The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Sveinn Sigurður Jóhannesson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Guðmundur Rafn Ingason was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Þorri Mar Þórisson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Nobody at Stjarnan will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Stjarnan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Damil Dankerlui is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Stjarnan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Stjarnan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Stjarnan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Þorri Mar Þórisson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Stjarnan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutAlpha Conteh asks for a word with the manager
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Stjarnan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Þorri Mar Þórisson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Stjarnan are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Dino Matić and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Elion Imeri's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Stjarnan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Guðmundur Rafn Ingason will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stjarnan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Örvar Eggertsson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jón Hrafn Barkarson and Stjarnan agree another 4 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jón Hrafn Barkarson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at FH, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bleon Kurtuluş was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Tom Hill and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stjarnan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
KR have accepted the money. What Stjarnan do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stjarnan can pretend not to have heard.
Örvar Eggertsson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Guðmundur Baldvin Nökkvason and Stjarnan agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Level with 88 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Stjarnan had all but put away. Fylkir will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Heiðar Ægisson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jón Hrafn Barkarson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Damil Dankerlui is on it.
1‑4 to Vikingur, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Örvar Eggertsson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jóhann Árni Gunnarsson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑4 Stefan Adalsteinsson left the room before anybody could ask which.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Vilhjálmur Yngvi Hjálmarsson is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Two goals and a mark of 8.48 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Guðmundur Rafn Ingason will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stjarnan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Stefan Adalsteinsson on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Olafur Magnusson, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.83
A mark of 7.83 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Benedikt V. Warén was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Stefan Arnason has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mikael Magnusson is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Rurik Johannsson has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Hordur Ingason is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stjarnan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Örvar Eggertsson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Stjarnan can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ásgeir Páll Magnússon was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jón Hrafn Barkarson is on it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Alex Þór Hauksson’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Stjarnan needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Stjarnan. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Stjarnan asked and Helsingborg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jóhann Árni Gunnarsson is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Stjarnan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Stjarnan. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hammarby have kept their man, and Stjarnan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Guðmundur Rafn Ingason will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stjarnan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Stjarnan than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jón Hrafn Barkarson is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Stjarnan. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Örvar Eggertsson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kalmar FF have kept their man, and Stjarnan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jón Hrafn Barkarson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Stjarnan will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Guðmundur Rafn Ingason will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stjarnan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Stjarnan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stjarnan can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Stabaek is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Guðmundur Rafn Ingason was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Valur have kept their man, and Stjarnan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stjarnan can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustav Kjeldsen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Stjarnan can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Stjarnan have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Heiðar Ægisson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jón Hrafn Barkarson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jóhann Árni Gunnarsson is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Stjarnan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stjarnan can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Viking is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Örvar Eggertsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Valur have kept their man, and Stjarnan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Stjarnan will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Stjarnan has been clear about where Daníel Finns Matthíasson stands, which is more than many ever get.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Örvar Eggertsson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jón Hrafn Barkarson is on it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stjarnan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Heiðar Ægisson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jón Hrafn Barkarson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Nobody at Stjarnan will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Örvar Eggertsson signs something — a contract at Stjarnan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stjarnan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Stjarnan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gustav Kjeldsen is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jón Hrafn Barkarson is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Stjarnan. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Stjarnan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Hannes Pétur Hauksson has his answer from Stjarnan; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jón Hrafn Barkarson is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Stjarnan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Dagur Dan Kristinsson leaves Stjarnan the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Örvar Eggertsson’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jóhann Árni Gunnarsson and Stjarnan agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
10 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Nobody at Stjarnan will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Stjarnan. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Darri Bergmann Gylfason may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.