“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Stjarnan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
51 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stjarnan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The 86th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Benedikt V. Warén decided nobody was going anywhere. Leiknir had no time left to answer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birnir Snær Ingason 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.
8.83. 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.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Marked 5.75. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
The words a physio says slowly. 50 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stjarnan can pretend not to have heard.
Alex Þór Hauksson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stjarnan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Emil Atlason 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guðmundur Baldvin Nökkvason is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Stjarnan will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Emil Atlason 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Benedikt V. Warén and Stjarnan agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Guðmundur Baldvin Nökkvason 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.
8.12. 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.
14 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at WaiBOP United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Callum Lockyer has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
“I watch every WaiBOP United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Auckland City runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The fee is $24.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Waitakere United drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Marco Fenton 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.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Bill Garbett from Waitakere United for $24.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what WaiBOP United can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at WaiBOP United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces9 Aug 2027
WaiBOP United spend $380.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $380.0K for Nathan Lobo, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad9 Aug 2027
James Nelson 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.
Marco Fenton 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.
At 35 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Winston Garbett and WaiBOP United agree another 2 years.
In brief
SquadDane Tuiloma falls out with a teammate over standards
Marco Fenton 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.
In brief
SquadMatt Singh has improved at 24, which nobody expected
SquadJames Nelson falls out with a teammate over standards
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at WaiBOP United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Add another name to the list: Southern United have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Oliver Payne. The answer from WaiBOP United has not changed — yet.
In brief
SquadWords at WaiBOP United training over how hard people work