Marked for Emil Smarason
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Apr 2029
The words a physio says slowly. 60 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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 IA can pretend not to have heard.
Market30 Apr 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Markús Páll Ellertsson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around IA the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” IA may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad30 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 IA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Arnor Halldorsson 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.
Market30 Apr 2029
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
Steady
Squad12 Mar 2029
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. IA lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market12 Mar 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 The request is on a desk at IA, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market12 Mar 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around IA people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market12 Mar 2029
Vikingur come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and IA did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market12 Mar 2029
The interest is real enough to have reached print. IA have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Tempers go at IA
Fernando Chávez 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 Mar 2029
Viktor Jónsson 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.
Transfer targets12 Mar 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout12 Mar 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
Steady
Market12 Feb 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. IA have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market12 Feb 2029
IA say no — this time
The offer from Vikingur for Jón Gísli Eyland 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.
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 IA can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom12 Feb 2029
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Viktor Jónsson 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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words exchanged at IA
Juber Pereira 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
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Markús Páll Ellertsson, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
Fernando Chávez has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at IA 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.
Market12 Feb 2029
IA have let the market know Markús Páll Ellertsson can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words at IA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Viktor Jónsson 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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at IA
Baldvin Þór Berndsen 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 dugout29 Jan 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 dugout29 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.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Market29 Jan 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Fernando Chávez signs something — a contract at IA or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Jan 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 IA, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market15 Jan 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jón Sölvi Símonarson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around IA the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad15 Jan 2029
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 dugout15 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Olafur Thorsteinsson, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Emil Smarason 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 Jan 2029
Fernando Chávez has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at IA 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
Market4 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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sergio Felipe commits to IA for another 2 years.
Squad4 Dec 2028
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.
The dugout4 Dec 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.
Squad4 Dec 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 IA will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout4 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.
Market4 Dec 2028
“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.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
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.
Market4 Dec 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Fernando Chávez signs something — a contract at IA or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market20 Nov 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at IA is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Tempers go at IA
Fernando Chávez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad20 Nov 2028
A row about effort at IA
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Viktor Jónsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout20 Nov 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 Fernando Chávez is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Nov 2028
A row about effort at IA
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Viktor Jónsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words exchanged at IA
Baldvin Þór Berndsen 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 dugout6 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Emil Smarason, and the manager let it.
The dugout6 Nov 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 Viktor Jónsson is on it.
Market6 Nov 2028
“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.
Squad6 Nov 2028
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
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.
The dugout6 Nov 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.
Market6 Nov 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Fernando Chávez signs something — a contract at IA or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Oct 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Stefan Sigurdsson
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. IA lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market23 Oct 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 IA, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market23 Oct 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jón Sölvi Símonarson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around IA the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad23 Oct 2028
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 dugout23 Oct 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 Fernando Chávez is on it.
The dugout23 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.