Young coaches need support: Pirouz Ghorbani

Tehran Times – TEHRAN, Saipa football coach Pirouz Ghorbani believes that the presence of young coaches in the Iran Professional League (IPL) has brought new sharp ideas and tactical concepts into football.

“The league has become more dynamic over the past years as the level of the teams is so close and most of the teams with young coaches are playing good football these days,” Ghorbani said in an exclusive interview with Tehran Times.

Saipa earned a late win over Zob Ahan on Friday. The victory sent the Tehran based football team to the ninth place at the IPL table.

Ghorbani, who is Ebrahim Sadeghi’s assistant coach at Saipa, talked about his decision to join Saipa and the current condition of the team.

“Working with Sadeghi, who is one of the best Iranian coaches in my opinion, convinced me to join Saipa. He is a courageous coach who dares to field youth players and gives them time to improve. This is the strategy of Siapa football club. Establishing a style of play or a footballing philosophy at a club requires patient and consistent efforts and the coaching staff has been supported by the club management. I think Saipa officials should support Sadeghi and do not think about winning trophies in the short-term. This is due to the huge financial investment of the big Iranian clubs comparing to a club like Saipa,” said the former Iran national team player.

Asked about the quality of the 2020-2021 IPL, Ghorbani responded: “If we want to talk about the quality of players, I think Esteghlal and Sepahan are the best squads. However, no team emerge as the clear favorites to win the league. Persepolis, Esteghlal, Sepahan, and two or three other teams have the chance to win but nothing is guaranteed for them.”

Ghorbani, who played almost a decade in Esteghlal, was under pressure during the recent months by the angry Esteghlal fans in social media. The reason was that he had called the Blues archrivals, Persepolis, as ‘the most technical team in Iran’ in one of his interviews.

“Unfortunately, there is something wrong with social media in our country. You should just say the things that people like to hear, regardless of what the actual facts are. But I have my own life philosophy,” Ghorbani added.