Independent.ie

Garry Doyle SOCCER – 05 October 2013

Two of Alex Ferguson’s former assistants, Carlos Queiroz and Rene Meulensteen, have become the latest applicants to express an interest in the Irish managerial job.

Both men have alerted the FAI – via intermediaries – that they would like to be considered for the post created by Giovanni Trapattoni‘s dismissal last month.

They join a growing list of credible candidates and will be contacted by the FAI’s two kingmakers, Ruud Dokter and Ray Houghton, later this month for formal interviews.

Houghton and Dokter began their interview process this week. With a lengthy list to get through – former Russian and Dutch manager Dick Advocaat, former Italian goalkeeper Walter Zenga and one-time Valencia boss Hector Cuper are all on it – the succession race will, as ever with the FAI, take time.

However, the association have made it clear that they want the issue wrapped up by the end this month.

By then, a call to Guus Hiddink – who worked miracles with similarly ranked international sides in South Korea and Australia – will have been made.

While the FAI recognise that securing Hiddink is a long shot, they are prepared to take a punt and hear what his thoughts on the position are.

Yet for all the foreign interest, the favourites for the job remain three Irishmen – Martin O’Neill, Chris Hughton and Mick McCarthy.

All three carry support among the FAI board, who discussed the issue formally 12 days ago and provided Houghton and Dokter with a clear remit – namely to appoint an experienced manager who will not bring controversy to the association. Given that job spec, the possibility of Roy Keane getting the job took a hit.

At best, Keane is an outsider, with O’Neill, Hughton and McCarthy the front-runners and Hiddink the dark horse.

Queiroz, though, is an intriguing candidate. Having worked as Ferguson’s No 2 from 2002-03, he then became Real Madrid manager for a year before returning to Old Trafford and enjoying subsequent jobs with Portugal and his current employers Iran.

Meulensteen, meanwhile, is a free agent after his short, unhappy spell with the big-spending Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala, came to an end earlier this year.

He spent two periods at Old Trafford, graduating from the youths to the reserves in his first spell before returning in 2007 to be Ferguson’s sidekick.

Tehran

Following much criticisms towards the Iranian football federation’s failure to effectively prepare Team Melli and use the FIFA day for friendly matches, Mohammad Nabi , the Secretary General of Football Federation , announced that a training camp will be held  for Team Melli from 6^th to 10^th of September in Lisbon , Portugal.

The camp will include two friendly matches, and as usual, it is not known which teams Iran will be facing in those matches.

MohammadNabi was speaking on Friday’s sport show on the Iranian TV and took this opportunity to appeal to the new government for funds, not for the federation itself but to support Team Melli’s program, as he claimed.

Faced with the customary question about the failure of the federation to utilize the FIFA day in arranging quality friendly matches, the Secretary General complained about the lack of funds and programming conflicts . He was then asked by the TV show presenter, “what was Queiroz reaction to this cancelation?” , MohammadNabi said that he was unaware about the reaction of the Portuguese coach, but stressed the point that the Federation has many tasks to cater for beside Team Melli and that includes the professional leagues, Youth level competitions and many other activities and expenses. “If we have any aspiration to be amongst the best in Asia , we require the budgets of the top federations of the continent. South Korea , for example,  who were second in our group has a budget of US$ 260 to US$ 270 million, while Japan football association budget is US$300 Million. We, on the other hand, have a problem funding a short training camp for our national team.”

MohammadNabi said “In some countries a quarter of the Federations budget is allocated to their national teams, in our case we have to do with a $2.44 Million budget  for Team Melli against a country with US$300 million football budget. Although we had lots of financial problems, we have succeeded in many of our programs and plans. We have met with government officials last week to seek their backing and we are hopeful for a positive response.”

“Brazil requested US$ 2 million for a match in Azadi. Wes simply cannot afford such a fee , which is by the way , the going current rate for top class teams.  We all aspire to play strong and famous teams, but we are not prepared to spend a quarter of our annual budget for a single match.”

MohammadNabi like all the other Football Federation administrators failed to mention if there are any plans to generate revenues from their activities or engage in marketing or sponsorship deals, favoring the easy mean of government and public funds handouts.

According to TeamMelli.com studies, the football federations of Asian countries have the following budgets. All figures are approximate in US Dollars.

Japan =    $264 million

China =    $180 million

Indonesia= $112.5 million

Korea Rep. = $95 million

Australia = $60 million

Vietnam =   $60 million

Thailand =  $52 million

Malaysia =  $35 million

Singapore = $9.7 million

Iran =      $8.0 million

Mohammad Rouyanian , the CEO of Perspolis and the ever controversial  character known for his contentious  claims and statements, has come up with more of the same on the subject of Khalatbary.

The Team Melli forward player has been a subject of debate since he transferred from Sepahan to Ajman club in the UAE League. The re-naming of the UAE professional league created much antagonism and anger in Iran as the authorities discouraged any Iranian playing in a league under such false name labeled in defiance to the world community.

Khalatbary’s precipitously found himself in a dilemma.

Perspolis immediately took this opportunity and showed interest in the services of the player. A reported one million dollar penalty clause was included in the contract with Ajman, and hence Perspolis requested the football federation for their financial backing to pay the penalty fee and bring back the ex-Sepahan and Zob A

han player back to Iran. The Federation flatly refused Perspolis’ request and declared that they are not in the business of supplying funds for clubs to buy players.

Rouyanian said that Khalatbary is currently in Iran after a slight injury prevented him joining the Ajman training camp in Turkey. “There was supposed to be a meeting between our representative and Ajman club last night, however our representative was late to the meeting by more than one hour because of the heavy traffic and the meeting was cancelled !!. We will try to arrange another meeting this Saturday. Another problem has developed in this respect as my request for a visa to UAE was denied. I think there are people working behind the scene to deny me a visa (…) ” declared the belligerent Rouyanian.

 “I heard a lot of rumors about the source of money that allowed Perspolis to open negotiations with Ajman Club. Some have claimed that I am providing 5 billion toman  (US$ 407,000) from my own pocket to Perspolis to buy the player. Where do I have such money from? If I had that sort of money, what would I be doing in Perspolis? A kind person has offered us this money to help the club, it is none of your business who that person is !!!” Rouyanian expressed his disgust and continued “They take every opportunity to bad-mouth me while our rivals Sepahan and Esteghlal do not wish us get this player”.

“Right now, Khalatbary is 70% a Perspolis player” declared the defiant Perspolis CEO. However, he declined to explain or go into details on how this figure of 70% was derived.

 On the subject on another ex-Team Melli player, Rouyanian said that “He liked Ali Karimi quite a lot. He was one of the players that I always liked even before I was involved in football. However, I don’t find him of much use for our team. Karimi , a player who has always professed his love and affection for the club, should have also tolerated some of the difficulties faced.”

Ali Karimi unceremoniously declared his retirement from football right after his club Perspolis was defeated in a penalty shoot-out against Sepahan in the final of Hazfi cup last season.  A few weeks later, Karmi changed his mind and admitted that he acted in haste. Perspolis management and particularly Rouyanian, who had personal clashes with Karimi beforehand, were not amused by such act and refused to include him in the team roster after his change of mind. The appointment of Ali Daei as the coach, did not help Karimi’s case either.

Masoud Soltanifar , the candidate for the Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs in President Rouhani’s cabinet, failed to get the approval of the parliament.

Every Ministerial appointment in the cabinet must be approved by the Iranian parliament before assuming the office. The ministers are nominated by the President who is elected by public voting. There is no prime minister position in Iran so all government functions is carried out by the president of the country.

Football administrators, clubs and the federation had a lot of expectation from Soltanifar to help and support their activity with more budget allocation from the government,  however, Soltanifar did not get the approval of the MP’s as he gained 117 positive votes with 148 votes against his appointment. 48 MP’s abstained.

This news could be critical for Team Melli’s preparation for the World Cup next year. Already strapped out of cash, the FFIRI has cancelled the scheduled camp in Portugal and two friendly matches. Other Asian teams like Japan and South Korea used the FIFA day effectively and played friendly matches, while Team Melli was idle.

Almost all the major clubs in Iran are dependent on the financial support of the government, while many of them are directly run and owned by the state like Esteghlal and Perspolis

There is no indication who is the next in line for the candidacy of Minister of Sport after Soltanifar’s disapproval.

Vahid Jaafary , the Middle East Area Director of the German sports goods manufacturer uhlsport Gmbh has confirmed that he is pursuing his complaints against Ali Daei and Amir Ghalenoei in courts and in the disciplinary Committee of FFIRI.

The source of the problem is related to Amir Ghalenoei allegation that uhlsport is a Mafia (…) while Ali Daei bad mouthing the company and insinuating corruptions in the deal that was signed between the German sporting goods company and the Iranian football federation.

Jaafary said that his company is taking these accusations very seriously and the people behind it are accountable. “When In Germany, Daei will be held accountable for tarnishing the image of a business without proof. You have accepted a sponsorship deal, but then someone without any proof or evidence, suddenly turns up and publically slanders the company”.

Jaafary, referring to his live debate with Ali Daei, Perspolis Manager  in Navad TV show, said “How is it possible to sponsor a whole football league if there is no commercial benefits behind it ?. But saying that , we are strong enough to take losses in order to promote our brand. That is what commerce is all about.  When Daei himself claimed unpaid wages from the Football Federation , he did everything he could to recover his money. “

In response to Daei claim that some personnel in the Federation and the League commission are working  to safeguard uhlsport interest,  Jaafary said  The some officials he was referring to is Aziz Mohammadi , but if you journalists have received any share or a commission from this deal , then this  gentleman  (Aziz Mohammadi)  has also received his share!!. Jaafary was sarcastically referring to another veiled accusation by Daei of under the table payment to the federation officials. Daei demanded that the Internal Audit of the government, investigate this contract between uhlsport and the FFIRI. In response, Jaafary said he welcomes any type of official investigation carried out by recognized authorities and welcomes scrutinizing the clauses of the contract. “We have nothing to hide and I personally, as an Iranian , would have much preferred to award our sponsorship to my country to gain the benefits rather than any other Arab country.”

 uhlsport  Gmbh Middle East director said: If it was not for the encouragement and support of  Kaffashian and  Aziz Mohammadi  in the past couple of seasons, we would have left Iran altogether. There were people who even threatened my life as we competed for business.

He told ISNA ” I was waiting to sign a sponsorship  contract with Team Melli for several years.  I read in some newspapers that Team Melli is purchasing its kit from Daei’s company. I flew from Dubai to Iran to meet with MohammadNabi and informed him that Team Melli is a known brand, are we so wretched that our national teams buy its team uniforms while other countries , less prominent than Iran in football,  are getting the kits for free and being paid for wearing the brand?  We owe it to Daei, Nabi replied to me. Later on I found out that Daei was getting paid as a coach and also getting paid for supplying the Team Melli kits.”

“Even after he left Team Melli, the team was still using his kit. Kaffashian realized that there is a much better opportunity and hence we signed a sponsorship contact with the federation. If there are better offers than ours, then we certainly have no objection for the FFIRI to sign a deal with a competitor provided it is genuine competition and not a result of smear campaign.” Jaafary said.

Jafari , addressing Ali Daei , said “ you have been a hero for Iran all your life. At one stage you even continued playing in a match with a  ruptured spleen  , but now I don’t know what happened that you will not think of the interest of your country but only your own financial benefits and personal interest. You even lodged complaints in foreign countries against your own. I hope people realize our interest and commitment in this sponsorship.” Jaafary said in his own company’s promoting against Daei.

Replying to the accusation of Amir Ghalenoei that his club Esteghlal , using uhlsport  jerseys is of a low quality and reflective , Jaafary said that “without a shadow of a doubt , none of our products are manufactured locally here in Iran. All these jerseys and kits are manufactured in China and we are willing to compare them with the best that other companies and competitors can provide including the one’s the Ghalenoei used last year in Esteghlal.”

Jafari said the jerseys they are providing Esteghlal are green phosphor, not reflective clothing as claimed by Ghalenoei .  “When the guy does not find anything viable to complain about, he complains about such things. The wrong stuff. Every season we provide the club with our catalog. We have 30 different colors in our catalog for the club to choose from. When the CEO of the club chooses such color, how can we shoulder the blame. We have not forced anything on the club.”

Daei is the owner of a large chain of Sport goods shops and manufacturer and distributor of kits. Daei Company is also the official agent for Adidas, the famous German company and a competitor of uhlsport.

Interestingly enough , uhlsport does not advertise Iranian or Team Melli kits on its website. Also the dealership for Iran has a Dubai,  UAE address, not any Iranian city. It is believed that this is the first time uhlsport will get the World Cup exposure with the sponsorship of Team Melli.