From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout19 Nov 2029
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” IA have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words exchanged at IA
Viktor Jónsson 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.
Squad19 Nov 2029
17 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout19 Nov 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 Fernando Chávez is on it.
The dugout19 Nov 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.
Market19 Nov 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Viktor Jónsson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Nov 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 Nov 2029
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 dugout12 Nov 2029
Böðvar Böðvarsson 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
Uneasy
Squad5 Nov 2029
Words exchanged at IA
Fernando Chávez 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.
Market5 Nov 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at IA, another week without a signature from Jason Daði Svanþórsson.
Squad5 Nov 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ragnar Thorsteinsson and IA agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout5 Nov 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.
Market5 Nov 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. IA know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout5 Nov 2029
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Markús Páll Ellertsson has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout29 Oct 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” IA may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad29 Oct 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 dugout29 Oct 2029
Juber Pereira gets picked when it counts
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 Juber Pereira is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout22 Oct 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.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words exchanged at IA
Viktor Jónsson 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 dugout22 Oct 2029
A promise honoured at IA
Something was said to Johannes Björn Vall and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Oct 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.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Tempers go at IA
Rafael Máni Þrastarson 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.
Market15 Oct 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at IA, another week without a signature from Botond Kemenes.
The dugout15 Oct 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.
Squad15 Oct 2029
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at IA would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IA, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Oct 2029
265 appearances across 16 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and IA know exactly what they have.
Squad8 Oct 2029
A move Botond Kemenes would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Botond Kemenes is living that version at IA, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad8 Oct 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.
Squad8 Oct 2029
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and IA know which stage they are at.
Market8 Oct 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at IA, another week without a signature from Guðmundur Þórarinsson.
The dugout8 Oct 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gustav Kjeldsen, and the manager let it.
The dugout8 Oct 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 Jón Gísli Eyland is on it.
Market8 Oct 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. IA know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout8 Oct 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.
In brief
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Market
IA shop where it costs nothing
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Boardroom
The IA production line keeps running
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The dugout
The manager plants his flag on Jón Gísli Eyland
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Sep 2029
The small margins put IA out
Out, 0‑6 to Vikingur, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Match1 Oct 2029
Full time on the season at IA
Position 9 on 26 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Squad1 Oct 2029
265 appearances across 16 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and IA know what they have.
Squad1 Oct 2029
7 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.
Match29 Sep 2029
The drought breaks for IA
11 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Fjolnir were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
The terraces1 Oct 2029
IA are taken apart by Vikingur — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-6. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Player ratings1 Oct 2029
Viktor Jónsson, 35, rolls back the years — 8.00
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.00 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad1 Oct 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.
Match26 Sep 2029
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about IA and Vikingur in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
In brief
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Match
IA find a way past Fjolnir
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Juber Pereira
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Boardroom
Nobody left the IA dressing room in a hurry
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Sep 2029
10 matches without a win for IA
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around IA are no longer polite ones.
Match22 Sep 2029
Nowhere to hide for IA
0‑3 against Breidablik, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words exchanged at IA
Viktor Jónsson 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 dugout24 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 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.
Boardroom24 Sep 2029
Doors closed at IA
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 dugout24 Sep 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Ari Skulason to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout24 Sep 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 dugout24 Sep 2029
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Sep 2029
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. IA lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match15 Sep 2029
The wait goes on for IA
9 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.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market17 Sep 2029
Juber Pereira hands in a written request
“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.
Squad17 Sep 2029
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 17 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad17 Sep 2029
A falling-out at IA
Fernando Chávez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match15 Sep 2029
IBV take the points off IA
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad17 Sep 2029
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Sep 2029
Böðvar Böðvarsson damages knee ligaments — 26 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
Match8 Sep 2029
The wait goes on for IA
8 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.
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 IA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Sep 2029
A row about effort at IA
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gustav Kjeldsen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gustav Kjeldsen, and the manager let it.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
A promise honoured at IA
Something was said to Juber Pereira and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Match8 Sep 2029
IA share the spoils with Stjarnan
A 1‑1 draw with Stjarnan leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IA, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Ari Skulason chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Sep 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Böðvar Böðvarsson
33 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.
Match1 Sep 2029
The wait goes on for IA
7 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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
7 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.
Squad3 Sep 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 dugout3 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.
Match1 Sep 2029
Vikingur take the points off IA
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout3 Sep 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Ari Skulason left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout3 Sep 2029
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Market3 Sep 2029
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Haukur Andri Haraldsson has his answer from IA; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match25 Aug 2029
6 matches without a win for IA
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around IA are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
Viktor Jónsson, 35, rolls back the years — 7.82
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.82 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Transfer targets27 Aug 2029
IA ran out of time with IBV. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Player ratings27 Aug 2029
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.
Squad27 Aug 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Rafael Máni Þrastarson and IA agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match25 Aug 2029
IA refuse to lose to Leiknir
A point taken on 91 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Words exchanged at IA
Rafael Máni Þrastarson 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 dugout27 Aug 2029
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at IA pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Match25 Aug 2029
IA and Leiknir take a point apiece
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Aug 2029
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Árni Marinó Einarsson: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match15 Aug 2029
Cup progress for IA
A 1‑1 win over Valur, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Market20 Aug 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.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2029
The clubs have shaken hands with IBV; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Match18 Aug 2029
The wait goes on for IA
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.
Boardroom20 Aug 2029
Window shuts: 7 in, 5 out at IA
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 7 arrived, 5 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market20 Aug 2029
The Fylkir deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Markús Páll Ellertsson reports back to IA with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad20 Aug 2029
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.
Match18 Aug 2029
IA come up short against FH
FH left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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 IA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match11 Aug 2029
Keflavik take the points off IA
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad13 Aug 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Daníel Michal Grzegorzsson commits to IA for another 4 years.
The dugout13 Aug 2029
The manager makes an example of Juber Pereira
“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.
The dugout13 Aug 2029
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
Looking ahead13 Aug 2029
The leaders are next for IA
FH top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
The dugout13 Aug 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 dugout13 Aug 2029
Sergio Felipe left out for tactical reasons at IA
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Aug 2029
317 appearances across 10 seasons in one shirt. Careers like that are not built on purpose any more, and IA know exactly what they have.
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 IA can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2029
The deal with IBV is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad6 Aug 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Guðmundur Þórarinsson commits to IA for another 2 years.
Squad6 Aug 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.
Match4 Aug 2029
IA come up short against KR
KR left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings6 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Market6 Aug 2029
“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.
The dugout6 Aug 2029
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ari Skulason after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market30 Jul 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.
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
Words exchanged at IA
Viktor Jónsson 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.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stjarnan have kept their man, and IA go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match28 Jul 2029
Valur take the points off IA
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match28 Jul 2029
After 5 games, IA finally taste it again
The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Valur; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Gustav Kjeldsen 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 Jul 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Ari Skulason left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout30 Jul 2029
Ariol Kaloshi 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad23 Jul 2029
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. IA lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match21 Jul 2029
Nobody wants to play IA right now
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Player ratings23 Jul 2029
Sergio Felipe goes up and wins it — 7.73
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 7.73 for the rest of it.
Market23 Jul 2029
The phone has started ringing about Markús Páll Ellertsson again, and this time the name on the line is Fylkir. IA are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad23 Jul 2029
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.
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.
Match21 Jul 2029
It finished 2‑1, and it was Jason Daði Svanþórsson’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to IA.
Match21 Jul 2029
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for IA. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Player ratings23 Jul 2029
Jason Daði Svanþórsson was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.30. 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
Triumph
Match11 Jul 2029
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Gabríel Snær Gunnarsson obliged against FH. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is IA.
Squad16 Jul 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Bjorn Skulason
25 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.
Squad16 Jul 2029
The match ball belongs to Viktor Jónsson, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings16 Jul 2029
Age has not caught Viktor Jónsson yet — 9.54
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.54 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings16 Jul 2029
Marked 8.14 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Match14 Jul 2029
IA cannot stop winning
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad16 Jul 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.
Player ratings16 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match14 Jul 2029
Fjolnir made IA work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Jul 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings9 Jul 2029
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.31 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad9 Jul 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sergio Felipe and IA agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match7 Jul 2029
Breidablik made IA work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad9 Jul 2029
A falling-out at IA
Rafael Máni Þrastarson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout9 Jul 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.
Player ratings9 Jul 2029
16 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
The dugout9 Jul 2029
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Ari Skulason, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Player ratings9 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 14. 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
Upbeat
Match30 Jun 2029
IA win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. IBV will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Player ratings2 Jul 2029
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.
Player ratings2 Jul 2029
Successful dribbles: 29. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad2 Jul 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sergio Felipe commits to IA for another 2 years.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Words exchanged at IA
Viktor Jónsson 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.
Match30 Jun 2029
It finished 2‑1, and it was Viktor Jónsson’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to IA.
The dugout2 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
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Gustav Kjeldsen is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Market2 Jul 2029
“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.
In brief
-
Boardroom
IA sign 8 boys into the academy
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
When it matters, Böðvar Böðvarsson plays
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings25 Jun 2029
Viktor Jónsson, 35, rolls back the years — 7.87
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.87 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The dugout25 Jun 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” IA may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad25 Jun 2029
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 dugout25 Jun 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sergio Felipe, and the manager let it.
Match23 Jun 2029
Honours even between IA and Stjarnan
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout25 Jun 2029
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.
Player ratings25 Jun 2029
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout25 Jun 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ari Skulason was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the IA dressing room was either.
Market25 Jun 2029
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs IA money.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Jun 2029
Chastening afternoon for IA
A 0‑3 beating by Vikingur was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad18 Jun 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gustav Kjeldsen and IA agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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 IA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jun 2029
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
Boardroom18 Jun 2029
Inquest at IA
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.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Ari Skulason left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout18 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.
The dugout18 Jun 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.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings11 Jun 2029
Successful dribbles: 54. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match6 Jun 2029
Cup progress for IA
A 1‑0 win over IBV, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match6 Jun 2029
IA win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 111th minute. IBV will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Player ratings11 Jun 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.76, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings11 Jun 2029
At 37 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.02, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad11 Jun 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.
Match9 Jun 2029
Three points for IA, 3‑1 the final word against Leiknir in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad11 Jun 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Markús Páll Ellertsson and IA agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The terraces11 Jun 2029
At 16 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Jun 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match2 Jun 2029
4 matches without a win for IA
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around IA are no longer polite ones.
Match2 Jun 2029
4 matches without a goal for IA
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words exchanged at IA
Viktor Jónsson 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.
Market4 Jun 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at IA, another week without a signature from Ariol Kaloshi.
Player ratings4 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.
The dugout4 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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Viktor Andri Pétursson is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout4 Jun 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Ari Skulason chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 May 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.
Match26 May 2029
IA cannot find the net
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
The dugout28 May 2029
The manager makes an example of Ariol Kaloshi
“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 ratings28 May 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout28 May 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Ari Skulason chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout28 May 2029
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at IA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Balthasar A. Eck 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 dugout28 May 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.
Match26 May 2029
IA draw a blank against Keflavik
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Keflavik defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 May 2029
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.
Match19 May 2029
KR take the points off IA
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout21 May 2029
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings21 May 2029
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad21 May 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Johann Fridjonsson commits to IA for another 3 years.
The dugout21 May 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexander Helgi Sigurðarson, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 May 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 Böðvar Böðvarsson is on it.
Squad21 May 2029
Tiago Ferreira 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 dugout21 May 2029
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout14 May 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.
Squad14 May 2029
Words exchanged at IA
Viktor Jónsson 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.
Match12 May 2029
Valur take the points off IA
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout14 May 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gustav Kjeldsen, and the manager let it.
Market14 May 2029
“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 dugout14 May 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Ari Skulason left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad14 May 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Johann Hermannsson commits to IA for another 4 years.
The dugout14 May 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.
Squad14 May 2029
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings7 May 2029
Two goals and a mark of 9.01 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings7 May 2029
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout7 May 2029
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” IA have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom7 May 2029
The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
Squad7 May 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Viktor Jónsson and IA agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 May 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.
Boardroom7 May 2029
Graduation day at IA
5 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.
Match5 May 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Viktor Jónsson. 3‑1 against Fylkir, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Market7 May 2029
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Johann Hermannsson has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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
Balthasar A. Eck 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.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
The manager makes Juber Pereira a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at IA. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Haukur Andri Haraldsson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market30 Apr 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. IA know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 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.
The dugout23 Apr 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.
The dugout23 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words exchanged at IA
Viktor Jónsson 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 dugout16 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.
The dugout16 Apr 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 Fernando Chávez is on it.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IA, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad16 Apr 2029
A row about effort at IA
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Balthasar A. Eck was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market16 Apr 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Viktor Jónsson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Apr 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.
Market9 Apr 2029
“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.
The dugout9 Apr 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Balthasar A. Eck 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 dugout9 Apr 2029
Juber Pereira 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.
Market9 Apr 2029
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee IA could ask drops and the wages Guðmundur Þórarinsson can ask rise.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ariol Kaloshi has written the date down.
Squad9 Apr 2029
“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 dugout9 Apr 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IA, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market2 Apr 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.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
Window shuts: 2 in, 2 out at IA
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market2 Apr 2029
The deal that would have taken Markús Páll Ellertsson to Keflavik has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to IA with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad2 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.
Market2 Apr 2029
“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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout2 Apr 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
IA will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
The dugout2 Apr 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 Jón Gísli Eyland is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 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.
Squad26 Mar 2029
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 dugout26 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.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Words at IA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Balthasar A. Eck 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 dugout26 Mar 2029
Böðvar Böðvarsson 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.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
The manager makes Ariol Kaloshi a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at IA. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Squad26 Mar 2029
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. IA would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
Match26 Mar 2029
IA have something to play for
Position 6 on 35 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Market26 Mar 2029
The name of Ómar Björn Stefánsson keeps appearing in other people's back pages. IA say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words exchanged at IA
Viktor Jónsson 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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mikael Arnason and IA agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout19 Mar 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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Tiago Ferreira 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.
Market19 Mar 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Viktor Jónsson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Mar 2029
Valur 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.
Squad12 Mar 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.
Transfer targets12 Mar 2029
FH wanted more than $240.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Market12 Mar 2029
IA and Ariol Kaloshi are talking past each other
“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 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.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
Juber Pereira 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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
No place for André Cunha in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation IA are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market12 Mar 2029
5 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what IA could get for him.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
The manager makes Ariol Kaloshi a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at IA. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Mar 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Árni Marinó Einarsson and IA agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Tempers go at IA
Guðmundur Þórarinsson 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 targets5 Mar 2029
The offer went to FH this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad5 Mar 2029
André Cunha gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. André Cunha has just signed for IA, and for once the answer mattered.
Market5 Mar 2029
Add another name to the list: Valur have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Baldvin Þór Berndsen. The answer from IA has not changed — yet.
The dugout5 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.
Market5 Mar 2029
“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.
Transfer targets5 Mar 2029
IA have made the call to Stjarnan. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout26 Feb 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.
Transfer targets26 Feb 2029
IA and Breidablik have settled on $10.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market26 Feb 2029
IA say no — this time
The offer from HIFK for Markús Páll Ellertsson 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.
Market26 Feb 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
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.
Transfer targets26 Feb 2029
FH wanted more than $130.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
The manager makes an example of Ariol Kaloshi
“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.
The dugout26 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Balthasar A. Eck 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
Steady
Squad19 Feb 2029
Gustav Kjeldsen arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Gustav Kjeldsen has, at IA, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Market19 Feb 2029
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.
Transfer targets19 Feb 2029
The deal with IBV is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Boardroom19 Feb 2029
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Malkolm Moënza 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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Words exchanged at IA
Viktor Jónsson 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.
Transfer targets19 Feb 2029
The offer went to FH this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Words at IA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexander Helgi Sigurðarson 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 Feb 2029
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. IA know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Market19 Feb 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at IA, another week without a signature from Gustav Kjeldsen.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout12 Feb 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” IA may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets12 Feb 2029
IA asked and Stjarnan said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad12 Feb 2029
A row about effort at IA
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alexander Helgi Sigurðarson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Feb 2029
A falling-out at IA
Rafael Máni Þrastarson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout12 Feb 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.
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.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Market12 Feb 2029
6 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs IA money.
Squad12 Feb 2029
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Guðmundur Þórarinsson keeps the shirt for now, at IA's convenience rather than his own.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Feb 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.
The dugout5 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alexander Helgi Sigurðarson, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at IA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Haukur Andri Haraldsson 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 dugout5 Feb 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 Jón Gísli Eyland is on it.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Mikael Arnason has moved up it.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
The window opens at IA
A month in which every rumour is possible and most of them are nonsense. The manager has a list, the board has a number, and neither is telling the other the whole of it.
Market5 Feb 2029
6 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs IA money.
Squad5 Feb 2029
“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 dugout5 Feb 2029
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Jan 2029
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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ómar Björn Stefánsson and IA agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words at IA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Haukur Andri Haraldsson 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 dugout29 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.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
Böðvar Böðvarsson 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.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
The manager makes Ariol Kaloshi a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at IA. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Match29 Jan 2029
IA have something to play for
Position 6 on 35 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Market29 Jan 2029
The name of Ómar Björn Stefánsson keeps appearing in other people's back pages. IA say nothing, which says plenty.
Market29 Jan 2029
The clock does Malkolm Moënza’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee IA could ask drops and the wages Malkolm Moënza can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at IA
Viktor Jónsson 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 dugout22 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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Balthasar A. Eck 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.
Market22 Jan 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Viktor Jónsson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ariol Kaloshi has written the date down.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Haukur Andri Haraldsson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at IA
Guðmundur Þórarinsson 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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at IA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexander Helgi Sigurðarson 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 dugout15 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 dugout15 Jan 2029
Juber Pereira gets picked when it counts
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 Juber Pereira is on it.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
The manager makes Ariol Kaloshi a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at IA. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market15 Jan 2029
7 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what IA could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 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.
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 IA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ariol Kaloshi, and the manager let it.
Market8 Jan 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at IA, another week without a signature from Ariol Kaloshi.
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.
The dugout8 Jan 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 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 Jón Gísli Eyland is on it.
Market8 Jan 2029
7 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee IA could ask drops and the wages Guðmundur Þórarinsson can ask rise.
Squad8 Jan 2029
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at IA would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout1 Jan 2029
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” IA have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad1 Jan 2029
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.
Market1 Jan 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at IA, another week without a signature from Guðmundur Þórarinsson.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Balthasar A. Eck 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 dugout1 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 Böðvar Böðvarsson is on it.
Squad1 Jan 2029
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at IA would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
The manager makes Ariol Kaloshi a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at IA. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Match1 Jan 2029
IA have something to play for
Position 6 on 35 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Market1 Jan 2029
The name of Ómar Björn Stefánsson keeps appearing in other people's back pages. IA say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words exchanged at IA
Rafael Máni Þrastarson 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.
Squad25 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.
The dugout25 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.
Market25 Dec 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Viktor Jónsson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Alexander Helgi Sigurðarson has written the date down.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Baldvin Þór Berndsen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Dec 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at IA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Haukur Andri Haraldsson 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 dugout18 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Dec 2028
A muscle injury sidelines Viktor Jónsson for 15 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. IA will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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 IA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market11 Dec 2028
IA and Ariol Kaloshi are talking past each other
“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 dugout11 Dec 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rafael Máni Þrastarson, and the manager let it.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at IA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Balthasar A. Eck 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 dugout11 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.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
The manager makes Ariol Kaloshi a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at IA. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market11 Dec 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Tiago Ferreira may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Árni Marinó Einarsson has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
In brief
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Squad
Stefan Gudmundsson is not doing himself any favours
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Boardroom
The IA production line keeps running
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Dec 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Gísli Eyjólfsson 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.
Market4 Dec 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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at IA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Haukur Andri Haraldsson 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 dugout4 Dec 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.
The dugout4 Dec 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 Böðvar Böðvarsson is on it.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at IA. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Match4 Dec 2028
IA in the hunt for Europe
Position 6, 35 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Market4 Dec 2028
The name of Ómar Björn Stefánsson keeps appearing in other people's back pages. IA say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Nov 2028
A falling-out at IA
Guðmundur Þórarinsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
The manager makes an example of Ariol Kaloshi
“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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at IA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Haukur Andri Haraldsson 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 dugout27 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.
Market27 Nov 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Viktor Jónsson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
Juber Pereira knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Juber Pereira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Nov 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 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 never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Hilmar Elís Hilmarsson commits to IA for another 3 years.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at IA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Balthasar A. Eck 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 dugout20 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.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
Juber Pereira 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
Market13 Nov 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.
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 IA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout13 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Daníel Michal Grzegorzsson commits to IA for another 4 years.
Squad13 Nov 2028
A row about effort at IA
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Haukur Andri Haraldsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
Jón Gísli Eyland 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
Squad6 Nov 2028
Tempers go at IA
Rafael Máni Þrastarson 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.
Squad6 Nov 2028
A row about effort at IA
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Haukur Andri Haraldsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout6 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.
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 Böðvar Böðvarsson is on it.
Match6 Nov 2028
IA in the hunt for Europe
Position 6, 35 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Market6 Nov 2028
The name of Ómar Björn Stefánsson keeps appearing in other people's back pages. IA say nothing, which says plenty.
Market6 Nov 2028
4 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs IA money.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
The manager plants his flag on Viktor Jónsson
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Viktor Jónsson’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Squad6 Nov 2028
The coaching staff have set Sergio Felipe something separate to do. Whether it is a weakness being addressed or a strength being sharpened, nobody outside the building will know until it shows up on a Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words exchanged at IA
Viktor Jónsson 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 dugout30 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ariol Kaloshi, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Oct 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
A row about effort at IA
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Balthasar A. Eck was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market30 Oct 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Viktor Jónsson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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.
Squad23 Oct 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.
Market23 Oct 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Haukur Andri Haraldsson has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at IA.
The dugout23 Oct 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.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
Juber Pereira gets picked when it counts
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 Juber Pereira is on it.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Alexander Helgi Sigurðarson has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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 IA, and it is not being withdrawn.
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 IA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Oct 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 IA know it.
The dugout16 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 Jón Gísli Eyland is on it.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
Juber Pereira knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Juber Pereira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad16 Oct 2028
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at IA the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Oct 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Viktor Jónsson commits to IA for another 2 years.
Squad9 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 IA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Oct 2028
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
The dugout9 Oct 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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at IA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Balthasar A. Eck 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 dugout9 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 Böðvar Böðvarsson is on it.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
Juber Pereira knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IA, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Match9 Oct 2028
IA in the hunt for Europe
Position 6, 35 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Market9 Oct 2028
The name of Ómar Björn Stefánsson keeps appearing in other people's back pages. IA say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match2 Oct 2028
IA finish in position 6
35 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Squad2 Oct 2028
244 appearances across 15 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and IA know what they have.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.90, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Viktor Jónsson commits to IA for another 2 years.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Words exchanged at IA
Viktor Jónsson 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.
Match30 Sep 2028
It finished 1‑0, and it was Viktor Jónsson’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to IA.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Ariol Kaloshi
“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
Match23 Sep 2028
Chastening afternoon for IA
A 0‑5 beating by Breidablik was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad25 Sep 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 dugout25 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Johannes Björn Vall, and the manager let it.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
The team sheet said everything about Ariol Kaloshi
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Ariol Kaloshi.
Boardroom25 Sep 2028
Inquest at IA
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.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑5 defeat, delivered by Ari Skulason to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
Fernando Chávez is still paying for one afternoon at IA
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at IA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Haukur Andri Haraldsson 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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Beaten 5 times, 3 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.62, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market18 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 IA, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match16 Sep 2028
IA get the job done against IBV
A 2‑1 win over IBV, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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 IA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Sep 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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
8 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Árni Marinó Einarsson has given nobody the chance.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Ari Skulason kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout18 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Sep 2028
27 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad11 Sep 2028
A falling-out at IA
Guðmundur Þórarinsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout11 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 ratings11 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match9 Sep 2028
IA and Stjarnan take a point apiece
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Ari Skulason was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the IA dressing room was either.
The dugout11 Sep 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 Jón Gísli Eyland is on it.
Looking ahead11 Sep 2028
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Guðmundur Þórarinsson’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and IA needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
The substitution nobody applauded turned out to be the whole story. IA were going nowhere until he came on.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Sep 2028
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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jon Gudmundsson and IA agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Sep 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 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.
Match2 Sep 2028
IA come up short against Vikingur
Vikingur left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market4 Sep 2028
IA and Ariol Kaloshi are talking past each other
“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 Sep 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Ari Skulason left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at IA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Haukur Andri Haraldsson 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 dugout4 Sep 2028
Böðvar Böðvarsson 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
Upbeat
Match26 Aug 2028
IA make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now IA have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Tempers go at IA
Guðmundur Þórarinsson 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 targets28 Aug 2028
$130.0K was the most the club would pay and FH were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Match26 Aug 2028
Three points for IA, 2‑0 the final word against Leiknir in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2028
IA ran out of time with Fylkir. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ariol Kaloshi, and the manager let it.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Ninety minutes of Fernando Chávez at his very best
Marked 8.09. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at IA.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at IA pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
A brace, and Viktor Jónsson takes the afternoon — 8.92
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Viktor Jónsson provided it, and the 8.92 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Boardroom21 Aug 2028
Deadline passes with 12 signed and 9 gone
That is the business done at IA until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
Everything agreed with Fylkir, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market21 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 IA, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
$130.0K on the table at FH. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words exchanged at IA
Guðmundur Þórarinsson 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Tiago Ferreira arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Tiago Ferreira has, at IA, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at IA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexander Helgi Sigurðarson 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.
Match19 Aug 2028
It finished 2‑0, and it was Viktor Jónsson’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to IA.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Aug 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
Age has not caught Viktor Jónsson yet — 7.89
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.89 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad14 Aug 2028
57 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad14 Aug 2028
A falling-out at IA
Guðmundur Þórarinsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match12 Aug 2028
Three points for IA, 2‑0 the final word against Keflavik in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
20 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Market14 Aug 2028
A stepping stone, not a home, for Ariol Kaloshi
He is doing his job and he is not settling. IA were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at IA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Malkolm Moënza 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
IA and Fylkir have settled on $280.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Guðmundur Þórarinsson commits to IA for another 1 years.
Squad7 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 IA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market7 Aug 2028
He is doing his job and he is not settling. IA were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Match5 Aug 2028
KR take the points off IA
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout7 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Market7 Aug 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
A promise honoured at IA
-
Squad
Words at IA training over how hard people work
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Jul 2028
IA come up short against Valur
Valur left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Fjolnir have kept their man, and IA go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout31 Jul 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.
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 IA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jul 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gabríel Snær Gunnarsson and IA agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Ari Skulason left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout31 Jul 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 Jón Gísli Eyland is on it.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
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.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. IA told Steinar Þorsteinsson something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at IA
Guðmundur Þórarinsson 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 dugout24 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
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 dugout24 Jul 2028
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Looking ahead24 Jul 2028
IA take on the side everybody is chasing
Valur arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
Böðvar Böðvarsson 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.
Squad24 Jul 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.
Squad24 Jul 2028
One booking too many, and Böðvar Böðvarsson sits out. IA lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
Match22 Jul 2028
IA draw a blank against Fylkir
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Fylkir defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match15 Jul 2028
IA strike at the death to beat Fjolnir
There were 89 minutes on the clock and Fjolnir had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and IA did not stop to explain themselves.
Market17 Jul 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
A falling-out at IA
Guðmundur Þórarinsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces17 Jul 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Markús Páll Ellertsson has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match15 Jul 2028
Fjolnir made IA work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout17 Jul 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.
Match17 Jul 2028
The half-term report on IA
Position 5, 18 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Player ratings17 Jul 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.66 on the card, and the IA support went home talking about one name.
Squad17 Jul 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match8 Jul 2028
Cruel end for Breidablik as IA pounce
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. IA scored in the 94th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings10 Jul 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.81, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad10 Jul 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.
Match8 Jul 2028
It finished 2‑1, and it was Viktor Jónsson’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to IA.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Ari Skulason could afford to be generous.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rafael Máni Þrastarson, and the manager let it.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IA, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Looking ahead10 Jul 2028
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Fjolnir in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Jul 2028
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Tempers go at IA
Guðmundur Þórarinsson 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.
Match1 Jul 2028
Viktor Jónsson scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to IBV, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout3 Jul 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad3 Jul 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.
Player ratings3 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
8 new boys at the IA academy
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
The dugout3 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.
The dugout3 Jul 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
Steady
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words exchanged at IA
Guðmundur Þórarinsson 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 dugout26 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at IA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Haukur Andri Haraldsson 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 ratings26 Jun 2028
Marked 7.57. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
Jón Gísli Eyland 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.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Match24 Jun 2028
IA draw a blank against Stjarnan
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Stjarnan defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Looking ahead26 Jun 2028
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Guðmundur Þórarinsson’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and IA needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market19 Jun 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
A falling-out at IA
Guðmundur Þórarinsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match17 Jun 2028
Vikingur take the points off IA
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad19 Jun 2028
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Player ratings19 Jun 2028
9 combined actions and 6.57. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Ari Skulason to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Juber Pereira, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Jun 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.
Player ratings19 Jun 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. 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
Steady
Squad12 Jun 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Baldvin Þór Berndsen commits to IA for another 3 years.
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match10 Jun 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Fernando Chávez. 1‑0 against Leiknir, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
Ninety minutes of Fernando Chávez at his very best
Marked 8.07. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at IA.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Tempers go at IA
Rafael Máni Þrastarson 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 dugout12 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.
Squad12 Jun 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.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Ari Skulason on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Market12 Jun 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Steinar Þorsteinsson has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at IA.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match31 May 2028
IA out of the cup
IBV ended it 1‑2. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings5 Jun 2028
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Tempers go at IA
Guðmundur Þórarinsson 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 dugout5 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.
Market5 Jun 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Baldvin Þór Berndsen has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at IA.
Market5 Jun 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.
Squad5 Jun 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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Guðmundur Þórarinsson is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad5 Jun 2028
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings29 May 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.42, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings29 May 2028
Viktor Jónsson, 33, rolls back the years — 9.09
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.09 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad29 May 2028
Words exchanged at IA
Guðmundur Þórarinsson 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.
Match27 May 2028
Three points for IA, 3‑1 the final word against Keflavik in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad29 May 2028
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The dugout29 May 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.
The dugout29 May 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Ari Skulason, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout29 May 2028
Jón Gísli Eyland 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.
Player ratings29 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. 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
Market22 May 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.
Squad22 May 2028
Words exchanged at IA
Viktor Jónsson 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.
Player ratings22 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout22 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Viktor Andri Pétursson, and the manager let it.
Squad22 May 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.
Match20 May 2028
IA share the spoils with KR
A 1‑1 draw with KR leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout22 May 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 dugout22 May 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Ari Skulason chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Squad22 May 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 May 2028
A hiding for IA
Beaten 0‑4 by Valur, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad15 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 IA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings15 May 2028
Viktor Jónsson did the work nobody counts — 6.56
9 combined actions and 6.56. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Boardroom15 May 2028
Doors closed at IA
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 dugout15 May 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad15 May 2028
Words at IA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Haukur Andri Haraldsson 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 dugout15 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Malkolm Moënza, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 May 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 Böðvar Böðvarsson is on it.
Squad15 May 2028
Beaten 4 times, with 3 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 May 2028
3‑0, and Viktor Jónsson took the headlines on an afternoon when everything IA 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 9.32, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad8 May 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gísli Eyjólfsson and IA agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 May 2028
Tempers go at IA
Guðmundur Þórarinsson 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.
Match6 May 2028
IA end the wait against Fylkir
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
The dugout8 May 2028
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 3‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout8 May 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.
Boardroom8 May 2028
IA say no to the training-ground money
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
Looking ahead8 May 2028
The leaders are next for IA
Valur top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 May 2028
Words exchanged at IA
Guðmundur Þórarinsson 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.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at IA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Haukur Andri Haraldsson 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.
Market1 May 2028
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ernir Bjarnason has his answer from IA; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout1 May 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.
Looking ahead1 May 2028
Fylkir next, and one man in the IA dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Squad1 May 2028
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at IA would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Market1 May 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ómar Björn Stefánsson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout1 May 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ernir Bjarnason trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Looking ahead1 May 2028
Home comforts ahead for IA
Fylkir, position 10, come to town on Saturday. Nobody will call it a big game and nobody at the club will be treating it as anything else.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Apr 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IA they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words exchanged at IA
Rafael Máni Þrastarson 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at IA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Haukur Andri Haraldsson 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 dugout24 Apr 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.
Market24 Apr 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Viktor Jónsson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IA, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Apr 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 IA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Apr 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Rafael Máni Þrastarson and IA agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Ernir Bjarnason
“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.
The dugout17 Apr 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.
The dugout17 Apr 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 Böðvar Böðvarsson is on it.
Squad17 Apr 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Apr 2028
Tempers go at IA
Guðmundur Þórarinsson 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 Apr 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.
The dugout10 Apr 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.
Market10 Apr 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.
Market10 Apr 2028
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Erik Tobias Sandberg leaves IA the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
Market10 Apr 2028
The window shut and Ernir Bjarnason is still in the building
IA spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
Window shuts: 8 in, 4 out at IA
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 8 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad3 Apr 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.
Market3 Apr 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at IA, another week without a signature from Guðmundur Þórarinsson.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at IA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Haukur Andri Haraldsson 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
The captaincy has been taken off Fernando Chávez. IA will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Guðmundur Þórarinsson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout3 Apr 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 Jón Gísli Eyland is on it.
Squad3 Apr 2028
A decision that decides nothing on the pitch and everything in the room. The manager has said, without saying it, whose voice he wants heard when his own is not there.
Market3 Apr 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ómar Björn Stefánsson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market27 Mar 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.
Market27 Mar 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
A falling-out at IA
Guðmundur Þórarinsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
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.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IA, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market27 Mar 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Viktor Jónsson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Mar 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 IA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market20 Mar 2028
Everyone has stopped pretending: Fylkir will make the call about Erik Tobias Sandberg this week. IA have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Transfer targets20 Mar 2028
IA asked and Fylkir said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at IA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Haukur Andri Haraldsson 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Runar Saevarsson commits to IA for another 3 years.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
Böðvar Böðvarsson 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
Uneasy
Transfer targets13 Mar 2028
The clubs have shaken hands with Fjolnir; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Market13 Mar 2028
Breidablik 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.
Boardroom13 Mar 2028
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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Tempers go at IA
Guðmundur Þórarinsson 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.
Market13 Mar 2028
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Stefan Halldorsson is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market13 Mar 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Mikael Arnason has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market13 Mar 2028
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jon Gudmundsson 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
A row about effort at IA
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Haukur Andri Haraldsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
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
Uneasy
Market6 Mar 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 IA can pretend not to have heard.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fernando Chávez and IA agree another 4 years.
Market6 Mar 2028
Add another name to the list: Breidablik have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Juber Pereira. The answer from IA has not changed — yet.
Squad6 Mar 2028
A falling-out at IA
Rafael Máni Þrastarson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market6 Mar 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.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
The manager makes an example of Ernir Bjarnason
“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.
The dugout6 Mar 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.
The dugout6 Mar 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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“I will know when it is time. I am not there yet.” Malkolm Moënza is 35, with 14 appearances behind him, and IA will have to plan for whichever answer comes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Feb 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Fylkir waiting with a shirt. Nobody at IA is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad28 Feb 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. IA will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market28 Feb 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.
Market28 Feb 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around IA they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets28 Feb 2028
The deal with Fjolnir is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad28 Feb 2028
A falling-out at IA
Guðmundur Þórarinsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at IA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Haukur Andri Haraldsson 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 dugout28 Feb 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.
Market28 Feb 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Viktor Jónsson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Feb 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. IA will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market21 Feb 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.
Squad21 Feb 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 IA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market21 Feb 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Holmar Fridjonsson has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market21 Feb 2028
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Kolbeinn Halldorsson has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market21 Feb 2028
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Runar Saevarsson 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
A row about effort at IA
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Haukur Andri Haraldsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IA, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
Böðvar Böðvarsson 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
Uneasy
Squad14 Feb 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. IA will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market14 Feb 2028
Fylkir 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.
Market14 Feb 2028
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.
Market14 Feb 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.
Squad14 Feb 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 IA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Feb 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Markús Páll Ellertsson and IA agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout14 Feb 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.
The dugout14 Feb 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.
Market14 Feb 2028
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Sindri Björnsson has his answer from IA; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Feb 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason IA will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market7 Feb 2028
Valur 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.
Market7 Feb 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 IA can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words exchanged at IA
Guðmundur Þórarinsson 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.
Market7 Feb 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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at IA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Haukur Andri Haraldsson 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.
Market7 Feb 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Malkolm Moënza has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at IA.
Squad7 Feb 2028
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Ragnar Thorsteinsson is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout7 Feb 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
Uneasy
Squad31 Jan 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad31 Jan 2028
A falling-out at IA
Guðmundur Þórarinsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Jan 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Haukur Andri Haraldsson and IA agree another 4 years.
Squad31 Jan 2028
A row about effort at IA
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Haukur Andri Haraldsson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 Jan 2028
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.
Market31 Jan 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Malkolm Moënza may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Jan 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason IA will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad24 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 IA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jan 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Baldvin Þór Berndsen commits to IA for another 3 years.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Ernir Bjarnason
“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.
The dugout24 Jan 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.
Market24 Jan 2028
The name of Ómar Björn Stefánsson keeps appearing in other people's back pages. IA say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Jan 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad17 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 IA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jan 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Jan 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 69 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words exchanged at IA
Guðmundur Þórarinsson 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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at IA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Haukur Andri Haraldsson 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 dugout10 Jan 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 Jón Gísli Eyland is on it.
Market10 Jan 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 dugout10 Jan 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at IA, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Jan 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. IA will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words exchanged at IA
Guðmundur Þórarinsson 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.
Market3 Jan 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.
The dugout3 Jan 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.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
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.
Squad3 Jan 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Dec 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 84 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
“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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Tempers go at IA
Guðmundur Þórarinsson 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
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 dugout27 Dec 2027
Böðvar Böðvarsson 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.
Market27 Dec 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. IA know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.