I am a big admirer of Afshin Ghotbi, and have a lot of respect for him as a professional and a person. I hope if he indeed wants the Perspolis job, he gets it, but I am not sure if he knows exactly what kind of mess he is getting into. Personally, I want him to eventually get a crack at the TM job, and this could be a big step towards that. What do you think?
Too early for TM job. Let's see how he does at club level, and even after that perhaps needs a bit more experience than going straigh for TM. Look at the current coach! But I do have high hopes for this guy. Also Daei. And perhaps with some help from Safai Farahani, Iranian football might start to make a come back.
I like the idea of Daei as headcoach, someday anyway.. The guy's one rich powerful mdrfker in Iran, therefor he'd have nothing to lose (GAIN) by favoritism in his squad. People like Daei, have bigger ambitions than typical coaches who are only taking the job for the money.
Completely agree with you on the experience for the TM job. I should have been more clear; I meant "eventually" Also, if you read Persian (Sorry I don't know if you do or not), you may want to look at these: محسن صفايي فراهاني به عضويت كميته**ي فني فيفا درآمد علي دايي يكي از اعضاي كميته فوتبال فيفا
I think it is, but I have not had the time to search FIFA.com for confirmation. Regardless, I find it ironic that outsiders (e.g. FIFA in this case) seem to value these two and their football knowledge more their own people!
as a knt fan, i hope that AG sticks around in Korea... but seeing how Pim left, I guess AG will leave too... I hope he can go manage TM... but I have a bad feeling about this for his sake... I don't follow TM at all, but you guys have been saying that many Melli veterans are aging. If Ghotbi takes over and there are the usual "bumps" and falling over, people will immediately blame Ghotbi's strategy---just like Koreans blamed Pim. People will say the usual.. Ghotbi doesn't know Iranian football. or his squad selection or whatever. It'll take discipline to get the most out of him for TM... but Iran is the same country that denied him VISA in a match. It just seems your government hates him. And if he tries to make changes to TM, then your fans won't forgive him... It's a tough job... but I hope he does it. Ghotbi deserves it. You've seen what he did for Korea in 2002.
it'll be pretty funny if Afshin managed Iran, Pim managed Australia, HMB managed Korea... Then Either KSA or Japan will have to hire Hiddink. The team that doesn't hire 2002 WC KNT staff won't make it to World cup!
Here is an update on the situation. Looks like it is getting serious. درخواست از قطبي براي صرف نظر از سفر به آمريکا و حضور در ايران
Yep. Sounds like good news, although he is yet to prove himself as a head coach. Should be interesting to watch. Iran now has two possible good coaches for the future.
I would have much rather had him take a head coach position of a mediocre national team. That would have really prepped him up for a future TM coaching position. Making a leap from club to country is a tough one, GN is a perfect example. BTW did anyone watch the navad program with GN? The guy is seriously clueless!
I saw it! Hes a total moron, confirmed by both ''karshenassa'' and even by the show's host Adel Ferdosipoor. Btw, the 3 hours Video is up for download on ISP / Very Fast Speed http://iransportspress.com You have to sign up for forums though (Free registration)
Guys, here is Kaveh's interview with Afshin (no not me! ) yesterday before it became public. The interview was done for footballmedia.net, but I put it on my blog (with their kind permission of course). Interview with Perspolis FC’s new Head Coach Afshin Ghotbi
goodluck to Ghotbi. i think both Pim and Ghotbi got a lot of reflected glow off Hiddink. Hope Ghotbi if he ever gets to manage/or be considered experienced enough to manage TM, that he does do better than Pim. Pim wasnt quite good enough to be an all out manager, the fact he worked in Korea for so long was probably one of the main reasons he got hired in the first place, and of course the 2002WC reflected glow. However tis doubtful that the IFF will ever allow Ghotbi to manage TM, and not only on the quite legitimate grounds of his experience on the high enough responsibility level but also politics.
It wouldn’t be because of politics , its more about him being inexperienced . Listen , Afshin Ghotbi situation is like thousands of Iranians who grew up outside of Iran but were born in Iran . The government in Iran tries very hard to get these people back into Iran . If anything , Afshin Ghotbi would be a poster child for their efforts if he ever becomes the head coach of TM because many Iranians outside of Iran who can relate to Ghotbi would also go back to Iran .