Tag: Ahmadinejad

Daei reveals how President Ahmadinejad sacked him!

In a controversial revelation by Ali Daei, the recently sacked Persepolis coach has said that the main reason behind his sacking as Team Melli coach was the then President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The outspoken Daei said the reason for his sacking is his refusal to join Ahmadinejad re-election campaign and show his public support to the hardline President.

 Daei was sacked after one defeat against Saudi Arabia in the World Cup 2010 qualifiers, his only defeat as a coach of Team Melli. Iran was going through the Presidential Election with the opposition leaders Mousavi and Karoubi gaining grounds on the incumbent President Ahmadinejad who was losing much public support as a result of poor economy.

Daei’s claim came in last night’s edition of the popular Navad program in which Ferdowsipour was discussing Persepolis recent developments, coaching and managerial changes.

As customary in such situation, it was quite difficult to believe who is telling g the truth, but what was abundantly clear in the chronic mismanagement, government interference, nepotism, political influences and back stabbing behind the scenes that is distressing football in Iran. Persepolis, like Esteghlal , is owned and financed by the government through the Ministry of Youth and Sport in Iran. Despite the continual denials that the Ministry interferes in the day-to-day running of the clubs, facts and behind the scene events tells otherwise.  

ahmadinejad daei

Another interesting aspect of the program was the number of Persepolis fans who were upset by the recent developments in the club. Despite poor results by Daei , he still has much support base amongst the fans as the polls indicated. Daei, admitting some of his shortfall ( and that is in itself quite unique) but attributed the team’s poor performance to the attempts by the hierarchy in the club and the Ministry of Sport to dislodge him from his post as early as the season start! In brief , Daei was saying that they were plotting against him and making his life difficult.

Daei in his defense, said “We lost quality players like Khalatbary , Jalal Hosseini , Mosalman and others because the management failed to agree terms with them and pay what they are worth. On top of that, quite a large number of players were not fully paid from the previous season’s contract. How would you expect the players to perform on the field?” Rahimi, the sacked CEO of Persepolis supported Daei’s claims and confirmed that the Hierarchy wanted Daei out even before the season started!

Daei has accused the present Minister of Sport , Goudarzi of sacking him and has established that he has the honor of being sacked by the President of the Country once and the Minister of Sport the next time.

Clearly , much like its neighboring countries , political interference in football is widespread and prevalent in Iran. Political events and spheres of influence seem to spreads to where popularity lies. The exception in Iran is the relatively more press freedom and transparency which allows such exposures to reach the public.   

Persepolis Club on the edge of disbandment

A panic has ensued in the corridors of power in Persepolis club  as possibilities of Persepolis Club seizing activities has surfaced as result of financial difficulties and default on payments.

Persepolis , like Esteghlal, the two most popular clubs in Iran by far , are owned and run by the government. Both have been facing financial difficulties for many years. Although the government has been tolerant with the clubs demands , in the recent years and especially under the general difficult economical situation of Iran , the government has been reluctant to bankroll their activities, accusing the clubs of failing to generate revenues and operate within a reasonable budget. Although the government has promised for decades to privatize the two clubs, it has failed time and again to stand by its promise. The most obvious and clear calls to privatize the clubs came during the reign of  the ex-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who  during his two terms has strongly promised to act upon the privatization , but he left the office without delivering on that promise.

In a series of developments , an official from the government’s Finance Ministry has recently declared that “the country cannot keep pouring money into the two Tehrani clubs who have failed for years to generate a sizable revenue to sustain their operation.” According to  government official , both clubs situation are getting worse every year with Persepolis facing several court cases due to failing to honor their financial commitments and contractual obligations. Following the public outcry and demand for investigation  fueled by the refusal of Persepolis players to train , the government has sent auditors to Persepolis club. Question of mismanagement , misappropriation of funds and corruption has been previously raised by some members of parliament who pressed the government to act much positively this time. The other motive for the audit was to check on the level of debts. The recently departed  club CEO , Mohammad Rouyanian , has publicly announced that he left the club with an equivalent of  US$ 2 million in debts , but the auditors have discovered that the actual debts of Persepolis, arguably the most highly supported club in Iran , is far higher that what the ex-CEO has claimed and is more like US$ 25 million and getting worse.    This figure, which has not been officially confirmed by the auditors nevertheless, conveniently leaked , is sending shock waves in the entire Persepolis organization and slowly reaching its large fan bases in Iran and abroad. 

While Persepolis player have gone on strike by refusing to train as the result of non-payment of their wages, Ali Parvin , the recently appointed Chairman of Persepolis, did not inject much confidence when he announced in public and private , that he is not promising anything to anyone and has no solution for the financial difficulties of the club!.  With such a statement and the discovery of the larger than expected debts of Persepolis , the situation has reached a critical stage. The bleak situation has lead to rumors of club defaulting on payments to staff and suppliers and hence announcing bankruptcy. The situation will prevent the club from completing its last 4 matches in the league, especially the matches away from Tehran. The only possibility for Persepolis to recover from such a dire situation is a government bail out.

With only a few months left to the World Cup , there is some hope that the government might find the will to help the struggling club,  as a face saving exercise. However , this same government has failed to properly support Team Melli program and inject funds in FFIRI despite all the public support and statements by the ministers and government officials , so what are the chances that Persepolis will be bailed out?

For the good of football in Iran and Team Melli , we hope that a quick solution is reached , else Persepolis and most probably Esteghlal , might seize to exist in this form. The clubs could be disbanded and re-formed into a new entity and very possibly with a new names.