Interview: Rene Simoes Talks About His Iranian Spell

Rene Simoes is still philosophical about football and his time in Iran. He is also still very much wanted by the Iranian football authorities.

Simoes’s time in Iran is an unfinished story. It is “a journey” that was not complete and “a dream” that was not fulfilled. Unlike the norm in Iranian football, Simoes was brought over to do fundamental work. He brought his assistants, was given control over several youth national teams and generally received warm words of encouragements from everyone with a football title until the Asian Games.

Like the norm in Iranian football, he faced mismanagement, broken promises and as he would say it, misinformation about who was qualified to be invited to the team. Not that he tries to shy away from the responsibility. Simoes is the first one to remind all that the bucks stopped with him for his team’s performance.

For this article, I spoke to Rene Simoes twice, on January 4th and 12th. We had talked several times before. As always, he was confident, friendly, spoke well and talked as he was missing his team and players in Iran.

This time, he was also baffled and expressed resentment on why he was misled, outright lied to, by names and faces that are supposed to be trusted in the Iranian football.

How do you spend your days these days?

I spend my time with family, read and play football.

Are you in the market to find a new coaching assignment in Brazil or elsewhere?

No. My time is for my family. I spend it with my daughter. FIFA has invited me to attend a panel on women’s football in Zurich on February 3rd. It is a three-day event. (Note: Simoes led Brazil women’s football team to the second place finish of the 2004 Olympics.)

 I was invited by a team in Greece to coach for them but I gave the same answer as I have to the Iranian federation.

Are you still pursued by the Iranian football authorities?

Very much so. My contract expired on 31st December 2006. I spoke to Mr. Kafashian (the head of Iranian Olympics committee) just recently. Even the Iranian Football Federation (IFF) has contacted me.

Just this past week, a member of the “Committee of Six” that was appointed by FIFA to monitor changes to IFF process and its constitution called me. They want me to go back and lead the team for the Olympic qualifier campaign. I simply can’t go back. I am honoured that Iran’s Olympic Committee and IFF would want me to return.

A coach has to have 100% commitment with his time and leadership. Until my daughter’s condition improves, I can’t provide such commitment.

Did you make any suggestion to Iranian football authorities regarding the Olympic qualifications?

Yes. I recommended that Iran should camp in England or Scotland and play against teams from that region. Australia’s style of play matches’ the UK style of football and the team would need to test itself against such opponents..

Let’s revisit the Asian Games. You know that Iranian fans and media were not satisfied with the results and style of play your team exhibited.

Look, that was our “third” team. I had to put three rosters together. In each case, we practiced and prepared and as we got comfortable with each other, there were a few surprises.

First, I wanted to take Nekounam, Taymourian and Shojai. I was told I couldn’t. Then, I invested in Madanchi, Sivash (Akbarpoor), Yousefi and Mehdi (Rahmati). We then found out they were over 23 very late. We prepared with these key players and then I didn’t have them.

In Doha, I really didn’t know some of my new players.

I understand the problem with getting European based players. What puzzles me is why you insist that you didn’t know about over aged players until very late. How could you have not known about Madanchi, Akbarpoor and Rahmati’s ages?

It is the job of the federation to tell me who is eligible to be invited and who is not. A while back, Mr. Yavari told me that Madanchi and Akbarpoor (both forwards) were not eligible to play for the U23 team.

Then why did you invite them and take them to Brazil?

One day, a few months ago, Mr. Ghalenoi (Iran’s current national team head coach) invited me to a meeting. In that meeting, he showed me a list and asked me why I had not invited Madanchi and Akbarpoor to the U23 team.

He told me that they were eligible and encouraged me to invite those players. I explained to him what I was told about their ages. Ghalenoi assured me that was not the case. Then we got their passports and set them up to go to Brazil.

For these two and Rahmati (goalkeeper), their date of births showed 1983 which meant they were all eligible. We went to Brazil, worked with these guys as my three starters and returned. Then days before leaving, I was told they were over aged.

Let me get this right. IFF never told you that those players were over 23 when you were preparing the team and traveled to Brazil. Amir Ghalenoi was the one who told you they were eligible.

Correct. In fact, Ghalenoi joked with me later that I should be thankful to him for getting me such good players (the three players mentioned above) for the U23 team. I don’t understand why they did this to our team.

Here is another thing. You know how I found out my three players were over 23? I learned that from a newspaper. A newspaper printed the news and that is how I was told.

So you had new players for the third time. But still, the team didn’t play good football.

I take responsibility for how we performed. We wanted to go to semifinals and we did. I should have switched some players in earlier games and against Qatar. That was my job. I did the substitutions late and for the Korean match.

But this team had not played as a team for a long time. We were forced to keep switching the roster. As a result, the team’s chemistry was missing.

Iranian fans love Brazilian style of football. It is the fluid and attacking game with a fast ball movement, creating dangerous opportunities that make the game fun to watch. Your team didn’t exhibit that style. Didn’t that bother you?

Sure it bothered me. I didn’t like the style we played either. We couldn’t convert our chances. At times, we had two forwards against a goalkeeper and we still did not score. But again, we didn’t have the chemistry due to all the reasons I explained and had to deal with FIFA suspension just four days before the tournament.

Again, I take responsibility for what happened but it is not that simple. I wanted my players to reach for paradise but to get to paradise you must first die.

What did you like about your time with the Iranian football?

The talent and the players. Technically, Iranians are very good.

What was it about the Iranian football did you not like?

The administration and organization part. I even wrote a letter about this lack of organization to IFF.

The letter to the IFF is published below:

“Creation of clear job roles: Who is the technical director of the Federation? I never saw one or understood why one was never implemented no matter how many times I asked for this explanation. Coaches, in order to do their jobs, must find an organized structure that has professionals in the right roles and who clearly understand their functions.

The technical director is responsible for all the planning, philosophy, choice of coaches, integration among teams of different categories, game calendars, contact with the federations of other countries, etc.

The general manager is another vital role and responsible for the choice of all managers, establishing norms for selection of players, communicating with the clubs whose players were selected, checking documents, consulting guidelines and rules, planning the trips, hotels, menus, visas, equipment orders, etc.

These are only some of the vital roles, but our project clearly labeled the duties of each staff member.”

Kaveh Mahjoob

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