Is , ESTIL AZIN, An Islamic Republic Project ?

[zzgloo]

I think this is an important subject, in fact its importance was highlighted by the number of player (expensive players ) that SA has signed recently.

To prove or disprove anything is of a tall order in the absence of any creditable evidence, However , by the process of elimination , using live example , historic data with some other current events particularly the economical realities , I guess we can come to some sort of conclusion.
We can also speculate on motives and admittedly such speculation could be far from truth and reality.


I have thought of this question raised by Bahram many times and initially I thought that it is not politically motivated . But the more I asked myself and the more I read about Steel Azin (SA) , I am beginning to think that SA is certainly much more than an economical enterprise.
There are lots of wealthy Iranians, but very few percentage o f them dare to invest large amount of their wealth in a country which is economically but more particularly, politically unstable. Ask the people in neighboring Dubai , and you will understand the bigger picture. Hedayati , wherever his source of wealth is from , cannot invest in a venture that has a big label of “Economical disaster” written all over it and football is an economical disaster without the support of the government in Iran.

“Tehran” is no “Manchester” , neither is “Esfahan” a “Barcelona” or “Ahvaz” a “Milan”.


Wealthy people have very good sense of “Risk Management” and the successful ones are extremely skillful in it. Unless Hedayati got his wealth from money laundering or opium trade , he would not risk losing millions in a football team just for the heck of it….
I mentioned elsewhere, that this regime is fearful of the slightest criticism and opposition. They do not under-estimate the power of the masses, the very essence of their own formation and rise to the power. The increased popularity of football clubs (the big two) might very well threaten the stability of the regime if it is out of control and in the wrong hands. Simply by privatizing it , even if they are put under a close scrutiny , might not be enough deterrent. Creating another pole and a powerful team to reduce the popularity of the other two is perhaps a more manageable proposition….if your read your history, you would know that Perspolis itself , has been created like that from the ashes of Shahin.


My two cent worth.

I could n't have said it better myself !

I have a feeling, Steel Azin...is bound to collapse....in near future....and that will damage the league even further.

[maij]

There is something else in this whole episode that I failed to mention. The entry and quick exit of Hedayati into Perspolis !

Suddenly this man , Hedayati , comes out of nowhere ( in sporting terms) and is part of Perspolis board. If you think about it , there are many ex-members of Perspolis including ex-players who have much better understanding and affiliation / passion for the organization who are natrually better suited candidates to enter PP management, what is Hedayati's background with Perspolis?

Fine , he is a wealthy man and wealth is always needed in any enterprise , but why would an Entrepreneur spend his own money on a Government owned and managed organization like Perspolis? it DOES NOT make sense at all.

And...finally , what really happened in his quick exit out of Perspolis ???

There are far too many unanswered questions and the conspiracy theorist can have a field day with Hedayati's venture. In a system that lacks transparency , people's imagination can run wild ...however , even the most conservative person will have his/her doubt about the authenticity of the man (Hedayati) and his motives in building Steel Azin as a powerful club in Iran challenging the big two.

The jury is still out , but I fear people might initially under-estimate SA.
DO not fall in this trap....look at the attendance figures for PP and SS...what do you see ?

a continuous decline

...... Isn't that a warning sign?

[St_Mark]

Hedayati, Ajorlu, S. Droodgar... are closer to Reform camp than to the Principalists.
They are not a threat to IRI , not yet.

[maij]

Hedayati, Ajorlu, S. Droodgar... are closer to Reform camp than to the Principalists.
They are not a threat to IRI , not yet.

Ajerloo is a regime man , a military person and/or police commander of a very high rank. I doubt that he would go that far in Iran while being in opposition.

[TM-Fan]

Maij jan, I agree that the Hedayati affair is extremely strange and fishy. I also do not understand what is happening, but I don't agree with your theory.

PP and SS have many fans in Iran and that is why IR will never privatize PP and SS teams as a preventive act so that they can have full control on these two teams. But we should also note that hardcore football supporters in Iran, those who attend the games in the stadiums, are usually among the very very poor and uneducated people and they are not usually educated and smart enough to participate in the political movements.

At the start of this past football season when the green move was on its peak, many people expected to see some movements in the stadiums in Iran but nothing happened. The hardcore fans in the stadiums watch the games and when they are unhappy they start insulting the player, the coach, the club management or at most the head of the IFF.

Besides, dividing the fans of two teams into three or four teams will not solve anything. It may even makes it more difficult for them to control the fans as they will now need to watch three or four teams.

[St_Mark]

Ajerloo is a regime man , a military person and/or police commander of a very high rank. I doubt that he would go that far in Iran while being in opposition.

Dear:

I know who Ajorlu is.

Few years ago when I was contributing to general forum my last few posts were about him ( HERE ).
I defended him when he was wrongfully accused of being XXX torture agent.

It was one of my reasons not to bother with those kinds of arguments.
Yes he is still in some capacity work with security apparatus and was a military and intelligent officer but so does thousands other military personnel who are closer to reform camp.

We had a serious discussion about him in another forum when he challenged Aliabadi for IFF position and his famous letters.
His sister is still with Principalist camp unlike him and his eldest son who used to be editor of Pase Javan.
Reform camp is just an umberella consist of Islamists, Leftists , seculars, liberals … and lately anti regime elements and some of their founders were intelligent and counter intelligent agents of IRI .

[zzgloo]

It is an interesting puzzle....

.........................................

1- It appears...the intention behind stablishing Steel azin,had been more of accumolating and wining fan base ,( particularly,and initialy, away from perspolise ),...than wining the league cup .

2- What does,Hiring Esteghlal players , for the first time,add to the equation ?

3-What does ,a third pole in fan base, do to the dynamic of fan situation ?, could this be,in same poletic line as the dicision to take some Tehrani teams to other cities,and decongesting Tehran fans ?

4- What happened to Ali parvin,in regards to Steel Azin ?

5- If stablishing Steel Azin does not make business sence,what poletical sence is probable ?

[zzgloo]

Dear:

I know who Ajorlu is.

Few years ago when I was contributing to general forum my last few posts were about him ( HERE ).
I defended him when he was wrongfully accused of being XXX torture agent.

It was one of my reasons not to bother with those kinds of arguments.
Yes he is still in some capacity work with security apparatus and was a military and intelligent officer but so does thousands other military personnel who are closer to reform camp.

We had a serious discussion about him in another forum when he challenged Aliabadi for IFF position and his famous letters.
His sister is still with Principalist camp unlike him and his eldest son who used to be editor of Pase Javan.
Reform camp is just an umberella consist of Islamists, Leftists , seculars, liberals … and lately anti regime elements and some of their founders were intelligent and counter intelligent agents of IRI .

I remember those threads well....specialy , Ali Chicago and me, particularly, accused you of being on the side of hezbullah......
I no longer feel that way about you !
I do, however,remember,the pictures and documents Ali Chicago provided from Ajorloo's back ground......which proved him being on a very top level among regim's men !
If what Ali Chicago believed,is correct, where Ajorloo goes, must be a direct hands of islamic Republic strategic planners !
........................
More over, I disagree with the conclusion you made about , Dividing fan base ,will not be good for the IR.....on the contrary, it makes lot of sence...........as was thier plans of taking Tehrani teams out of Tehran did..........
The objective has been , to reduce the number of fans attending stediums..........and dividing fans, specialy dividing perspolise fans ,would do that.
The situation in perspolise was getting out of hand....and thier strategic plan of continuouse draws ,to control massive fan in stediums,was getting predictable, and fans knew it and got tired of it......
So, a new plan was needed ,to manage large sums of dissatisfied fans gathered at one place.

.

[Hadi]

the club is indeed connected to few key industries belonging to the government.

The whol Steel Azin group on surface is a private venture, but in reality, they control some key government backed businessed and indutries inside Iran.

Thats where the money comes from

[maij]

Maij jan, I agree that the Hedayati affair is extremely strange and fishy. I also do not understand what is happening, but I don't agree with your theory.

PP and SS have many fans in Iran and that is why IR will never privatize PP and SS teams as a preventive act so that they can have full control on these two teams. But we should also note that hardcore football supporters in Iran, those who attend the games in the stadiums, are usually among the very very poor and uneducated people and they are not usually educated and smart enough to participate in the political movements.

At the start of this past football season when the green move was on its peak, many people expected to see some movements in the stadiums in Iran but nothing happened. The hardcore fans in the stadiums watch the games and when they are unhappy they start insulting the player, the coach, the club management or at most the head of the IFF.

Besides, dividing the fans of two teams into three or four teams will not solve anything. It may even makes it more difficult for them to control the fans as they will now need to watch three or four teams.

It is quite obvious for you and me and I believe many others , that the average football fan attending matches in Azadi is NOT exactly educated , intellectual or even a civilized person. No offense, but there are lots of Dehati in Azadi and I am saying this from personal experience but confirmed by many of my friends, relatives and colleagues. Football fans in many countries are in similar brackets, it is not only Iran that is unique.

Based on this, the situation could be a two edged sword for the Akhonds. Mass of simple, ingenuous and naive could go home fat , dumb and happy or , the crises scenario , this crowd could influenced by hardliners or oppositions. However, the real fear of the regime is in the numbers, the sheer volume of people, something like 90 or 100,000 angry fans coming out of Azadi , can you imagine the situation ??

Again , I do not claim supreme knowledge of Iranian political situation , so you are very welcome to disagree. From my own perspective and experience I firmly believe that this regime is paranoid , authoritarian and distrustful of people , needless to say that it is a rigid dictatorship. Any claims of democracy, free elections or transparency are simply myths and nothing more than a veil to cover the reality. Along such mentality, the slightest likelihood of opposition or dissent is considered to be a threat which requires action by the regime.

In my opinion, this is how they interpret crowd control. For them, it is way better to control pockets of small oppositions, rather than large numbers which is much more difficult to manage & control.

In essence , these people have a different mindset that is not necessarily compatible with logic or common sense , the way we understand it.

[maij]

Dear:

I know who Ajorlu is.

Few years ago when I was contributing to general forum my last few posts were about him ( HERE ).
I defended him when he was wrongfully accused of being XXX torture agent.

It was one of my reasons not to bother with those kinds of arguments.
Yes he is still in some capacity work with security apparatus and was a military and intelligent officer but so does thousands other military personnel who are closer to reform camp.

We had a serious discussion about him in another forum when he challenged Aliabadi for IFF position and his famous letters.
His sister is still with Principalist camp unlike him and his eldest son who used to be editor of Pase Javan.

I have no deep knowledge of Ajerloo's background , nor do I want to be his defender or critic.

I merely said , that Ajerloo is ..........the regime , the servant of the regime , the agent , the loyal man , the archetypal , the ideologist and terms like that. I am not discussing the ethics or morality of the man personally.

[Nokhodi]

I just remember Ajorloo from his good work in Pas.

[Payam_S]

I somehow agree with Bahram..
Iranian football and IPL doesnt profitable like in Europe.
Clubs like Chelsea, Milan, Inter etc..if they spend million they earn billion.
It's really strange why Hedayati is investing and spending these big amount of money ...

[maij]

...And the plot thickens

Apprentaly an un-named rich Tehrani Club has offered Ali Daei US$1.2 to lure him away from Perspolis. No source has mentioned the name of that club but it does not take a genius to figure that there aren't many rich clubs in Tehran...oh.....may be ....Steel Azin !!!!

Read the full text here

http://www.persianfootball.com/forum...ad.php?t=88030

[Keano]

^^^ It's hard for me to imagine any other team than Steel Azin to have offered Daei such tempting offer. I believe this is the highest amount ever being offered to a coach in the history of IPL. If true I'd be very disappointed of Hedayati, not that I am a big fan of Daei's coaching ability, but rather the principle of the matter!

I am starting to believe that the IR's attempts in destabilizing the 2 most popular teams of Iran (Perspolis and Esteghlal) is becoming more obvious and ridiculous day by day, the IR is playing such foolish games!