Marked for Roko Čotić
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Jan 2028
A row about effort at IA
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Þorlákur Breki Baxter was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Tempers go at IA
Juber Pereira 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 dugout17 Jan 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ísak Máni Guðjónsson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout17 Jan 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 dugout17 Jan 2028
Roko Čotić 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.
Market17 Jan 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Fernando Chávez’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at IA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Þorlákur Breki Baxter 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 dugout15 Nov 2027
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 Gísli Eyjólfsson is on it.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Roko Čotić
“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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at IA would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Roko Čotić has had enough of the bench
“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 IA will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IA, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Sep 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 49 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.
Match11 Sep 2027
The wait goes on for IA
8 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.
Market13 Sep 2027
“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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A falling-out at IA
Viktor Jónsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces13 Sep 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ísak Máni Guðjónsson 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.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
A mark of 7.68, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
A promise honoured for York Rafael
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. IA told York Rafael something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Squad13 Sep 2027
“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 IA will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Feb 2027
IA say no — this time
The offer from KR for Ómar Björn Stefánsson 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
“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 targets8 Feb 2027
IA have gone to Keflavik with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Market8 Feb 2027
The phone has started ringing about Haukur Andri Haraldsson again, and this time the name on the line is Breidablik. IA are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“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; IA are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Tempers go at IA
Viktor Jónsson 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.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
IA have made the call to Breidablik. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market8 Feb 2027
He is 18, and nobody at IA signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Roko Čotić and IA agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.