The saga of Iranian coaches misdemeanors and adventures continues unabated , this time off the field.
Former Team Melli coach, Mohammad Mayeli-Kohan has been sentenced to 4 months in prison and 100,000 tomans fine following a guilty verdict in a Tehran court. The plaintiff was none other than Persepolis coach Ali Daei who accused Mayeli-Kohan of slander, defamation, insult and smear campaign. These two have a history of differences and conflicts going back to 1997 when Mayeli-Kohan was the coach of Team Melli and Ali Daei was the striker.
Following some arguments & disagreement between them, Mayeli-Kohan decided to kick Ali Daei out of Team Melli in a crucial period during the qualification rounds of the 1998 World Cup. That decision created a lot of controversy and debate as Ali Daei was the marquee player of the team. Mayeli-Kohan critics were increasing in numbers and quite vocal in the media. Following the loss to Qatar in Doha, Mayeli-Kohan himself was sacked as the coach of Team Melli. Daei was immediately restored back to the team and the rest is history. Since that period, Mayeli-Kohan has become a sworn enemy of Daei, whom he privately accused to be behind a campaign to dislodge him from Team Melli. Mayeli-Kohan took every opportunity to attack the current Persepolis coach in public without chewing his words, accusing him of corruption , profiteering , and abusing his position.
This verdict by a judge in a Tehran court comes out as a shock for the football community. Coaches and players are notorious for slander accusation in the media, which in reality thrives on such news. Tales, accusations, threats to reveal it all , claims and all sort of allegations are quite common in Iranian football that is suffering from one of the worst periods on and off the field. The millions of dollars of tax-payers money that are earned by footballers and coaches, is not reciprocated by good results , performance and behavior.
A verdict such as this is probably a good thing that should scare a few of them to keep their opinions to themselves and refrain from accusations without proper evidence.
Mayeli-Kohan can appeal the sentence or buy out his jail period. Failure to do that, the controversial Mayeli-Kohan will end up being incarcerated. Nader Faryad-Shiran , Mayeli-Kohan protégé and longtime associate , who was also named in the same case was given a 91 days jail sentence suspended for one year.
Iranian domestic coaches have been exclusively making the headlines in the last few weeks and all for the wrong reasons. The controversial issues and news surrounding the Iranian football coaches can fill a few books and leave no space for other news , if meticulously reported.
Yesterday , Ghalenoei managed to infuriate many reports and the media plus the refereeing community with his disparaging comments, while Vahid Hashemian, who is not even a fully qualified coach yet but attending a coaching course in Germany, accused the football establishment in Iran of corruption and nepotism when it comes to selecting coaches for their teams. Hashemian said that “capabilities and credits of a coach does not matter in Iran, it is his connection that works for him and gets him lucrative contracts that he probably does not deserve.”
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