It is almost certain that any team that does well enough to make it to Asia will lose its coach and a few, if not most, of its top players.
Having said that, what is happening to Zob-Ahan of Isfahan is almost unprecedented.
Under coach Mansour Ebrahimzadeh, they finished second in the league and won the Hazfi Cup. But that was not all. Zob-Ahan Sports Club as a whole had a great year in basketball, handball, track and field, and women’s sports in general.
The credit for all of the success should go to the club’s board of directors, and president Saeid Azari, the man who hired Ebrahimzadeh and supported him throughout the season.
Last week, the entire Zob-Ahan board was forced to step aside by the decision makers in the Zob-Ahan Steel Company that owns and sponsors the Sports Club.
The board and Azari were the force behind the club’s success during the last five years.
Although Azari himself was not dismissed, he chose to resign because he did not agree with the board’s dismissal and saw that as a political decision made to break a team that worked well together for most of the last five years.
Upon hearing the news, a group of 300 fans gathered in front of the club headquarters to voice their support for the outgoing board and president, but that might be just too late.
Azari told reporters that he would not return unless the entire board was reinstated, and that is not likely to happen.
“When you break a winning team, there is no reason to believe that you are committed to success. I do not like to be anyone’s pawn; that’s why I resigned,” said the outgoing president.