Iran Coach Clemente Is Out of a Job

February 21st, 2008 | by: Laurie | View Comments

I was almost done researching and writing a post on the challenges facing new Iran coach Javier Clemente, and then he goes and gets himself fired. Thanks a lot, Javier.

(Technically he was apparently never officially hired, but all the news sources were listing him as “Iran’s new coach.” Not anymore.)

As Daryl reported last week, Iran was none too happy with Clemente’s decision to live in Bilbao and commute to Iran for games. And Clemente was none too happy that they didn’t want to allow it. End result? Buh-bye, Javier.

News reports now are saying that Iran is going to hire an Iranian as coach, at least to get them through the first round of World Cup qualifiers. Probably a good idea. The job facing Clemente (or his successor) is not an easy one. It’s best summed up in this paragraph from The Guardian blog, written before Clemente had been linked to the job:

Newcastle United have nothing on Iran. The Geordie and Persian nations may share passionate fans, incompetent administrators and underachieving teams but the similarities stop there. The Geordies now have a manager and also no concerns that an aggressive US president may point his finger in the direction of Newcastle and shout “I would love it, love it, if we bomb them”. There are no warmongers on Tyneside, only, according to ex-owner Freddie Shepherd, ‘wor mingers’, but at least the lasses can enter the stadium.

Add in Iranian government meddling, which got Iran temporarily suspended from FIFA last year, and you start to see the issues.

One of the most interesting sites I found while I was researching the Clemente saga was Iran Sports Press. I found its criticism of the government’s role to be amazingly open. Surprising in an area of the world not known for welcoming criticism. Is the site run from out of the country? Anybody know?

From an article titled, “How long will Clemente last in Iran?”

The reason [for foreign coaches' lack of success]? Lack of professionalism and long term vision in our football culture. From the impatient, result- oriented mentality of majority of Iranian fans and Iran’s print media with unrealistically high expectations from Iran’s weakened team, undermining opponents’ progress in the last decade, which stems from lack of world football knowledge, to IFF officials demanding Iran’s immediate victories to record under their own achievements, all have led to a very challenging environment for foreign tacticians to thoroughly implement their ideas and witness the results at the right time. …

Clemente … is being handed a shattered National team, who have not trained together for more than a week in the last 6 months, half of the foreign based players are regular benchwarmers, players are psychologically frustrated at the shortcomings in Iranian football state in the past year or so, and the team is under pressure of expectations to smoothly qualify for World Cup 2010.

Like I said, they pull no punches.

And so, with Clemente’s resignation (or whatever it was,) Iran is back to square one in the coach hiring game.

It can’t be a very fun time to be an Iranian player.