Paatoop.com- Portuguese agent Paulo Rodrigues heavily criticizes Toni Oliveira, and explains his experience in Iran. He also strongly praises and supports veteran Iranian coach Amir Ghalenoei.

When did you start working in the Iranian football world?

January of 2007,  when I took Augusto Inácio, the present director of Sporting Clube de Portugal to Foolad, and Fabio Januário who was later the best player of the Iranian league for four seasons, from the six which he was in Iranian football- playing in Esteghlal and Sepahan!

What are some of the positive things that you experienced in Iran’s football?

Iran is in my heart. I keep it in my life as a professional agent. It was in Iran that I closed my first deal. I’ve been going to Iran for the past 10 years and each time I have more friends, and more experiences in that country. I like the people; they are very kind and welcoming. The country is very big and I like big challenges.

Iran is GIGANTIC and you feel this when you’re there, especially in Tehran, which has everything for the people to live comfortably and peacefully. Football is special because they have good players, good teams, but the infrastructure needs to improve for the most part. I think that it can change in the short term.

Which players and coaches have you signed to Iranian clubs?

In Iran, I got a contract for Augusto Inácio. Then I was focused for a while on other projects, and in 2012 I came back to focusing on Iranian football and I helped Mr. Toni, after working a few years with whom I think is the best coach in Iran: Mr. Amir Ghalenoie. As for players, I started with: Fábio Januário, Fábio Hempel, Sandro Gaúcho, Flávio Paixão, Marco Paixão, Anselmo, João Vilela; among other Brazilians for the past 10 years, since I was the first Portuguese agent to discover Iranian football.


Please tell us about your relationship with Toni Oliveira.

About myself… I can tell you I’m young; I’ve helped a lot of players, coaches, and teams around the world. I’m an adventurer, but balanced, and that’s why I went there alone about 10 years ago to discover Iran! I went alone, without fear and with a lot of belief in contributing to the improvement of Iranian football.

My relationship with Mr. Toni fell apart, after he signed the contract with Tractor- thanks to my help and commitment in finding him a professional solution after not having a club to coach for almost two years (Mr. Toni and his son António Oliveira). I helped them for more than two years and they didn’t pay me any commission for the work I did, and for the contract I got them.

I started my work there with Amir Ghalenoie -the most prestigious coach in Iran- and thanks to the second place he achieved in he league that year, and Flávio Paixão (who scored 10 goals that season), I became a very appreciated agent for Tractor and Iranian football.

At that time I signed Flávio Paixão, and the contracts of Anselmo and Vilela, all of them for two years with the endorsement of Mr. Amir Ghalenoie!

After Mr. Amir Ghalenoei decided to go to Esteghlal, as his contract was done, and I respected his decision. So did Tractor. Then the president Mr. Jafari (who trusted me because Mr. Ghalenoei had vouched for me) told me, “Paulo Rodrigues, pick a coach for us to be champions”, and I told him, “Mr. President, it has to be Toni Oliveira”.
Then, the president asked me, “who is that?”. I had to explain who Toni was! And then he asked me about the personality of Mr. Toni. I had to explain who Toni was as a coach, and that as a person I didn’t know him very well. All of this was amazing to the players: Anselmo and João Vilela, who saw everything in the hotel, where I was negotiating with them about the hiring of Mr. Toni!

Finally, we signed Mr. Toni, on 12.06.2012, as coach of the Tractor Sazi.


Sometime later, 2-3 months max, every time I spoke to Mr. Toni, he would complain and only say that Tractor was an amateur team and he questioned me as to why I had taken him to (what he called) an amateur team without proper facilities and working conditions. He would also say that in Tractor, the directors were shameless and didn’t understand anything about football. He would complain about how Tractor was not paying him his wages (not on the agreed dates), and that it wasn’t a serious club. He said, “Tractor will never be a Ferrari”, and to my amazement he kept telling me that the players in Tractor were dumb, and that in general all players in Iran are dumb. I always defended the team and the players, as I never agreed with his statements.

Because of this, ultimately, on November of 2012, in the middle of the game (Persepolis vs Tractor) in Azadi stadium, and after in Hotel Olympic, Mr. Toni had seen me without saying a word, since he was already preparing the dismissal of both players: Anselmo and João Vilela- insisting to the directors of Tractor that I had fooled them, because (as he thought) they had no quality to play in Tractor. It was the only way (dismissing the players I had taken) that he could sign new players in order to receive outside commissions. At that time, some agents called me and asked me what was going on as Mr. Toni called them asking for names of other players to sign in January 2013, since they wanted to reinforce the team and would be dismissing the Portuguese Anselmo and João Vilela.

And so it happened. They were dismissed with two year contracts, and this hurt the team a lot. All of this so he can earn extra commission.

He doesn’t even have the dignity to pay me for my services of finding him a club and putting him as the coach of Tractor Sazi Tabriz, which is one of the biggest clubs in Iran. I want to make clear that Mr. Toni was unemployed for about two years before going to Tabriz.

Toni is a fake person. At the end of the season, when he was fired, he spoke badly about the team saying in radio stations, TVs, and newspapers that Tractor was nothing, and that for him the club was worthless. He always said, “Tractor will never be a Ferrari.” And that Tractor wouldn’t pay anyone; also that Tractor is at the end of the world, in Iran… along with many other negative statements… To my amazement, he would only speak badly about the team.

Between 2012 and 2015, was Tractor really bad? I repeat that Mr. Toni is a fake. He only sees USD (dollar signs).
He didn’t pay those who helped him and fooled his representative in the contract with Tractor. In my opinion he fooled Tractor and the fan of the club, because he speaks well of the fans but badly about the team, as if the team wasn’t the fans’ club also.

Toni in this moment has no margin to continue leading Tractor. After 6 matches,  he is at 7 points . Tractor needs someone with more experience in the league and Champions League, someone with given proof, someone who is able to infuse new soul and strength in Tractor players and that person has only one name: AMIR GHALENOIE!

My advice as an experienced agent who knows coaches well is that the fans, president, and board of directors of Tractor should unite themselves urgently so that they can change the path. Dismiss Mr. Toni and hire Mr. Ghalenoei immediately, which can save my team so that they can at least dream of the possibility of fighting for the 2015/2016 title.