Marked for Einar Örn Harðarson
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words exchanged at Fjolnir
Óskar Dagur Jónasson 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.
Squad22 Oct 2029
“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 Fjolnir will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Boardroom22 Oct 2029
Fjolnir keep producing them
39 graduates from an academy now rated 9 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Sep 2029
Every point is an argument now for Fjolnir
Position 12 and 4 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.
Match8 Sep 2029
Chastening afternoon for Fjolnir
A 0‑3 beating by Vikingur was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match8 Sep 2029
6 matches without a win for Fjolnir
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Fjolnir are no longer polite ones.
Squad10 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 Fjolnir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout10 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.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at Fjolnir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Haukur Óli 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.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Boardroom10 Sep 2029
Doors closed at Fjolnir
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Sigurdur Gudmundsson after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Aug 2029
Fjolnir are in real trouble now
Position 12, 3 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match11 Aug 2029
Chastening afternoon for Fjolnir
A 0‑3 beating by KR was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad13 Aug 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Einar Örn Harðarson and Fjolnir agree another 3 years.
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 Fjolnir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Aug 2029
A row about effort at Fjolnir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Haukur Óli Jónsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout13 Aug 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Haukur Óli Jónsson, and the manager let it.
Boardroom13 Aug 2029
Doors closed at Fjolnir
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout13 Aug 2029
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 13. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces6 Aug 2029
The mood at Fjolnir has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match4 Aug 2029
0‑5 to Valur, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
The scrutiny sharpens at Fjolnir
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Fjolnir is running low.
Squad6 Aug 2029
A falling-out at Fjolnir
Erlingur Agnarsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Aug 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Óskar Dagur Jónasson commits to Fjolnir for another 4 years.
Transfer targets6 Aug 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.
Squad6 Aug 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Fjolnir can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout6 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.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
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
Uneasy
Match28 Jul 2029
At last: Fjolnir win one
14 matches without a win, and then this, against Fylkir. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.90 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words exchanged at Fjolnir
Erlingur Agnarsson 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 terraces30 Jul 2029
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match28 Jul 2029
A 2‑0 win over Fylkir, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout30 Jul 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Brynjar Gauti Guðjónsson, and the manager let it.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
Defensive actions: 17. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Haukur Óli 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Jul 2029
The wait goes on for Fjolnir
14 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.
Squad23 Jul 2029
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match21 Jul 2029
Chastening afternoon for Fjolnir
A 0‑3 beating by Breidablik was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
The clubs have shaken hands with Valur; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Erlingur Agnarsson 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 targets23 Jul 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.
Squad23 Jul 2029
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Looking ahead23 Jul 2029
Everything rides on Fylkir
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Fjolnir know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
Boardroom23 Jul 2029
Nobody left the Fjolnir dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 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 Fjolnir can pretend not to have heard.
Squad9 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 Fjolnir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets9 Apr 2029
Fjolnir asked and Breidablik said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad9 Apr 2029
A row about effort at Fjolnir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Haukur Óli Jónsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout9 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.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
The manager makes an example of Aron Magnusson
“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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
“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.
Market9 Apr 2029
Fjolnir spent the window trying to move Sölvi Sigmarsson on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sveinn Sigurður Jóhannesson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Mar 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 Fjolnir can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Mar 2029
A falling-out at Fjolnir
Erlingur Agnarsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at Fjolnir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daníel Ingvar Ingvarsson 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 dugout12 Mar 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Brynjar Gauti Guðjónsson, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Mar 2029
14 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Feb 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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Hjalte Agger breaks a bone — 33 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad12 Feb 2029
A falling-out at Fjolnir
Erlingur Agnarsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets12 Feb 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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Words at Fjolnir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Haukur Óli 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.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
“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.
The dugout12 Feb 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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
“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.
Market12 Feb 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Haukur Óli Jónsson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
Crisis meeting at Fjolnir
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad8 Jan 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 Fjolnir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Jan 2029
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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Fjolnir can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Axel Freyr Harðarson was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
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 Einar Örn Harðarson is on it.
The dugout8 Jan 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.
In brief
-
Squad
Nerves in the Fjolnir squad
-
Boardroom
Fjolnir were not finished after all
-
Boardroom
Fjolnir keep producing them
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout11 Dec 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Fjolnir have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad11 Dec 2028
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.
Squad11 Dec 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 Fjolnir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
Nobody at Fjolnir 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.
The dugout11 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match4 Dec 2028
Every point is an argument now for Fjolnir
Position 12 and 6 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.
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
Jon Bodvarsson has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Fjolnir can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market4 Dec 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 Fjolnir, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Dec 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Brynjar Gauti Guðjónsson and Fjolnir agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Erlingur Agnarsson 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.
Squad4 Dec 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; Fjolnir are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Haukur Óli 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.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Patryk Hryniewicki, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout13 Nov 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad13 Nov 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 Fjolnir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Nov 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Fjolnir can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad13 Nov 2028
A row about effort at Fjolnir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Haukur Óli Jónsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout13 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 Einar Örn Harðarson is on it.
The dugout13 Nov 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market16 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 Fjolnir, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
Kari Gunnarsson: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Fjolnir have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad16 Oct 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 Fjolnir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Oct 2028
A row about effort at Fjolnir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daníel Ingvar Ingvarsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Oct 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
Crisis
Match16 Sep 2028
No end in sight to Fjolnir's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Fjolnir has to find a result from somewhere.
Match16 Sep 2028
2‑5 to Stjarnan, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market18 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.
Match16 Sep 2028
No clean sheets in sight for Fjolnir
8 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad18 Sep 2028
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.58 for the rest of it.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
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 Fjolnir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match16 Sep 2028
Sölvi Sigmarsson among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Sölvi Sigmarsson on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Fjolnir and Stjarnan.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces7 Aug 2028
The mood at Fjolnir has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market7 Aug 2028
IA come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Fjolnir did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market7 Aug 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 Fjolnir, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market7 Aug 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Fjolnir people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Fjolnir
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Fjolnir is running low.
The dugout7 Aug 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad7 Aug 2028
9 seasons and 100 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
Match5 Aug 2028
No end in sight to Fjolnir's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Fjolnir has to find a result from somewhere.