Marked for Patrick Pedersen
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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.
Squad24 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 Valur this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at Valur training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lúkas Logi Heimisson 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.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 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.
Squad24 Sep 2029
“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; Valur are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Match22 Sep 2029
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Vikingur will be the happier side with the point.
Market24 Sep 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Jónatan Ingi Jónsson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
5.45 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Sep 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Valur may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market17 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.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Jakob Franz Pálsson 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.
Match15 Sep 2029
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Tempers go at Valur
Vladislav Rusenchik 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.
Squad17 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.
Boardroom17 Sep 2029
Doors closed at Valur
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces17 Sep 2029
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces3 Sep 2029
Anger at Valur 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.
Market3 Sep 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 Valur can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Valur
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad3 Sep 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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
327 appearances across 8 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Market3 Sep 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vidar Bodvarsson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Valur the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Tempers go at Valur
Tryggvi Hrafn Haraldsson 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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Vladislav Rusenchik and Valur agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match1 Sep 2029
Keflavik made Valur work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Aug 2029
No end in sight to Valur's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Valur has to find a result from somewhere.
Match13 Aug 2029
Every point is an argument now for Valur
Position 12 and 7 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.
Market13 Aug 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.
Squad13 Aug 2029
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Valur have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad13 Aug 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 Valur this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 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.
Match11 Aug 2029
A bad afternoon for Valur against Fylkir
0‑1 to Fylkir, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words at Valur training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lúkas Logi Heimisson 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.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Jul 2029
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Albin Skoglund will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Valur escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Match7 Jul 2029
The wait goes on for Valur
5 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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Patrick Pedersen and Valur agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Tempers go at Valur
Tryggvi Hrafn Haraldsson 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.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Jakob Franz Pálsson 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.
Player ratings9 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings2 Jul 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 7.91, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match30 Jun 2029
The wait goes on for Valur
4 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.
Squad2 Jul 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Patrick Pedersen commits to Valur for another 2 years.
Match30 Jun 2029
A bad afternoon for Valur against Leiknir
2‑3 to Leiknir, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings2 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Jul 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.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Words at Valur training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lúkas Logi Heimisson 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.
Squad2 Jul 2029
36 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
Inquest at Valur
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market25 Jun 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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Tempers go at Valur
Tryggvi Hrafn Haraldsson 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.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Jakob Franz Pálsson 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.
Match23 Jun 2029
The goals have deserted Valur
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Valur can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad25 Jun 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.
Match23 Jun 2029
A bad afternoon for Valur against FH
0‑1 to FH, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings25 Jun 2029
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad25 Jun 2029
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The terraces25 Jun 2029
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Jun 2029
Valur sink to position 12
4 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market18 Jun 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 Valur can pretend not to have heard.
Squad18 Jun 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 Valur this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match16 Jun 2029
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad18 Jun 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Markus Nakkim, and the manager let it.
Player ratings18 Jun 2029
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Patrick Pedersen dropped after a run of poor form
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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Nobody at Valur 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.
Market18 Jun 2029
The name of Jónatan Ingi Jónsson keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Valur say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 May 2029
A new deal for the man in the dugout, and the clearest thing a board can say without calling a press conference about it. Stability is cheap to promise and expensive to deliver.
Squad7 May 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Frederik Schram and Valur agree another 2 years.
Squad7 May 2029
Tempers go at Valur
Tryggvi Hrafn Haraldsson 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.
Boardroom7 May 2029
8 academy players handed senior numbers at Valur
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad7 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.
Market7 May 2029
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Stefan Bodvarsson 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
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ari Gudmundsson 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
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Birkir Bjarnason 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
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ragnar Hermannsson is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match1 Jan 2029
Valur refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 34 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad1 Jan 2029
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. Valur will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Tempers go at Valur
Tryggvi Hrafn Haraldsson 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
Steady
Match4 Dec 2028
Valur refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 34 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market4 Dec 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valur can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Dec 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Patrick Pedersen and Valur agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Lúkas Logi Heimisson 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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Tempers go at Valur
Gísli Laxdal 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.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
Valur release $4.2M for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market25 Sep 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.
Squad25 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.
Match23 Sep 2028
A bad afternoon for Valur against Vikingur
0‑1 to Vikingur, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Lúkas Logi Heimisson 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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Tempers go at Valur
Gísli Laxdal 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.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 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 Valur this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Valur training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bjarni Mark Duffield 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.
Squad18 Sep 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.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
A mark of 7.56, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad18 Sep 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Valur told Jakob Franz Pálsson something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Match16 Sep 2028
It needed Patrick Pedersen to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Leiknir, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Market18 Sep 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Tryggvi Hrafn Haraldsson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The terraces18 Sep 2028
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
In brief
-
Market
The shop window has João Rafael in it
-
Boardroom
Valur keep producing them
-
Boardroom
Valur board back the manager
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Sep 2028
Valur refuse to drop out of the race
Position 1, 30 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The terraces11 Sep 2028
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Match9 Sep 2028
FH take the points off Valur
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad11 Sep 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Valur training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lúkas Logi Heimisson 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.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.14, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
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 Valur this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 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.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match2 Sep 2028
5‑2, and Albin Skoglund took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Valur tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.41, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.83, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match2 Sep 2028
Whatever happens, Valur do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Tempers go at Valur
Jónatan Ingi 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.
Match2 Sep 2028
Albin Skoglund among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Albin Skoglund on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Valur and Keflavik.
Squad4 Sep 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.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Bjarni Mark Duffield was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.33. 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Lúkas Logi Heimisson 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
Uneasy
Market28 Aug 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valur can pretend not to have heard.
Match26 Aug 2028
The wait goes on for Valur
5 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.
Match26 Aug 2028
Still nobody has beaten Valur
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad28 Aug 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at Valur training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bjarni Mark Duffield 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Valur know it.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Gísli Laxdal in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valur this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.47 on the card, and the Valur support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Aug 2028
4 matches without a win for Valur
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Valur are no longer polite ones.
Market21 Aug 2028
The deal that would have taken Stefán Þór S. Ágústsson to Fjolnir has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Valur with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad21 Aug 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 Valur this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Lúkas Logi Heimisson 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.
Squad21 Aug 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.
Match19 Aug 2028
A 1‑1 draw with Breidablik leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad21 Aug 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.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market21 Aug 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Valur know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match14 Aug 2028
Valur are in among the leaders
Position 1 and 25 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad14 Aug 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 Valur this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.84, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Valur training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lúkas Logi Heimisson 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.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Aug 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
Market31 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Valur can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Jul 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 Valur this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jul 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.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Marked 8.29. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Valur.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at Valur training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lúkas Logi Heimisson 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.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Jónatan Ingi Jónsson was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Jul 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Valur may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match22 Jul 2028
It finished 2‑1, and it was Patrick Pedersen’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Valur.
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
Marked 8.77 — 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 ratings24 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Bjarni Mark Duffield 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.
Squad24 Jul 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Tempers go at Valur
Mattias Edeland 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.
Market24 Jul 2028
Fjolnir are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Valur will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Market24 Jul 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Valur know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Jul 2028
Valur out of the cup
IA ended it 0‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match17 Jul 2028
Valur up to position 2
19 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
The terraces17 Jul 2028
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 10 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Market17 Jul 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Valur is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 Jul 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 Valur this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Jul 2028
A bad afternoon for Valur against Stjarnan
1‑2 to Stjarnan, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad17 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Frederik Schram, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Valur training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jakob Franz Pálsson 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Kristján Oddur Haagensen commits to Valur for another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings26 Jun 2028
Patrick Pedersen, 36, rolls back the years — 7.80
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.80 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match24 Jun 2028
Still nobody has beaten Valur
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Market26 Jun 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Valur is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Ögmundur Kristinsson has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Tempers go at Valur
Jónatan Ingi 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.
Player ratings26 Jun 2028
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.
Squad26 Jun 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Bjarni Mark Duffield 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.
Match24 Jun 2028
It needed Patrick Pedersen to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against FH, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Jun 2028
Valur refuse to drop out of the race
Position 1, 15 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market19 Jun 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ögmundur Kristinsson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Valur the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match17 Jun 2028
Whatever happens, Valur do not lose
7 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Valur training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lúkas Logi Heimisson 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Gísli Laxdal in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valur this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Jun 2028
Tempers go at Valur
Jónatan Ingi 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.
Match10 Jun 2028
Whatever happens, Valur do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Match10 Jun 2028
Three points for Valur, 2‑0 the final word against KR in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Bjarni Mark Duffield 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 Jun 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alexander Helgi Sigurðarson and Valur agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad12 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.
Market12 Jun 2028
No place for Edon Osmani in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Edon Osmani has his answer from Valur; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Market12 Jun 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Valur know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 12 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Patrick Pedersen, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Valur training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bjarni Mark Duffield 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.
Market5 Jun 2028
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Valur has been clear about where Ástbjörn Þórðarson stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad5 Jun 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 Valur this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Lúkas Logi Heimisson has come out of that comparison in the side, and Valur have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Match3 Jun 2028
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings22 May 2028
Patrick Pedersen, 36, rolls back the years — 7.91
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.91 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match20 May 2028
Valur make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Valur have 3 straight wins of it.
Match20 May 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gísli Laxdal. 2‑1 against Fjolnir, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings22 May 2028
A performance of 8.39 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings22 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Valur training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bjarni Mark Duffield 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.
Squad22 May 2028
Gísli Laxdal in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Valur this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Albin Skoglund, and the manager let it.
Squad22 May 2028
Nobody at Valur 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
Match6 May 2028
4‑1, and Albin Skoglund took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Valur tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings8 May 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.88, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Boardroom8 May 2028
Valur moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Sverrir Gudmundsson, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
Squad8 May 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Patrick Pedersen and Valur agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 May 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 Valur this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom8 May 2028
Graduation day at Valur
6 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.
Player ratings8 May 2028
Lúkas Logi Heimisson was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.74. 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.
Market8 May 2028
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Mikael Palsson 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.
Market8 May 2028
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Runar Skulason 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.