According to the sports reporter of Tasnim news agency, Khuzestan Steel Club has been one of the thinnest and most dangerous teams in the Premier League in the last four years with Javad Nekonam. With the arrival of this coach, they had a good jump in the Premier League and reached the third place at the end of the first season. With this title, Foulad was able to win the Asian playoff quota and reach the group stage of the tournament with a 4-0 win against Al Ain.
In the second season of Nekonam’s career in Foulad, they reached the sixth place in the premier league, but in the final of the elimination cup, they became champions by defeating Esteghlal Farhad Majidi, and they were also present in Asia. In these competitions, they were grouped with the teams of Al-Nasr of Saudi Arabia, Al-Sad of Qatar and Al-Wahdat of Jordan, who could not achieve success despite their good performances.
Foulad’s second Champions League experience was much different. They, who gained more confidence due to their victory over Persepolis in the Super Cup, were in Group C in the 2022 season of the Champions League with Shabab Al-Ahly of the Emirates, Al-Gharafa of Qatar and Akhal of Turkmenistan, and they made it to the elimination round with authority and 12 points.
In the new Premier League season, Foulad formed a more experienced team. In his fourth season, Nekonam wanted to bring this team closer to the championship and try his luck in Asia. Frequent injuries and mistakes in the recruitment of players caused Foulad to move away from their goals. In the half-season, they sought to recruit players and eliminated some of their weaknesses, but the main weakness was still there; Absence of specialized attacker.
For this reason, the club managers brought Godwin Mansha to Ahvaz, but did not sign a contract with him. Nekonam and Radkia’s problems became more serious from this moment. Foulad was hit by the absence of a striker in the game between Tractor and Sepahan. They had good chances that didn’t turn into goals. In Mes Rafsanjan’s match, Masha played for Fix’s opponent and bothered the Foulad defenders in such a way that it became clear that not recruiting him was a big mistake for the managers of this club.
* Nekonam wanted to leave after the Persepolis game!
Nikonam and Radkia’s problems reached their peak in the last two months. Both sides had serious problems with recruiting players and providing financial resources for the team. Radkia also emphasized on changing the strategy and goals of Foulad, leading Nekonam to the conclusion that they don’t want him. The head coach of Foulad planned to resign after the win against Persepolis, but the events of the game and its sidelines made Nekonam decide to stay.
The next three defeats made this coach stay because he wanted to deliver the team in a better condition. It was after the meeting with Al-Faisali that he made his final decision to leave, because he believed that if he stayed, his team’s camp would fall apart. It seems that Nekonam had come to the conclusion that the CEO of Foulad will come to Qatar with a ball and their meeting will lead to a fight. A fight that faced the Foulad team with a crisis on the eve of the Al-Hilal game.
That’s why he left so that, according to him, the team would not suffer more. Nekonam’s separation did not cut off his relationship with the technical staff. Hamid Rajabi, his first assistant, said after the game that they owe the dignified presence in the Al-Hilal game and the Champions League to this coach. It seems that after leaving the camp, Nekonam has been in continuous communication with his assistants for two consecutive days and has conveyed the points. The proof of this claim is that the composition of Foulad in the Al-Hilal match did not change in the slightest compared to Al-Faisali’s match.
The claim of the steel manager and the concern of the fans
After the dignified game and the elimination of Foulad, the CEO of this club announced in an interview that this team is no longer looking for championships and trophies; The sentence that is farsangs is different from what was in the minds of Foulad fans. While this team still has a chance to win the FA Cup, Radkia said that they don’t want a trophy and their strategy for the future is to bring local players. A claim that, of course, leaves room for many questions; Can the native players of Foulad, who mostly do not have experience in the Premier League, be successful in the next season at the height of the fans’ pressure? Will the next Foulad coach close the list or the CEO of this club? If the head coach is decisive and does not like native players and fills most of the positions with non-native players, what will be the task?
It is quite clear that the skinning of steel and the use of local players for this team is nothing more than a dream at the moment and there is no definite plan for it. It is reported from Ahvaz that Radkia’s statements have shocked the players, as they wrote after Al-Faisali’s game and in the statement agreeing to Nekonam’s resignation, that the team won the first division! Some steel players in Qatar complained strongly to the CEO about this issue, why should their important win against the Saudi team be called small?
Foulad fans believe that a first-class coach should go to Ahvaz. They have created this hashtag on the club’s official page, but until now everything is different. The club plans to keep Hamid Rajabi. He is not willing to be the head coach, because he does not want to take the place of his old colleague and friend. The club does not want to spend money to hire a foreign coach. They are looking to cut costs. They want to leave the famous players and in this situation it is natural not to pay for a foreign coach.
Is the path that steel is taking the right path? Will the managers of this club erase the memory of the powerful team of Nekonam and Foulad from the minds of the public soon?!