Latest on Clemente

[Doctor DOOM]

bahram jan, by now I think you shd have known "names" dont matter to me.

so highest rank, best record, best looking, best country of origin, .... matter LITTLE if the guy cant deliver.
Now I'm not jumping the gun as we dont know how he's going to perform and even what he means by "a week or two" or "necessary circumstances". But I cant say I'm thrilled either. especially that "a week or two" causes distress for me. coz I dont think that is enough time in our official games. 3-4 weeks for official games would have been fine and digestible. not 1-2 weeks. ( and yes, those extra 1-2 weeks DO matter a lot and will make a difference )

as I said elsewhere, the fact that he was a successful CLUB coach and not so successful with this "visiting format" at serbia shd tell us a lot.
with a club situation, the coach LIVES with his players and team. is almost always attending to them. hence the success. whereas we know serbia didnt do very well. is it far fetched to say this "visiting format" had a bit to do with it?

[Adesor Vafaseya]

well I have a problem with this part of Clementes interview:

QUOTE
"Iran is just like Spain in that there are only 30 or so players that really need to be followed and that isn't such a difficult task.
UNQUOTE

In a course of two years a lot of things change, and new prospects develop. Best example was Ando Teymoorian, who was not in the AC2004 squad, instead of him Alavi but two years after Ando was in WC2006 instead of Alavi....
hence, all players must be observed, whole league must be watched.

[khabalood]

I really hope this does not turn into another Branko like situation where tm is closed off to all but a small group for 4-5 years. Clemente's words about only 30 players that deserve attention is really disturbing, and is likely to curb motivation for Irani players. Making such a statement is definitely not a good idea in my opinion.

[gol_kuchik]

One major issue with us Iran fans, is that we tend to have opinion on issues when there
is not even an issue.

A reasonable person, would first look at the contract and the provision before being
critical. Can any one, with any degree of certainty here say, how many days Clemente
will be in Iran?

But we have already started the negativity campaign against him, and he is not even in
Iran yet!

If it is a matter of speculation, here's how I read and interpreted the announcement, as
far as him not staying in Iran:

He will be in Iran, for all the times when he needs to prepare the team. So when there
is no team to prepare, like right in the middle of season he may be away for a whole
month, (there is no players the clubs would not release them and except for scouting
there is no real reason he has to be in Iran). But when he needs to prepare the TM for the games, he will have to be with the team for 3 or even 4 months in a row. To say he will be in Iran for 2 weeks every month just doesnt make any sense. A quick look at the
schedule, and in the month of June, TM has 4 games scheduled. How can he even
take 1 day off in that month or even in May?

As far as 30 players or so, Javad Nekounam (supposedly now the closest person to the man)
has said TM needs to get a group of young people. Do you think this guy is so dumb that will
put all his eggs in one basket (of just old players) and not utilize the arsenal of young players
at his disposal?

Let the man do his job, at least for the next couple of games, before forming opinions and court martials no?

[maij]

[Martin-Reza]

I really hope this does not turn into another Branko like situation where tm is closed off to all but a small group for 4-5 years. Clemente's words about only 30 players that deserve attention is really disturbing, and is likely to curb motivation for Irani players. Making such a statement is definitely not a good idea in my opinion.

Of course it sounds a bit disturbing, but ever thought about the possibility that we simply don't have many quality players and therefore it will always come down to a rather small group? It's not a coach's decision to do so, but a natural process when there isn't enough quality and that's the disturbing thing about it.

Not to mention that he said the same about Spanish national team, so we're not in bad company.

[zzgloo]

In international proffesional teams, distance is not an issue !
terrel owens,the wide reciever for the san fransisco,and later for phyladelphia,and now dallas Cowboys, has always lived in Atlanta....., Atlanta area have about 45 resident players from different sport teams through out USA......more over, these players travel more than 20 times a season during the season to other cities, as well as traveling to thier home town.....very few players live where they play !!
same thing with Europe....and same thing with clemente's past !
.........................
More over, we can not always, believe, when we do not have a good day, it is because of bad player selection. and if player A was there ,we would have done better,rather than player B.
There is realy not more than a 30 player he needs to focus on....and may be an occasional youth try outs.
..............30 player can be a true representetive of what our football can do............., and a good coach, can look for more time to time, specialy if he sees some shortages.
Iran is not Brazil that can afford whole sale player changes.

[khabalood]

Of course it sounds a bit disturbing, but ever thought about the possibility that we simply don't have many quality players and therefore it will always come down to a rather small group? It's not a coach's decision to do so, but a natural process when there isn't enough quality and that's the disturbing thing about it.
Not to mention that he said the same about Spanish national team, so we're not in bad company.

That is simply wrong. There are more than 30 players in Iran who deserve attention. When one pays attention to only thirty players, the national team turns into a gang of unmotivated players. In essence the pool of players from which he is choosing the top 23 for competition is thirty players. This reeks of complacency.

In a real national team every position in the team should be open to competition from every footballer in the country. The coach should be actively looking to strengthen the team in every position out of this large pool of people.

Ali Karimi himself was discovered in the streets, so that shows you that there are hidden talents in Iran waiting to be discovered, if one looks close enough.

His comment about Spain is also ridiculous, and insulting to the Spanish. In a similar manner his comment about Iran is also insulting and ridiculous.

[gol_kuchik]

Some details of Clemente hiring and contract

http://www.isna.ir/Main/NewsView.asp...1085799&Lang=P

There are some funny pieces (perhaps unintentional) in this exchange with Shafagh,
which is left as an exercise for the readers to identify

Other than the entertaining pieces, the most important part of this interview
is this: Clemente will be able to get up to 2 months off, WHEN obviously there
are no games and there is holidays for players. He can leave Iran twice a year.
All the rumors about "flying coach" etc and his residence in Spain appear to be just that.

[zzgloo]

All together,If all goes well,and with all issues aside....here is something with need to be alittle content.

1-He is the Highest ranked coach we have ever had.
2-He seems to be up to date with football.
3-He seems to be a no-non-sence kind of coach.
4-It seems IFF ,finaly,did what we expected.
......................
PS, I am adding this ...............as everything seems premature now.......................
back to step one !!

[maij]

so...is he coming or not ????

[gol_kuchik]

so...is he coming or not ????

As you know, the original contract sent to Clemente by IFF had issues.
There were 2 points of contention (this is the contract that IFF made!!!
now why noone is getting fired for drawing a contract that is incomplete
I dont know). At any rate, the main issue as we all know is Clemente's
main place of stay. Although I have no idea, how the contract was
modified, but it was faxed to Clemente yesterday and they expect a reply
by the end of Monday.

Should Clemente agree with the 2 amended items, he is expected to be in
Iran either on Tuesday or Wedensday.

[maij]

Apparently, today Reuters is reporting that Clemente has no issues living in Iran !!!

Don't know what or who to believe anymore!!!

[Doctor DOOM]

well, to be truthful, I think IFF didnt expect such weird arrangement of visitations by clemente the first time they drafted the contract ( cant believe I'm actually defending a bunch of incompetent idiots ! lol ).

so the re-draft may have encompassed changes needed to strike a compromise based on the number of visits, periods, frequency, ... by clemente. so I wouldnt "fire" someone for it, given the strange circumstances and conditions that reared their head!



I just hope IFF is in talks with the other alternatives as well. is Santini still available?
what about Zeman, Dechampes, ... etc.

I figure Jorge wouldnt even like to hear the name of Iran. so he's out by default!


=================

majid jan, I blame the media mostly for this confusion.
both countries' media.
they have turned it into a chicken game, to see who blinks and gives in first !
they try to put their parties ( in Iran, the IFF. in spain, clemente ) in a position that they are forced to act tough and uncompromising, ... to save face and not look weak!
if ppl left these two parties to themselves, by now we'd have struck a deal, maybe a little here in favor of one party, a little there for the other guy.

[maij]

well, to be truthful, I think IFF didnt expect such weird arrangement of visitations by clemente the first time they drafted the contract ( cant believe I'm actually defending a bunch of incompetent idiots ! lol ).

Looooolll

This is tarnishing your reputation , Doc......

But seriously ( with the usual disclaimer that we are not a party to the contract negotiation ( such misunderstanding can happen. Remember there was three version of the contract or actually three languages used. Farsi , English and Spanish.


I have done many contract negotiations and recruiting in my career and I don't find such last minute disagreements unusual, even though on our side the contracts were drafted by highly paid lawyers.

But the notion of Clement living in Spain and flying to Tehran on a whim is absolutely ridiculous and highly unreasonable. Leaving Iran for some extended period is not a big problem especially if there is no commitments , but the guy wants to do a remote control , while we all know the chaotic status of football requires a permanent coach with plenty of time in the country.

majid jan, I blame the media mostly for this confusion.
both countries' media.
they have turned it into a chicken game, to see who blinks and gives in first !
they try to put their parties ( in Iran, the IFF. in spain, clemente ) in a position that they are forced to act tough and uncompromising, ... to save face and not look weak!
if ppl left these two parties to themselves, by now we'd have struck a deal, maybe a little here in favor of one party, a little there for the other guy.

It looks like it.... Media of both countries drawing their own conclusion and jumping the gun.

But as for the post-Clemente era , here we go again. First of all the urgency of Kuwait match I say look at these two


1- Ghalenoei
2- Daei.

After that..... God help Kafashian and his team....that is all I can say.