Marked for Gabriel Quartey
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match10 Jun 2028
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
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. 7.96, and 2 involvements.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Tempers go at FH
Guðmundur Andri Tryggvason 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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
A row about effort at FH
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tobias Carlsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.20, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
Jason Daði Svanþórsson was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout12 Jun 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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
“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; FH are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Dagur Adalsteinsson on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 May 2028
A falling-out at FH
Guðmundur Andri Tryggvason and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 May 2028
A row about effort at FH
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jökull Andrésson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad1 May 2028
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at FH than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The dugout1 May 2028
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.
Looking ahead1 May 2028
Leiknir next, and one man in the FH dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Squad1 May 2028
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 FH would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Market1 May 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Guðmundur Andri Tryggvason signs something — a contract at FH or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout1 May 2028
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at FH. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout1 May 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Apr 2028
FH say no — this time
The offer from Valur for Kristján Flóki Finnbogason was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market10 Apr 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at FH is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad10 Apr 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 FH this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at FH training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tobias Carlsson 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.
Transfer targets10 Apr 2028
FH asked and Red Bull Salzburg 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 dugout10 Apr 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gabriel Quartey and FH agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Apr 2028
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. FH know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
Jökull Andrésson has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at FH 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.