The turmoil at the most popular team in Asia has continued after today’s announcement by the Persepolis chairman, that Ali Daei has been relieved of his duties as Persepolis head coach

Hamid Derakhshan is appointed in a caretaker capacity.

Persepolis has been embroiled in various problems on and off the field for years. The Ministry of Youth and Sport which has direct control on the club has been directing the affairs and changing many personnel after the sacking of Mohammad Rouyanian, who is now believed to be in prison awaiting a trial for corruption.

The Ex Sepahan CEO Rahimi was appointed as the new CEO of Persepolis replacing Rouyanian ,  A complete change of board members was followed and a person by the name of Siyasi was selected as Chairman.  Siyasi, translated from Farsi means political, and as it turned out , that was the only thing he was concerned with. Interestingly enough , very few of the new Persepolis board had much footballing pedigree except for watching matches on TV according to one sarcastic critic.

 The bad results on the field culminated in the sacking of Daei , however , the CEO Rahimi refused the order of the sacking originated from the chairman himself. The conflict between Chairman and CEO resulted in the departure of the latter for refusing to obey the chairman request , which Rahimi said was unlawful as it is the CEO duty to appoint or sack coaches rather than the chairman.

Persepolis financial, managerial , administrative and staff relationships issue has no end. The Ministry have made a right mess of the club by their direct interference,  poor management and control, mostly executed by Amir Khadem . The ex-freestyle wrestling champion. has been given the green light by the Minister to put the house of Persepolis in order and prepare the club for privatization.. However ,  despite the good intentions,  Khadem has failed miserably and the signs are that more turmoil are forecasted ahead.

The turmoil and failures of Persepolis is archetypical and a classic case of where Iran football seriously fails.

Poor management , political interference and incompetent personal at decision-making levels.

Currently, football in Iran is run and managed by a horde of incompetent personnel starting from FFIRI and down to the clubs.

Imagine if FFIRI instead of Kaffashian and his gang , was run by the same Iranian managers responsible for development of Iran’s Volleyball ( Mohammad Reza Davarzani ) or Basketball ( Mahmoud Mashhoun)!