Branko Ivankovic appreciation thread

[Leicester City]

I just vomited.

I don't know what the best option is at this stage... If Queiroz comes back he would have opposition from these players and Persepolis, thus most likely the team will be in the same situation it is now. What do you suggest, diz?

[Karimi 8]

I read from Nokhodi that IFF (Majedi) are trying to bring Branko back.

Fuck no

[Leicester City]

Fuck no

Well do you know what the team should do about the divide Karimi 8?

[taremiscores]

I don't know what the best option is at this stage... If Queiroz comes back he would have opposition from these players and Persepolis, thus most likely the team will be in the same situation it is now. What do you suggest, diz?

Sardar will he onboard. The rest of them - who cares? They can go play for PP.

[diz]

I don't know what the best option is at this stage... If Queiroz comes back he would have opposition from these players and Persepolis, thus most likely the team will be in the same situation it is now. What do you suggest, diz?

I suggest CQ.

I hope it's not the case, but if these players are posting this because they fear they would be cut/benched if CQ came in as coach, then they likely don't deserve to be there in the first place. That's just being self-centered and selfish.

I wonder if they fear being excluded from the team under Skocic (like Taremi was) unless they post their social media pledge to Skocic in public. If so, then they will go whichever the wind blows and will fall in line with CQ as well.

[DR Strangemoosh]

Skocic >>>>>>>>>>>&gt ; Branko

In every single possible way

I would prefer for Dragan to have a 10 year unbreakable contract with TM than seeing that absolute snake anywhere near our national team again

[a_m]

Branko( the gypsy king) only cares about Money he doesn’t care about anything else all he cares about is money he will sell the team Mali positions every single 11 of those positions he will sell to whoever player is willing to pay him …


This thread should be closed I don’t even know why we would want to appreciate such a big ass snake like him anyway…

[taremiscores]

Branko has damaged Team Melli so much over the years.

From his fiasco in the 2006 World Cup with arguably our most talented team ever to how he turned PP fans against TM - where PP fans were saying how their club was their national team.

To even his snide comments just a few weeks ago that Skocic is better than Queiroz LOL

He planted the seeds of discord by leveraging Persepolis' popularity for a personal vendetta against a far superior manager who he was jealous of. Those seeds of discord are still there and poisonous (as can be seen today as almost exclusively PP players, plus Sardar, backing non-change).

[diz]

Branko “appreciation” thread. Only 4 pages and most comments are against Branko. Enough said about this Charlatan

[Leicester City]

Skocic >>>>>>>>>>>> Branko

In every single possible way

I would prefer for Dragan to have a 10 year unbreakable contract with TM than seeing that absolute snake anywhere near our national team again

For me without a doubt it has to be the opposite: Branko >>>>>>>>>>>> Skocic

I would prefer to continue to cheer against TM under Skocic (as I did for South Korea, Algeria, etc...) than to ever imagine supporting TM under Skocic.

Words can't describe how happy I am that there is a divide currently in TM regarding the coach.

[DR Strangemoosh]

For me without a doubt it has to be the opposite: Branko >>>>>>>>>>>> Skocic.

Skocic is just an Iranian club level coach who is now out of his depth at this level. He has tried to the highest of his own ability and has met his ceiling with a bunch of players who were essentially CQ's Phase Two with one or two alterations.

He hasn't poisoned TM's roots for the best part of a decade in the same way that Branko did - a guy who had such a damaging long-term effect on TM which took well over a decade to reverse. His stifling of our development, with such a talented squad, at such a crucial time was painful to watch at the time, but in particular his Dynamo Zagreb dallali crap and the effect it had on our most talented players.

Skocic has a number of these elements below, but in almost every category he is far away from Branko in terms of impact.



The Branko effect for TM.

- SPINELESSNESS: Sticking with one goalkeeper (Mirzapour) who was error-prone, and not even giving a chance to test other alternatives, and there were a few (contrast with CQ). Not altering his tactics and game plan, and keeping with the same formations/line-ups for every damn game. He just didn't want to experiment and try different players, he didn't like any chance. We had a series of very feeble performances in the 2005-early 2006 period but NOTHING was changed after them, and he had a lot more new talent at his disposal than his predecessors (remember poor Pourheidari who had a midfield of Fekri, Navazi, Halali to pick from)

- OUTSIDE INFLUENCE: Branko let himself be influenced too much by player agents such as Reza Fazeli who was in the TM camp for the World Cup, and we all know that it affected the team spirit. He also let Daei dictate matters far too much in terms of team selection.

- TEAM SPIRIT: Our team spirit was the worst for WC06 when players were even refusing to pass to each other, let alone speaking with each other (contrast with CQ and the tight-knit unit he built).

- TACTICAL NONSENSE: After finally bringing Bayern Munich's Hashemian back into the fold, he pushed him out to the wing (absolute no man's land) to accommodate a stagnant Ali Daei, who was playing 90 minutes for every game, not even subbed out for young strikers to get a chance to get some game time. Navidkia as left winger, Nosrati as left wing-back, whilst we DID have other players more suited for the positions who were playing well in the league.

- TROLLING: Bringing Khatibi back to TM, starting him and Enayati. Khatibi was a constant source of frustration, the worst finisher we have ever had internationally, how he had so many caps no one can explain (well, apart from Branko and Khatibi's agent at the time Fazeli probably). The lajbaazi was surreal - he constantly procrasinated, delayed, cancelled friendlies and camps just because his favourite 5 players wouldn't be available.

- POOR TEAM SELECTION: When we had more talented players, I never understood why Branko picked Badavi, Alavi, Kameli Mofrad, Khatibi, Sattar Zare. He had a favoured group of players who he stuck with, who were worse than a number of their peers in IPL. Branko just kept persisting with defects particularly in left midfield and left back. Glueing Mirzapour to the No.1 spot for four years despite him making the same mistakes again and again - even Skocic took the risk of replacing Beiranvand with Abedzadeh after 1-2 bad shows. Skocic trolling us with Noorafkan pales in comparison with what Branko kept doing.

- OGHDEH - Falling out with his prized player (Mobali) when the latter refused to move to Dynamo Zagreb in 2005. At the time he was the only two-footed playmaker apart from Karimi and he was player of the year in IPL at the age of 21. He was just dropped after Branko's lajbaazi. He said "a coach never singles out a player", and then singled out Mobali when he was one of the best players in a game as the weakest player. Absolute lajbaazi


- STIFLING DEVELOPMENT - We had, at the time, arguably our brightest crop of aged 18-22 youngsters who all looked very talented (Kazemian, Mobali, Borhani). They weren't given enough playing time internationally to develop and ended up dwindling, as the coach just kept playing the same people for 90 minutes regardless of how they performed (contrast with CQ). Branko didn't even have the guts to blood reserves (or players in the problem positions) against teams like Laos - even bloody Wilmots brought in Mohebi to get a few goals/confidence on his debut.



Sure, Skocic has many faults, but he is nothing, NOTHING compared to the complete poisoning of TM with Branko.


This post symbolizes the situation with a few months to go to World Cup and the circular conversations we keep having every decade or two... Same thing as now. As one of the resident trolls recently said, "those who forget history are doomed to repeat it"

[Leicester City]

DR Stangemoosh, thank you for your post.

I can see some of the similarities of the 8 effects you have listed during Branko's tenure in Skocic and I respect your view that Branko is a more damaging coach than Skocic. To be frank, Branko is definitely not faultless as a manager/person and I definitely wouldn't want to tell anyone otherwise or not let anyone stop from criticizing him as a result of the mistakes he has made. Honestly, I'm probably not as much as a fan today as I was in the past of Branko.

With that being said, it seems that Skocic has already lost the locker room with a few months remaining until the World Cup based on social media, so a new coach is definetly necessary at all costs in order to save face.

[DR Strangemoosh]

DR Stangemoosh, thank you for your post.

I can see some of the similarities of the 8 effects you have listed during Branko's tenure in Skocic and I respect your view that Branko is a more damaging coach than Skocic. To be frank, Branko is definitely not faultless as a manager/person and I definitely wouldn't want to tell anyone otherwise or not let anyone stop from criticizing him as a result of the mistakes he has made. Honestly, I'm probably not as much as a fan today as I was in the past of Branko.

With that being said, it seems that Skocic has already lost the locker room with a few months remaining until the World Cup based on social media, so a new coach is definetly necessary at all costs in order to save face.

Thanks.

I think regardless of opinions on Branko, we both agree that:

‣ This is the last "real" world cup before it loses its prestige
‣ We have the best and most exciting group we have had in a while
‣ Skocic did well in qualifying but is now out of his depth
‣ His position is now untenable with this split in the camp


We were having all these arguments in 2006, from the beginning of the year to the world cup itself. The split in TM was even worse then, and it harmed our performances for all three games. I think our squad depth (and depth of IPL) was relatively stronger then that it is now, especially with our stacked midfield, but we have two star forwards at their peak and it would be a shame not to give this WC the best shot. We do have time to salvage this.

[DR Strangemoosh]

Many apologies, forgot to add refusing to call up a top-form Karim Bagheri who had for months announced his willingness to return to TM, then later saying that Bagheri made a mistake retiring too soon from TM...

I'm sure there are so many examples. The poison and (imho) division persists to this day.