3/1/2008
Afshin Afshar, lastkick.com

Late Friday night and early Saturday unconfirmed news out of Tehran suggested that the IRIFF had found their man in Perspolis FC Head Coach Afshin Ghotbi. However, almost immediately a series of contradictory comments by IRIFF and Perspolis officials made it clear that the only certainty is this matter is the continued indecisiveness of those in charge.

Ghotbi was scheduled to miss Perspolis’s flight to Shiraz for the match against Shahid Sepasi due to his involvement in the negotiations for the national team job. But oddly enough, he showed up at the airport shortly before takeoff and told a few surprised reporters that he had decided to rejoin the team after IRIFF had failed to contact him within the mutually agreed upon timeframe.

Ghotbi acknowledged that he had met with IRIFF Chief Ali Kaffashian and the National Physical Education Organization’s (PEO) associate director Kumars Hashemi, but was not able to get on PEO Chief, Mohammad Aliabadi’s calendar.

Meanwhile a number of Perspolis officials and coaches who spoke to reporters seemed to be suggesting that Ghotbi was as good as gone. One such comment came from goalkeepers’ coach Saeid Azizian who seemed to try to calm the anxiety of Perspolis fans by saying that although Ghotbi’s departure would leave a vacuum, the team would do fine under the leadership of Ghotbi’s assistants Hamid Estili and Alireza Marzban.

For his part Kaffashian told reporters that due to certain “complications” involved in the process, he could no longer commit to a date when the decision could be finalized.

To make matters more confused, an IRIFF insider, under the condition of anonymity, suggested that Mr. Kaffashian has not yet given up on the possibility of reaching an agreement with the Spaniard Javier Clemente. He further suggested that there may be “unfootball related” issues preventing Ghotbi from ever getting the job. Some interpret this as possible disagreement amongst the members of the IRIFF Board of Directors and the top officials at the National Physical Education Organization (PEO).

What is curious throughout all of this is the direct PEO involvement in the search for the head coach.

As some may recall, approximately one year ago, Iran got into hot waters with FIFA who objected to PEO’s political influence on football decisions in the country. At the end, PEO agreed to step aside and grant IRIFF the decision making independence outlined by FIFA. As a result disaster was avoided and Iran’s membership in FIFA was not jeopardized.

However, oddly enough, throughout the current turn of events all involved, including Ghotbi, Kaffashian, and Perspolis FC President Habib Kashani, have referred to PEO Chief Mohammad Aliabadi as the ultimate authority for approving any new candidate.

To cap a truly today’s bizarre set of football related events; reports out of Shiraz indicate that Perspolis FC defender Shase Rezaei was arrested by Shiraz Airport security agents upon landing. Apparently during the team’s short flight from Tehran to Shiraz, in an ill advised attempt at making a joke, Rezaei had picked up the intercom and announced that the plane was about to make an emergency landing. Understandably for him, the flight crew did not think much of the “joke” and reported the Perspolis veteran to the Shiraz authorities.