Afshin Ghotbi Leads Wind Of Change In Iran

 Believing in yourself and your ability is step one of road to success. In football, best clubs around the world are led by coaches that inject the positive thinking and the desire for championships to their players.

Since the triumph of Blackburn Rovers in 1995, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal have won all Premier League titles. These three clubs have enjoyed coaching leaderships that are unusual yet they have an absolute belief in theirselves and a winning desire. As every season begins, Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho ( who resigned last week) and Arsène Wenger start by talking about winning the league. They set the standards high.

In Iran it is uncommon to hear club coaches talk about winning the league. Even at the national team level, we are used to hearing coaches talking down Iran’s chances for any tournament as they constantly look for excuses. It feels like that every national team head coaches needs to start every press conference and interview by stating a whole list of problems to justify poor results or poor play.

Over the past couple of years, Luka Bonacic (Sepahan’s head coach) and Ali Daei (Saipa’s head coach) have been the exceptions. While these two coaches should be recognized for their positive thinking, it is true that their clubs don’t have the national following and constant scrutiny that the national team as well as Esteghlal and Perspolis have to face.

The arrival of Afshin Ghotbi has been like a refreshing breeze that has floated into Iran’s club coaching community. Trained under several of the great Dutch coaches of our time, Ghotbi understands the power of the mind and mindset for the players, coaching staff, club administrators, fans and the media.

From the time he arrived in Iran, Ghotbi took the strong position that his team “shall win the championship.” His position was not that “we have a good chance” or “if all goes well, we would be there.” There was no hedging, no mixed messages and no confusion in what his stated goal was from day one. “We are here to win and we will.”

Ghotbi’s claim did more than setting the expectations high for himself and the club. He managed to focus the attention of all on “Perspolis the Champion to be” vs. “Perspolis the team with many financial and internal problems.”

Overnight, the media began discussing if Ghotbi’s claim was valid and with each Perspolis’ victory the discussion turned into which team could slow down the Red juggernaut. Ghotbi has been demonstrating that a very good coach needs to prove his value not just during the 90 minute of a match or preparations leading to the game.

A winning coach should inject the power of positive thinking, desire to win and striving for excellence. Naturally, as millions of fans and scores of media have gravitated toward Ghotbi and Perspolis, the “naysayers” whom see their future existence as coaches in danger began a strong negative campaign to shoot Ghotbi down.

For them, success of Ghotbi, Bonacic and Daei means that future coaches should be familiar with the international game and professional football. These snipers need Perspolis to lose and Sepahan to get eliminated from the Asian Championships League (ACL) and for Daei to fail in his attempt to defend Saipa’s championship.

The success of these three coaches would gurantee an end of era for certain Iranian coaches. Six weeks into the season, Perspolis has registered four wins and two ties and is sitting at the top of the table. By all accounts, Perspolis has displayed the most entertaining football of all clubs and Ghotbi has established himself as the leader of Iran’s most popular team.

Bonacic’s Sepahan is one point behind with a game in hand in third place and has a shot to advance to ACL’s semifinals. Daei’s Saipa has erased the poor outings of the first two weeks of this season and with an impressive win against Esteghlal re-established Saipa as a contender.

Going back to Ghotbi, he had to maneuver around another real sensitive topic. Perspolis’ roster was put together by Hamid Estili. Estili, the national team player who scored Iran’s first goal against USA in the 1998 World Cup joined the coaching ranks two years ago. He wanted Perspolis’ head coaching job and ironically he was the one who contributed significantly to the departure of famed Turkish head coach Mostafa Denizli’s last year and recruiting of Ghotbi this year.

From the perspective of the media and the fans, Estili and Ghotbi certainly “must” not get along. Yet, Ghotbi has managed to keep Estili on his side by complimenting him repeatedly and recognizing the good work that Estili did during the off season for drafting in players.

In my recent conversation with Afshin Ghotbi, he said that “each of us has a different role. We work as a team and will succeed as a team.” In Ghotbi’s view, even if there are concerns about Estili, he does not show it. Ghotbi recognizes that it is more important is to focus on the synergy this partnership can and should bring to become champions.

As a club, Perspolis has been lucky to have three very good coaches in her recent history. Dutch man Arie Haan began to change Perspolis’ style. Last year, Denizli established entertaining football and despite finishing the season strong with a ten game unbeaten streak, came just short of finishing at the top.

Ghotbi, fresh out of a time spent with the South Korea national team has taken the positive and winning attitude to a new level and six weeks into the season, he has managed to put the focus on his team’s chances for championship vs. all the usual side issues that brew around the Reds and Blues club.

Ghotbi’s success at Perspolis, Bonacic at Sepahan and Daei at Saipa provide positive reinforcement for Iranian football. They are pioneers of a new era among coaches in Iran. Ghotbi by choice and course of events now carries the “flag for change” in Iran’s football.

Iran’s football has seen nothing but disappointments at all levels over the last three years. Iran’s football needs Ghotbi’s team to win more than Ghotbi himself does. Iran’s football needs major attitude adjustment and Ghotbi is doing just that.

Kaveh Mahjoob

Kaveh_Mahjoob@hotmail.com