammad Naderi to Saipa has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Tractor with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Mehdi Torabi was one of the reasons people came, and $1.3M does not replace that by itself.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Tractor close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 4 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.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Tractor will try again when the window opens; Esteghlal may not be selling by then.
At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. Tractor found something the first half had given no notice of, and Saipa could not hold what they had.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Saeid Saharkhizan provided it, and the 8.56 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody 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 Tractor can pretend not to have heard.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Persepolis paid $500.0K and Tractor took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Malavan have kept their man, and Tractor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
In brief
SquadWords at Tractor training over how hard people work
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Tractor have lost him in all but the paperwork.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 6.58, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
A 2‑1 win over Naft Tehran, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Mehdi Torabi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. 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.
The offer from Persepolis for Alireza Beiranvand 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.
There were 85 minutes on the clock and Esteghlal Khuzestan had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Tractor did not stop to explain themselves.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tractor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ahmad Torabi 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Aria Shafiedoost is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Esteghlal have kept their man, and Tractor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A 2‑1 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.
“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 Tractor, and it is not being withdrawn.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Tractor will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tractor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Milad Zakipour has come up in conversations Tractor were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Persepolis have kept their man, and Tractor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 7 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Tractor will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Mehdi Torabi'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.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Nobody at Tractor 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.
7 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tractor have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
11 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Ahmad Torabi 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: 17. 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Tractor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shoja Khalilzadeh 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.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Tibor Halilović scored, was marked 7.55, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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.
“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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Tractor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shoja Khalilzadeh 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 earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Reza Beiranvand on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutMehdi Torabi has become a man the manager trusts
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tractor will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Tractor scored in the 94th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Masoud Zayer Kazemayn provided it, and the 8.43 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Masoud Zayer Kazemayn. 3‑1 against Sepahan, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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 Tractor, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Half the programme played, position 3, 32 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
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 dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Ahmad Torabi'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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tractor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Igor Postonjski scored, was marked 7.84, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Ahmad Torabi 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.
A 2‑1 win over Gostaresh Foulad, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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.
“I did not go to Esteghlal Khuzestan to sit and watch. I want to come back to Tractor and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 15 matches say the rest.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tractor will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh 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.
Something was said to Ahmad Torabi and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“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 Tractor, and 1 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
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.
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 Farshad Faraji is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tractor, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tractor will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
1 for Tibor Halilović, marked 7.78, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tractor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tractor 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 dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Reza Beiranvand left the room before anybody could ask which.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad2 Nov 2026
5 new faces, and Tractor are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammad Reza Bordbar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tractor will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Persepolis next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
“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 Tractor, and 0 appearances in 11 say he has earned the hearing.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tractor 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 warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Saeid Saharkhizan has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
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 watch every Tractor game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Esteghlal Ahvaz runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tractor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Tractor, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Morteza Vafaei 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 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 Tractor 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.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Tractor the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
They sit in position 10 and they will be waiting. Away form is where a season shows its true character, and this side has a point to make about its own.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tibor Halilović provided it, and the 8.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tractor 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. Mohammad Gandomi has, at Tractor, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tibor Halilović. 2‑1 against Esteghlal, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Tractor has been clear about where Tomislav Štrkalj stands, which is more than many ever get.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 96 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh 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.
Marked 8.29 — 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Tractor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Milad Zakipour 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 earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Reza Beiranvand on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Tractor will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh 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.
9.34. 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.
“I watch every Tractor game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Esteghlal Ahvaz runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tractor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Tractor, and it is not being withdrawn.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Persepolis moved on, Mohammad Naderi reports back to Tractor, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 120 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tractor can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Tractor close the window on a squad of their own making
13 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Tractor ran out of time with Esteghlal. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Persepolis have kept their man, and Tractor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Odiljon Hamrobekov is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Tractor lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tractor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tractor can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Esteghlal waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Tractor is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer went to Esteghlal 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 offer went to Esteghlal 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.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tractor lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tractor will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Tractor and Esteghlal have settled on $4.1M. 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.
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Tractor training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh 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.
A mark of 7.48, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Reza Beiranvand chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Tractor are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The words a physio says slowly. 31 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 offer from Al Nasr for Adib Zarei 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.
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: Ahmad Torabi from Padideh for $5.7M, 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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Padideh have kept their man, and Tractor go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The offer went to Esteghlal 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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.82 for the rest of it.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.78 for the rest of it.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $2.1M — a club that wants Saleh Hardani enough to be asked twice.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh and Tractor agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Tractor asked and Al Nasr said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amir Hossein Hosseinzadeh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Mehdi Torabi 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Shahriar Jahanbakhsh 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Amir Beiranvand 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ahmad Ebrahimi 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Majid Nekounam 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.