According to Mehr News Agency, the news of the new president of the Football Federation was announced as the result of the presidential race; A person who was not so new; As always, “Mehdi Taj”!
You can become the president with a failed report card
Unofficial statistics say that in 48 hours after the news of Taj’s return to football, more than five million tweets and comments against him were published in the cyberspace. Cyberspace users and football fans who remember his years in the federation were upset by this choice and pointed the finger of inefficiency and corruption towards him. But what caused this amount of anger that has not been forgotten after a few years?
The first time was in 1986 when “Ali Kafashian” was appointed as the head of the federation, he became the head of the board of the football federation and started working in the position of vice president. He was the vice-president for eight years and in the situation where there were many criticisms of the federation’s performance, he sat in his chair after Kafasian left.
Carlos Queiroz was the head coach of the football team in those days, and after many struggles, he finally left the technical staff. It was here that Taj took a bite for the national team, whose bone is still stuck in the throat of Iranian football.
A completely professional contract!
The president of the football federation brought Belgian Marc Wilmots to Iran to be the head coach of the national team and made a contract with him that no Muslim would hear or see an infidel. A contract whose amount was not disclosed to the media and remained silent by the parties.
A day before signing the contract with Wilmots, Taj said: “The contract with Wilmots is more complete than the contract of other coaches. Our experience has shown that we should include all matters that may be disputed in this contract. We tried not to leave any issues behind.”
This “completely professional” contract was signed, a few months passed and Wilmots, after only being in Iran for a month, remembered India, packed his suitcase and left, and filed a complaint against the federation with the help of his wife, who was an expert lawyer.
In the hot days of the news of this lawsuit, Taj claimed that he was trying to take the right of Iranian football from Wilmots; What would have been better was done by others a few months ago and they took the right of Iranian football from Taj and did not allow him to make such a mistake.
When the accused complains about the disclosure of the crime
After Wilmots’ complaint and the possibility of receiving compensation from Iran, curiosity about the amount of this contract increased more than before. The media reported a huge amount; But Taj denied these news several times and said: “I categorically deny the amounts published regarding the figure of the national team’s staff contract. Decisive action will be taken against the spreaders of this rumor.
He threatened the media to reveal the truth that he had hidden; But no one criticized Taj for signing a contract that did not fit within the framework of logic, and now today he is once again sitting on a pedestal that Iranian football has not yet recovered from his previous experience of sitting on this chair.
Finally, despite the federation’s emphasis that the amount of Wilmots’ contract was not a worrisome figure; It was found that this three-year contract cost 8 million euros.
Belgian cap on the crown
Turkmenchai should be weak in front of some gentlemen’s contracts. Wilmots and his wife condemned Iran to pay the total amount for three years, including annual interest, by using the loopholes that the federation committed during the drafting of the contract.
This Belgian couple put a hat on their head that was as tall as the Iranian football knees. The head of the football federation gave eight million euros from Bethel to a Belgian couple, along with a glass of water.
Of course, thank God again that Taj included all the issues in the contract using his experiences; Otherwise, Wilmots and his wife might have taken Azadi Stadium behind their deed.
oh I got my heart!
After revealing the amount of the contract, the sports faction of the parliament asked the minister of sports and Taj to explain about this, but all the meetings between the members of the 10th parliament and the officials of the federation were held behind closed doors and no one understood that the concerns of the concerned people were in these negotiations. is the salvation of sinners.
No one had yet given an answer to the people and football fans about this contract, when the news suddenly came that Mehdi Taj resigned from the presidency of the football federation due to a heart problem. Logic says that Mr. Taj’s heart was taken at the right time. Not only did he not answer the public’s media about this scandal, but he did not even apologize. No one knows whether Taj really had a heart problem or escaped from the answer; But we have no doubt that Iranian football suffered a heart attack.
Auction stick to football
The Football Federation took a loan from Shasta to pay the first installment of Wilmots, and when it failed to repay, the Football Federation building located on the street was auctioned by Shasta’s lawyer.
The story did not end there and it was reported that the building of the Persepolis club, which the federation had handed over to this club, will also be auctioned during this case.
During the days when Mr. Taj was resting at home for the health of his heart, Iranian football was in one step of dishonor. With his unforgivable mistake, Mehdi Taj created an unprecedented event in the history of Iranian football, which the sports media referred to as the “demolition of football”.
“Ali Daei”, a veteran of the country’s football, said in an interview about why he does not declare his readiness to be the president of the football federation: “I will not accept to participate in the elections under any circumstances. “We should cry for football whose federation building is easily auctioned.”
The Ministry of Sports and Youth does not interfere
With all that was said and despite the news that Taj’s qualification will not be confirmed due to the gross mistakes in his record; He was among the competitors for the presidency of the Football Federation and during the elections, he was elected as a member of the Football Federation Assembly with 51 votes out of a total of 80 members.
In addition to the question of how the qualification of the person who caused the football federation building to be put up for auction has been confirmed; This question pierces the brains and logic of football fans with a drill, on what exactly did those 51 people vote for a person with such a record?
In a situation where the holding of elections is being questioned by the media and sports and legal figures, it is expected that the Ministry of Sports and Youth will enter the story; But what has been announced indicates the silence of this ministry.
“Majid Shahidi”, Director General of Security of the Ministry of Sports and Youth, says about the uncertainties of the candidate qualification process: “In the opinion of the Assembly, the elections were held and the Ministry of Sports did not interfere in the elections out of respect for the Assembly. “Taj was elected as the president of the Football Federation and the position of the Ministry of Sports is the position of the Assembly.”
The Parliament asks the Minister of Sports to answer for the selection of Taj
Although Shahidi very subtly says in his statements that the Ministry of Sports was just a spectator in this story and will not interfere; However, “Ahmed Rastineh”, the head of the physical education committee of the Islamic Council, has informed about the summoning of the Minister of Sports to Baharestan and emphasizes: “Based on what is open to Mr. Taj in the Article 90 Commission, and also about the court cases that exist and have been notified “The Ministry of Sports and Youth must come to the parliament and answer.”
He believes: “The Minister of Sports and Youth as a law enforcer has not fulfilled his responsibility and should be held accountable. The minister of sports and youth will be invited to come to the commission at the first opportunity and explain how to apply his supervisory role to hold assemblies.
Left and right do not want the new president
On Wednesday morning, a wave against Taj and his re-election started on the front pages of newspapers and print media. The remarkable thing was that this stance was not limited to factions and political directions.
Hamshahri newspaper published a note entitled “Return to the crime scene”; A title that reminds the audience of the famous sentence in crime movies: “The killer always returns to the scene of the crime.”
This note states: “The type of contract that was signed with Wilmots, the absence of legal experts at the time of signing the contract, the bad results of the national team and being one step away from being eliminated from the first qualifying round of the World Cup and the story of the heavy fine of Iranian football in this case, Jo They created something against this manager.
“Ransom to Taj” was the headline chosen by Javan newspaper about Taj’s return to the presidency of the Football Federation. In this report, Javan writes: “The channel of withdrawing money from Bait-al-Mal and the pockets of the deprived and workers to the pockets of football freebies has been opened again.” In this note, the young man considers the return of Taj as football ransom.
In a report titled “Taj and his colleagues returned to the Football Federation”, Kayhan newspaper discussed the side effects and positions about the “buts” and “ifs” of Taj’s return to the Football Federation.
Also, Aftab newspaper of Yazd chose the headline “Woe to football, if you are its missing one” for a report reflecting the reactions about the election of Taj and wrote: “The latest violation that has recently been revealed against Mehdi Taj is his violation in the corruption of 92,000 Billions of steel are blessed. Mehdi Taj has pocketed more than 900 million tomans from returning to illegal service in Mobarake Steel Company of Isfahan. It seems that everywhere there are signs of retribution of people’s resources and financial and administrative violations; Mehdi Taj’s name should shine.”
Although what Aftab Yazd has written about the amount of corruption in Foulad Mobarakeh has not yet been addressed by the judiciary and has not been answered; However, Mehdi Taj’s resume says that he was the vice president of sales and a member of the board of directors of Mobarake Isfahan Steel Company from 1379 to 1384.
From the generosity of the crown to his antics
In his speech after winning the elections, Taj says: “I don’t want to talk about the events before the voting because it leads to a herd and public opinion says that a new fight has occurred.” But it seems that he doesn’t know that the public opinion is more concerned about the accusations against his performance and the ambiguities about his legal case than he is about the internal dispute among the football federation assembly.
The new president of the Football Federation said: “I don’t know anything” in response to a question about the legal charges attributed to him, and in response to another question about the payment of the remaining amount of Wilmots’ claim, he said: “We will pay it too!” very good and excellent; Only the euro has almost doubled compared to two years ago; I wish Mehdi Taj, if he wanted to borrow money from Shasta or anywhere else, would also think about the building of the football federation and clubs.
The negative wave in cyberspace is not limited to people and football fans; Many experts and analysts have taken a position regarding the presence of a person who has many exclamation marks about his performance and many question marks about his legal and judicial cases.
“Mustafa Hashemitaba”, the former head of the Physical Education Organization, said about Taj’s re-appearance in the Football Federation: “I don’t know where the work of this country has reached when a person who brought a foreign coach to the country against all laws and standards and caused great harm to the nation, is again It is placed at the top of management. “His mismanagement is as clear as day in his background.”
He stated that if this situation is not prevented today, from tomorrow whoever is the cause of the bad situation will allow himself to return to work and be indebted to everyone.
The volume of these reactions has also increased to the level of the officials and it seems that the concerns about creating a stigma in the society regarding this choice have intensified. Sina Kalhor, the Deputy Minister of Sports and Youth, also expressed concern about the consequences of Taj’s presidency and wrote on his Twitter account: “In no country is the public face of the political system among the people, that too with accusations of waste of public property and inefficiency easily They don’t pay for a person.”
Also, Vahid Yaminpour, Deputy Minister of Sports and Youth, wrote on Twitter in response to what Kalhar said: “During the week of the government, 242 sports and youth projects with an area of 416,000 square meters were put into operation. But what people are talking about is the election of Mr. Taj as the head of the Football Federation. People are right. We keep saying that the system has no interference in the elections of the federation, do you believe it?
These negative reactions have a long history in cyberspace. “Parviz Amini”, an analyst of political issues, also published an article on his Instagram account and said: “A person who, at least in a very obvious way, has wasted millions of euros of public and financial resources of a society under the pressure of the most severe sanctions, has harmed public trust.” He has discouraged the deserving and those who care about sports and football and his decisions and policies have jeopardized the national team of the most popular sport of the country to the World Cup. Many things were violated.”
He raised the question that “if the justice of the discourse prevails, if merit and competence are a condition, if the law is the basis in the country, shame from public opinion is a condition, if common sense is the basis of work, if the sports and football system of the country is at a healthy level, Is such a thing possible?” believes that this incident has violated justice, law, decency, reason, health and respect for public opinion.
With all that has been said, and while the public opinion welcomes the return of a person who still bears the consequences of his former management, the Football Federation assembly insists on its choice, and there is still no face of football in the position of responding to the society and persuading the people. Regardless of whether these accusations and ambiguities about Mehdi Taj are true or not; This question is inferred from the reaction of the media and football fans that in the situation that the national football team is on the verge of participating in the 2022 World Cup, what was the necessity of such a choice? Has the country faced a shortage of men in football management?