Marked for Eiður Atli Rúnarsson
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Sep 2029
The wait goes on for FH
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.
Market10 Sep 2029
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sverrir Thorsteinsson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FH the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 Sep 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Úlfur Ágúst Björnsson and FH agree another 3 years.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Tempers go at FH
Kristján Flóki Finnbogason 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.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Jökull Andrésson 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.
Squad10 Sep 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.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Arnór Borg Guðjohnsen was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.35. 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.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market6 Aug 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 FH can pretend not to have heard.
Squad6 Aug 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” FH may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad6 Aug 2029
274 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.
Market6 Aug 2029
Ramón Pasquel has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FH they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad6 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 FH this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Words at FH training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jökull Andrésson 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.
Match4 Aug 2029
FH get the job done against Stjarnan
A 1‑0 win over Stjarnan, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings6 Aug 2029
Marked 8.17 — 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.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
FH release $1.8M 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
Upbeat
Squad30 Jul 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Elfayed Maanrifa
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. FH lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match30 Jul 2029
FH are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 24 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market30 Jul 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Tempers go at FH
Kristján Flóki Finnbogason 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 ratings30 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad30 Jul 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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tobias Carlsson, and the manager let it.
Match28 Jul 2029
Three points for FH, 1‑0 the final word against Vikingur in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
A performance of 8.15 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad2 Apr 2029
71 appearances across 8 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and FH know what they have.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Tempers go at FH
Kristján Flóki Finnbogason 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words at FH training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Carrizo 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.
Market2 Apr 2029
The phone has started ringing about Hilmar Karlsson again, and this time the name on the line is Leiknir. FH are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad2 Apr 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.
Market2 Apr 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Arngrímur Bjartur Guðmundsson has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at FH.
In brief
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Market
The window shut and Thanos Petsos is still in the building
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Market
Thanos Petsos runs his contract down
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Boardroom
The FH board put their names to it
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Sep 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 FH, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.06, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Tempers go at FH
Markus Walker 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Tobias Carlsson 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.
Match9 Sep 2028
It finished 2‑1, and it was Úlfur Ágúst Björnsson’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to FH.
Squad11 Sep 2028
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Kristján Flóki Finnbogason will call it something else in private.
Squad11 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Sergey Alexeev
“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.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
5.59. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 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 FH, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Aug 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” FH have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Markus Walker is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Tempers go at FH
Kristján Flóki Finnbogason 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at FH training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Carrizo 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.
Match12 Aug 2028
A bad afternoon for FH against IBV
0‑1 to IBV, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market14 Aug 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. FH have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Boardroom14 Aug 2028
Inquest at FH
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.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings26 Jun 2028
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Tempers go at FH
Jökull Andrésson 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.
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
Valur will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Ögmundur Kristinsson has pre-agreed a move to FH, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Ísak Óli Ólafsson 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.
Squad26 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.
Player ratings26 Jun 2028
Marked 7.86 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, FH had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Jan 2028
Aron Gudmundsson damages knee ligaments — 70 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 70 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.
The terraces31 Jan 2028
The mood at IBV 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.
Market31 Jan 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 IBV can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom31 Jan 2028
Pressure builds in the IBV boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market31 Jan 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sigurdur Sigurdsson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around IBV the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad31 Jan 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 IBV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Jan 2028
Aron Gudmundsson damages knee ligaments — 77 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 77 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.
Market24 Jan 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 IBV can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Tempers go at IBV
Vicente Valor 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
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Squad
Words at IBV training over how hard people work
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Squad
Reza Karimi signs a new deal
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market27 Dec 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what IBV can pretend not to have heard.
Squad27 Dec 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at IBV this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Dec 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; IBV are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
In brief
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Squad
Words at IBV training over how hard people work
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Squad
The manager has not finished forgetting Vicente Valor's mistake
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Nov 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Tempers go at IBV
Liam Daði Jeffs 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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Elvis Bwomono 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.
In brief
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Squad
The manager has not finished forgetting Vicente Valor's mistake
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Squad
Too much change too quickly at IBV