Marked for Hermann Þór Ragnarsson
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market22 Jul 2030
“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 The request is on a desk at IBV, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings22 Jul 2030
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Hermann Þór Ragnarsson provided it, and the 8.78 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout22 Jul 2030
Kari Bjarnason: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” IBV have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market22 Jul 2030
No place for Amin Cosic in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Amin Cosic has his answer from IBV; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout22 Jul 2030
“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.
Player ratings22 Jul 2030
Nobody could get near Amin Cosic
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match20 Jul 2030
It needed Hermann Þór Ragnarsson to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Valur, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad22 Jul 2030
Words exchanged at IBV
Kari Bjarnason 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.
Squad22 Jul 2030
A row about effort at IBV
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Lustig was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings15 Jul 2030
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Hermann Þór Ragnarsson provided it, and the 9.11 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings15 Jul 2030
Amin Cosic runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout15 Jul 2030
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
The dugout15 Jul 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Match13 Jul 2030
IBV get the job done against Fylkir
A 3‑1 win over Fylkir, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad15 Jul 2030
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
Match15 Jul 2030
IBV at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 8, 16 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Squad15 Jul 2030
A falling-out at IBV
Ingi Þór Lúðvíksson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Jul 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Rurik Ingason commits to IBV for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces8 Jul 2030
Anger at IBV spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match6 Jul 2030
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Fjolnir, and it could have been more.
Squad8 Jul 2030
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad8 Jul 2030
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market8 Jul 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IBV is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad8 Jul 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IBV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings8 Jul 2030
Marked 9.74 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings8 Jul 2030
A performance of 9.02 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The terraces8 Jul 2030
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
In brief
-
Match
IBV end the wait against Fjolnir
-
The dugout
The manager makes an example of Ville Kumpu
-
Boardroom
IBV sign 6 boys into the academy
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Jun 2030
Nowhere to hide for IBV
0‑3 against Breidablik, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market24 Jun 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match22 Jun 2030
4 matches without a win for IBV
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around IBV are no longer polite ones.
Match22 Jun 2030
IBV are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Boardroom24 Jun 2030
Nobody left the IBV dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad24 Jun 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Emil Smarason and IBV agree another 3 years.
The dugout24 Jun 2030
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad24 Jun 2030
Words exchanged at IBV
Ingi Þór Lúðvíksson 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings17 Jun 2030
Two goals and a mark of 8.50 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad17 Jun 2030
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
The dugout17 Jun 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Match15 Jun 2030
IBV share the spoils with Stjarnan
A 2‑2 draw with Stjarnan leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings17 Jun 2030
Amin Cosic beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad17 Jun 2030
A row about effort at IBV
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Lustig was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Jun 2030
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 dugout17 Jun 2030
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout17 Jun 2030
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IBV, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match25 May 2030
Chastening afternoon for IBV
A 1‑4 beating by FH was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market27 May 2030
“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 IBV, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad27 May 2030
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings27 May 2030
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout27 May 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alex Freyr Hilmarsson, and the manager let it.
Boardroom27 May 2030
Nobody left the IBV dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad27 May 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Runar Johannsson and IBV agree another 3 years.
The dugout27 May 2030
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ari Gudmundsson after 1‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad27 May 2030
Tempers go at IBV
Andri Skulason 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Apr 2030
IBV are in real trouble now
Position 10, 12 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market29 Apr 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout29 Apr 2030
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad29 Apr 2030
A row about effort at IBV
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Lustig was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 Apr 2030
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout29 Apr 2030
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.
Market29 Apr 2030
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Viggó Valgeirsson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad29 Apr 2030
The comeback has moved again. The medical staff will not give a new date and the manager has stopped asking for one.
The dugout29 Apr 2030
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Stefán Þór S. Ágústsson plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout22 Apr 2030
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” IBV have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The dugout22 Apr 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Transfer targets22 Apr 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Breidablik have kept their man, and IBV go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad22 Apr 2030
A falling-out at IBV
Ingi Þór Lúðvíksson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Apr 2030
Too much change too quickly at IBV
6 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.
The dugout22 Apr 2030
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 dugout22 Apr 2030
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IBV, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market22 Apr 2030
The name of Hermann Þór Ragnarsson keeps appearing in other people's back pages. IBV say nothing, which says plenty.
Market22 Apr 2030
Still no signature from Amin Cosic
4 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what IBV could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Apr 2030
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market8 Apr 2030
“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 IBV, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom8 Apr 2030
The IBV board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Market8 Apr 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Eiður Atli Rúnarsson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around IBV the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom8 Apr 2030
Deadline passes with 6 signed and 6 gone
That is the business done at IBV until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Boardroom8 Apr 2030
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Jóhann Ægir Arnarsson has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means IBV have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad8 Apr 2030
43 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Tempers go at IBV
Ingi Þór Lúðvíksson 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.
Market8 Apr 2030
He is 18, and nobody at IBV signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market25 Mar 2030
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The dugout25 Mar 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Transfer targets25 Mar 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Breidablik have kept their man, and IBV go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout25 Mar 2030
“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.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Teo Reeh signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Teo Reeh commits to IBV for another 3 years.
Squad25 Mar 2030
A falling-out at IBV
Ingi Þór Lúðvíksson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Too much change too quickly at IBV
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.
The dugout25 Mar 2030
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.
Market25 Mar 2030
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Viggó Valgeirsson signs something — a contract at IBV or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces18 Mar 2030
Supporters organise against the IBV board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom18 Mar 2030
The scrutiny sharpens at IBV
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at IBV is running low.
Market18 Mar 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IBV is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad18 Mar 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IBV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout18 Mar 2030
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 dugout18 Mar 2030
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IBV, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad18 Mar 2030
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at IBV would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Market18 Mar 2030
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Hermann Þór Ragnarsson signs something — a contract at IBV or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market18 Mar 2030
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs IBV money.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces18 Feb 2030
The mood at IBV has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom18 Feb 2030
The scrutiny sharpens at IBV
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at IBV is running low.
Market18 Feb 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. IBV have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The dugout18 Feb 2030
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” IBV have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad18 Feb 2030
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. IBV will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Ville Kumpu arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ville Kumpu has, at IBV, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad18 Feb 2030
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation IBV are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Squad18 Feb 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IBV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market18 Feb 2030
He is 17, and nobody at IBV signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Match4 Feb 2030
Every point is an argument now for IBV
Position 10 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market4 Feb 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IBV can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout4 Feb 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad4 Feb 2030
Tempers go at IBV
Ingi Þór Lúðvíksson 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 dugout4 Feb 2030
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Alex Freyr Hilmarsson's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
The dugout4 Feb 2030
Viggó Valgeirsson has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at IBV 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.
The dugout4 Feb 2030
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hermann Þór Ragnarsson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market4 Feb 2030
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market28 Jan 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IBV can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout28 Jan 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad28 Jan 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IBV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout28 Jan 2030
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 dugout28 Jan 2030
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad28 Jan 2030
A row about effort at IBV
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jake Griffin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces21 Jan 2030
Anger at IBV spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom21 Jan 2030
The scrutiny sharpens at IBV
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at IBV is running low.
Market21 Jan 2030
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout21 Jan 2030
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad21 Jan 2030
A falling-out at IBV
Ingi Þór Lúðvíksson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout21 Jan 2030
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IBV, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad21 Jan 2030
A row about effort at IBV
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jake Griffin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Jan 2030
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 Þorri Heiðar Bergmann is on it.
Market21 Jan 2030
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Stefán Þór S. Ágústsson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Dec 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IBV can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout31 Dec 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout31 Dec 2029
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.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Jake Griffin falls out with a teammate over standards
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 dugout31 Dec 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market31 Dec 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Hermann Þór Ragnarsson signs something — a contract at IBV or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Dec 2029
IBV are in real trouble now
Position 10, 12 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market10 Dec 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IBV they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout10 Dec 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Tempers go at IBV
Ingi Þór Lúðvíksson 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 dugout10 Dec 2029
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.
Squad10 Dec 2029
A row about effort at IBV
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jake Griffin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market10 Dec 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. IBV know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market10 Dec 2029
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee IBV could ask drops and the wages Gustas Jarusevičius can ask rise.
Squad10 Dec 2029
The training reports on Jake Griffin are not good
A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 Dec 2029
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ari Gudmundsson has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market3 Dec 2029
“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 IBV, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout3 Dec 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market3 Dec 2029
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at IBV has been clear about where Alex Freyr Hilmarsson stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad3 Dec 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IBV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout3 Dec 2029
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 Eiður Atli Rúnarsson is on it.
Squad3 Dec 2029
IBV will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
The dugout3 Dec 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Eiður Atli Rúnarsson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market3 Dec 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at IBV, another week without a signature from Gustas Jarusevičius.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words exchanged at IBV
Ingi Þór Lúðvíksson 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 dugout19 Nov 2029
Nobody at IBV 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.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words at IBV training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jake Griffin 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 Nov 2029
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ari Gudmundsson has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market5 Nov 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IBV can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout5 Nov 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad5 Nov 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alex Freyr Hilmarsson and IBV agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Nov 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IBV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout5 Nov 2029
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 dugout5 Nov 2029
Amin Cosic loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Amin Cosic's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Squad5 Nov 2029
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
Market5 Nov 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at IBV, another week without a signature from Gustas Jarusevičius.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces29 Oct 2029
Anger at IBV spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market29 Oct 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IBV can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom29 Oct 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at IBV
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
“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.
Squad29 Oct 2029
A falling-out at IBV
Ingi Þór Lúðvíksson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Oct 2029
A row about effort at IBV
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jake Griffin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
Nobody at IBV 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.
Market29 Oct 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Stefán Þór S. Ágústsson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
Ari Petersen knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ari Petersen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout22 Oct 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” IBV may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words exchanged at IBV
Ingi Þór Lúðvíksson 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 dugout22 Oct 2029
Nobody at IBV 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Oct 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Milan Jezdimirović and IBV agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout8 Oct 2029
A promise honoured at IBV
Something was said to Amin Cosic and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Squad8 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IBV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market8 Oct 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Aleksa Čolović has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at IBV.
The dugout8 Oct 2029
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 Eiður Atli Rúnarsson is on it.
The dugout8 Oct 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout8 Oct 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Eiður Atli Rúnarsson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Words at IBV training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jake Griffin 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.
Boardroom8 Oct 2029
IBV pull $2.0M back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Sep 2029
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. IBV lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market24 Sep 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Hermann Þór Ragnarsson provided it, and the 8.51 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” IBV have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match22 Sep 2029
No clean sheets in sight for IBV
5 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match22 Sep 2029
IBV get the job done against Fjolnir
A 3‑2 win over Fjolnir, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces24 Sep 2029
The crowd has taken to Amin Cosic
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Sep 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market10 Sep 2029
“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 IBV, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 Sep 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Viggó Valgeirsson and IBV agree another 4 years.
Match8 Sep 2029
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Amin Cosic needs a bigger stage
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and IBV know which stage they are at.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Ari Gudmundsson to a room that had heard them before.
Squad10 Sep 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IBV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
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 Eiður Atli Rúnarsson is on it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Aug 2029
There were 11 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match25 Aug 2029
Nowhere to hide for IBV
1‑5 against Vikingur, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match25 Aug 2029
6 goals as IBV and Vikingur go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between IBV and Vikingur, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Transfer targets27 Aug 2029
The clock did what Vikingur would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Boardroom27 Aug 2029
Nobody left the IBV dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout27 Aug 2029
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ari Gudmundsson after 1‑5, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout27 Aug 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout27 Aug 2029
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 dugout27 Aug 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hermann Þór Ragnarsson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Aug 2029
No end in sight to IBV's wait for a win
15 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at IBV has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad13 Aug 2029
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
The clubs have shaken hands with Vikingur; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match11 Aug 2029
A bad afternoon for IBV against FH
0‑2 to FH, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout13 Aug 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hermann Þór Ragnarsson, and the manager let it.
Squad13 Aug 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Aleksa Čolović commits to IBV for another 3 years.
Looking ahead13 Aug 2029
A six-pointer for IBV
Leiknir next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
The dugout13 Aug 2029
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ari Gudmundsson after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match4 Aug 2029
14 matches without a win for IBV
The run now stands at 14, and the questions being asked around IBV are no longer polite ones.
The terraces6 Aug 2029
Anger at IBV spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market6 Aug 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around IBV people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2029
The deal with Vikingur 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.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2029
IBV had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Keflavik, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Vikingur have kept their man, and IBV go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings6 Aug 2029
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.97, and 2 involvements.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2029
$110.0K was the most the club would pay and Vikingur were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The dugout6 Aug 2029
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Jul 2029
The wait goes on for IBV
11 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.
Player ratings16 Jul 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.54, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match14 Jul 2029
IBV are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match14 Jul 2029
Fylkir take the points off IBV
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match16 Jul 2029
Halfway: IBV sit in position 12
4 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout16 Jul 2029
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 2‑3 Ari Gudmundsson left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout16 Jul 2029
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.
Squad16 Jul 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IBV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings16 Jul 2029
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Jun 2029
There were 14 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad11 Jun 2029
40 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. IBV lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match6 Jun 2029
The cup run ends for IBV
4‑5 against Keflavik, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Player ratings11 Jun 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.63 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings11 Jun 2029
Arnor Adalsteinsson, 17, plays like he has been here for years — 8.21
A mark of 8.21 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market11 Jun 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IBV they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match9 Jun 2029
No end in sight to IBV's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at IBV has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad11 Jun 2029
A falling-out at IBV
Viggó Valgeirsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match6 Jun 2029
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about IBV and Keflavik in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad4 Jun 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Aleksa Čolović
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. IBV lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout4 Jun 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” IBV may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match2 Jun 2029
4 matches without a win for IBV
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around IBV are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings4 Jun 2029
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match2 Jun 2029
IBV come up short against Leiknir
Leiknir left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad4 Jun 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Daníel Tal Mikaelsson commits to IBV for another 4 years.
The dugout4 Jun 2029
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 May 2029
Aleksa Čolović damages knee ligaments — 54 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 54 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match26 May 2029
A hiding for IBV
Beaten 0‑3 by FH, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market28 May 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IBV can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout28 May 2029
“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.
Boardroom28 May 2029
Inquest at IBV
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.
The dugout28 May 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Ari Gudmundsson to a room that had heard them before.
Squad28 May 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IBV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout28 May 2029
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout28 May 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 May 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Aleksa Čolović
61 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. IBV lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout21 May 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings21 May 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad21 May 2029
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and IBV will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
The dugout21 May 2029
Somebody else is better right now than Marcel Zapytowski
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Match19 May 2029
Honours even between IBV and Keflavik
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout21 May 2029
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 dugout21 May 2029
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ari Gudmundsson after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad21 May 2029
Jake Griffin falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 May 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad14 May 2029
68 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. IBV lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market14 May 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IBV is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match12 May 2029
IBV come up short against KR
KR left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings14 May 2029
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
The dugout14 May 2029
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad14 May 2029
Words exchanged at IBV
Ingi Þór Lúðvíksson 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 dugout14 May 2029
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout14 May 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 May 2029
75 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. IBV lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match5 May 2029
90 minutes played. Hermann Þór Ragnarsson found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Valur went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Market7 May 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IBV can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 May 2029
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Boardroom7 May 2029
Graduation day at IBV
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Match5 May 2029
IBV get the job done against Valur
A 2‑1 win over Valur, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces7 May 2029
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Viggó Valgeirsson has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Market7 May 2029
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Alfred Finnbogason is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market7 May 2029
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Olafur Bodvarsson has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Apr 2029
Aleksa Čolović damages knee ligaments — 82 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 82 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market30 Apr 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IBV can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Apr 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Aleksa Čolović and IBV agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Jake Griffin falls out with a teammate over standards
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 dugout30 Apr 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Apr 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Aleksa Čolović
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. IBV lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market16 Apr 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IBV is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words exchanged at IBV
Ingi Þór Lúðvíksson 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 dugout16 Apr 2029
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 Eiður Atli Rúnarsson is on it.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at IBV training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jake Griffin 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. IBV will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
The manager makes an example of Jake Griffin
“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.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at IBV. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oddgeir Ingi Friðbjörnsson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
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Market
The window shut and Jakob Jansson is still in the building
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Boardroom
The IBV board choose calm
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Apr 2029
110 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. IBV lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market2 Apr 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at IBV until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets2 Apr 2029
IBV asked and Vikingur said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad2 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IBV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Apr 2029
The captaincy has been taken off Marcel Zapytowski. IBV will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IBV, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Jake Griffin falls out with a teammate over standards
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 dugout2 Apr 2029
Nobody at IBV 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Mar 2029
118 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. IBV lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market26 Mar 2029
The interest is real enough to have reached print. IBV have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad26 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IBV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
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 dugout26 Mar 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IBV, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Jake Griffin falls out with a teammate over standards
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.
In brief
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Match
IBV have something to play for
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Squad
Emil Smarason is not doing himself any favours
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Mar 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets5 Mar 2029
The offer went to Vikingur this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Marcel Zapytowski and IBV agree another 4 years.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Tempers go at IBV
Liam Daði Jeffs 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 dugout5 Mar 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
Liam Daði Jeffs has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at IBV 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.
Market5 Mar 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words at IBV training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jake Griffin 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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Eiður Atli Rúnarsson has moved up it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Feb 2029
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Fjolnir waiting with a shirt. Nobody at IBV is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market12 Feb 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IBV can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom12 Feb 2029
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Bjarki Björn Gunnarsson has agreed terms with Vikingur for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words exchanged at IBV
Liam Daði Jeffs 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 dugout12 Feb 2029
“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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ingi Þór Lúðvíksson commits to IBV for another 3 years.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
Viggó Valgeirsson has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at IBV 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.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IBV, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market12 Feb 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Viggó Valgeirsson signs something — a contract at IBV or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Feb 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IBV can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout5 Feb 2029
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” IBV have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Tempers go at IBV
Liam Daði Jeffs 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 dugout5 Feb 2029
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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at IBV training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jake Griffin 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 Feb 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IBV, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market5 Feb 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Hermann Þór Ragnarsson signs something — a contract at IBV or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
The window opens at IBV
A month in which every rumour is possible and most of them are nonsense. The manager has a list, the board has a number, and neither is telling the other the whole of it.
Market5 Feb 2029
6 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what IBV could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Jan 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IBV can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at IBV
Vicente Valor 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 dugout8 Jan 2029
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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
A row about effort at IBV
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jake Griffin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
Victor Sandberg asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market8 Jan 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Hermann Þór Ragnarsson signs something — a contract at IBV or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad8 Jan 2029
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at IBV would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Market8 Jan 2029
7 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what IBV could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Dec 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Tempers go at IBV
Vicente Valor 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 dugout18 Dec 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hermann Þór Ragnarsson, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at IBV training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jake Griffin 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Dec 2028
Tempers go at IBV
Liam Daði Jeffs 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 dugout11 Dec 2028
Liam Daði Jeffs has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at IBV 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.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IBV, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jake Griffin, and the manager let it.
Market11 Dec 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Hermann Þór Ragnarsson signs something — a contract at IBV or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad11 Dec 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market20 Nov 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Tempers go at IBV
Vicente Valor 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 dugout20 Nov 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market13 Nov 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad13 Nov 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IBV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marcel Zapytowski, and the manager let it.
Squad13 Nov 2028
“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 IBV will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” IBV have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad30 Oct 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IBV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
Vicente Valor gets picked when it counts
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 Vicente Valor is on it.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
Ari Petersen gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad30 Oct 2028
A few words of the language, a friend at the next peg, and a training ground that has stopped feeling foreign. Nothing measurable, and everything visible on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout23 Oct 2028
Jake Griffin: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” IBV have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words exchanged at IBV
Liam Daði Jeffs 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 makes an example of Liam Daði Jeffs
“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.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
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 dugout23 Oct 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IBV, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Words at IBV training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jake Griffin 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words exchanged at IBV
Vicente Valor 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 dugout16 Oct 2028
“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.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
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 dugout16 Oct 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IBV, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at IBV training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jake Griffin 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.
Market16 Oct 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Hermann Þór Ragnarsson signs something — a contract at IBV or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Sep 2028
Hordur Eyjolfsson damages knee ligaments — 16 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 16 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad18 Sep 2028
15 goals and a season average of 7.34. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words exchanged at IBV
Vicente Valor 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.
Match16 Sep 2028
IBV rescue it on 95 minutes
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 95. IA had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Match16 Sep 2028
IBV share the spoils with IA
A 1‑1 draw with IA leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
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 dugout18 Sep 2028
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ari Gudmundsson after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Sep 2028
Hordur Eyjolfsson damages knee ligaments — 23 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 23 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market11 Sep 2028
“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 IBV, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Hermann Þór Ragnarsson and IBV agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad11 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IBV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces11 Sep 2028
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
“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.
Match9 Sep 2028
Breidablik made IBV work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Marked 8.34 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and IBV will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.