2/27/2008
TEHRAN (Reuters) – Spaniard Javier Clemente moved a step closer to becoming Iran coach after agreeing to the football federation's condition that he should live there. Efforts to appoint the 57-year-old former Spain and Serbia coach broke down this month over his refusal to stay in Iran.
'By telephone, Clemente accepted Iran's condition of living in Iran all the time,' Iranian state television said on Wednesday in a brief caption headline without giving details.
The Iranian Football Federation (FFI) said on Wednesday it had given Clemente a second chance to become the Islamic state's coach despite FFI chief Ali Kafshian's insistence earlier in the week that a local coach would be employed instead.
Clemente told the FFI last week that he would not accept the condition about where he lived and rejected the job offer.
Iran made a disappointing start to their 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign when they were held to a 0-0 draw by lowly Syria earlier this month.
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فارسی
February 27th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Is he playing games with IFF now?! He probably is waiting on a better offer and meanwhile does not want to lose the chance with Iran, so he is keeping them hanging!!!! I personally think we should move on. Having no coach will hurt us more. It’s specially bad for Team moral (and can’t imagine how much worse that get after everything that has happened!!!).
I also do not understand, why IFF would not reach a reasonable compromise that he would not refuse. Like give him 3 month off per year. That’s reasonable enough to me. He is experienced enough to wisely use his vacation without sacrificing his job duties. Or at least you have to have that much of trust in him or don’t hire him at all. It, obviously, is not reasonable to dictate him how many times he can leave the country. I would not work anywhere if they told me that. He is not applying for Iranian residency!!!!!! LOL!
February 27th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
[...] vier Clemente in Tehran International Airport”>Would you believe me if I told you that Javier Clemente is back in the picture?! Didn’t [...]
February 27th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
kia jAn, I agree with you. The national team job is not a fulltime (12 months a year) job. It is more like a nine months per year kind of job. They should reach a compromise. I think Clemente is a good coach.
However, I am not sure any coach could do much at this point. Kuwait game is less than one month away.
February 27th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
So, it looks like once again Clemente is the front runner candidate for the head coach job. But, even if that does not work, Ghotbi could be the next best option. What really matters at this time is to finalize a decision, as enough time has already been wasted. Unfortunatley, it seems to me that either the federation is going through some kind of training to learn how to find and hire a coach or internal divisions and special interests conflicts prolonging the process, both at the expense of the national team’s valuable time.
February 28th, 2008 at 12:31 am
Guys, check this out!
http://www.irinn.ir/Default.aspx?TabId=58&nid=74585