From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces15 Apr 2030
Anger at Leiknir spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market15 Apr 2030
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Stefan Bodvarsson is a Leiknir player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Róbert Quental Árnason 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 Apr 2030
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
Squad15 Apr 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Aron Fannar Hreinsson commits to Leiknir for another 3 years.
The dugout15 Apr 2030
The manager makes an example of Ahti Haikala
“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.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Lukas Tunedal 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.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Leiknir will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout15 Apr 2030
Sven Bech has been promised minutes
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 Sven Bech has written the date down.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Apr 2030
“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 The request is on a desk at Leiknir, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom8 Apr 2030
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Leiknir 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.
Market8 Apr 2030
The deal that would have taken Roddick Torfason to Fylkir has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Leiknir with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad8 Apr 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Đorđe Vladisavljević and Leiknir agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Apr 2030
A falling-out at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets8 Apr 2030
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.
Squad8 Apr 2030
A row about effort at Leiknir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Róbert Quental Árnason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad8 Apr 2030
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.
The dugout8 Apr 2030
“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
Uneasy
Boardroom1 Apr 2030
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Leiknir
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market1 Apr 2030
“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.
Squad1 Apr 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets1 Apr 2030
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.
Squad1 Apr 2030
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.
Market1 Apr 2030
“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 targets1 Apr 2030
A loan enquiry to KR: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets1 Apr 2030
A loan move for Gian Piaggio is in the works
Leiknir have made the call to Breidablik. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad1 Apr 2030
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Leiknir would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets25 Mar 2030
Everything agreed with FH, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Róbert Quental Árnason 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 targets25 Mar 2030
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout25 Mar 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Robert Damsgaard, and the manager let it.
The dugout25 Mar 2030
Mate Peteh 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 Leiknir, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout25 Mar 2030
Roddick Torfason has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Leiknir 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 dugout25 Mar 2030
Sven Bech has been promised minutes
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 Sven Bech has written the date down.
Market25 Mar 2030
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Karan Gurung’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market25 Mar 2030
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Mate Peteh may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces18 Mar 2030
Supporters organise against the Leiknir board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad18 Mar 2030
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson 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 targets18 Mar 2030
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Breidablik have kept their man, and Leiknir go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Mar 2030
Words at Leiknir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Róbert Quental Árnason is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad18 Mar 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Birkir Bjarnason and Leiknir agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets18 Mar 2030
A loan move for Jóel Baldursson is in the works
Leiknir have made the call to Fylkir. 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
Uneasy
Market11 Mar 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Leiknir have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market11 Mar 2030
Mate Peteh 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 Leiknir can pretend not to have heard.
Squad11 Mar 2030
A falling-out at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets11 Mar 2030
Leiknir asked and Keflavik said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad11 Mar 2030
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 dugout11 Mar 2030
The manager makes an example of Marko Bakić
“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 dugout11 Mar 2030
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Leiknir, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market11 Mar 2030
The clock does Marko Bakić’s negotiating for him
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Leiknir could ask drops and the wages Marko Bakić can ask rise.
Squad11 Mar 2030
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Leiknir will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom4 Mar 2030
The scrutiny sharpens at Leiknir
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Leiknir is running low.
Transfer targets4 Mar 2030
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Leiknir have done the hard part with Breidablik, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad4 Mar 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets4 Mar 2030
Leiknir 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.
Squad4 Mar 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ahti Haikala and Leiknir agree another 4 years.
Transfer targets4 Mar 2030
Leiknir have made the call to KR. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets4 Mar 2030
Keflavik have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout4 Mar 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ahti Haikala, and the manager let it.
The dugout4 Mar 2030
Marko Bakić 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 Marko Bakić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
-
Boardroom
Leiknir sign a deal worth $33.7K a year
-
The dugout
Sven Bech has been promised minutes
-
Market
The Mate Peteh story refuses to die
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Feb 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leiknir can pretend not to have heard.
Market25 Feb 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Leiknir is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets25 Feb 2030
Leiknir asked and Breidablik said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Words at Leiknir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Róbert Quental Árnason 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 Feb 2030
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Mate Peteh 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 targets25 Feb 2030
A loan enquiry to Fylkir: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets25 Feb 2030
A loan move for Gian Piaggio is in the works
Leiknir have made the call to Breidablik. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout25 Feb 2030
Roddick Torfason has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Leiknir 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 dugout25 Feb 2030
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
Uneasy
The terraces18 Feb 2030
Supporters organise against the Leiknir board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market18 Feb 2030
“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.
Transfer targets18 Feb 2030
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Fylkir is saying, and nobody at Leiknir is enjoying the guessing.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson 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 targets18 Feb 2030
Leiknir asked and Keflavik said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad18 Feb 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sven Bech and Leiknir agree another 3 years.
Squad18 Feb 2030
A row about effort at Leiknir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Róbert Quental Árnason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets18 Feb 2030
Leiknir have made the call to Breidablik. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets18 Feb 2030
A loan move for Jóel Baldursson is in the works
Leiknir have made the call to Fylkir. 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
Uneasy
Market11 Feb 2030
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Leiknir have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market11 Feb 2030
“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 Leiknir, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad11 Feb 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Olafur Skulason and Leiknir agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad11 Feb 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets11 Feb 2030
Leiknir asked and Keflavik said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets11 Feb 2030
Leiknir have made the call to KR. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets11 Feb 2030
A loan enquiry to FH: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout11 Feb 2030
Karan Gurung 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 Leiknir, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout11 Feb 2030
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
Uneasy
Market4 Feb 2030
Marko Bakić 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 Leiknir can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets4 Feb 2030
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Leiknir have done the hard part with Fylkir, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Olafur Skulason was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Words at Leiknir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Róbert Quental Árnason 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.
Market4 Feb 2030
“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 targets4 Feb 2030
A loan move for Hilmar Karlsson is in the works
Leiknir have made the call to FH. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market4 Feb 2030
Leiknir have made Óskar Borgþórsson available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout4 Feb 2030
“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.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
Open for business: Leiknir enter the window
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jan 2030
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson 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.
Squad28 Jan 2030
Words at Leiknir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Róbert Quental Árnason 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 Jan 2030
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Leiknir, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout28 Jan 2030
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 Roddick Torfason is on it.
Market28 Jan 2030
The Karan Gurung talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Leiknir know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Boardroom28 Jan 2030
The Leiknir production line keeps running
32 graduates out of an academy now rated 7 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces21 Jan 2030
Anger at Leiknir spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson 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.
Squad21 Jan 2030
The medical room confirms 28 days on the sidelines for Rurik Bodvarsson, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Jan 2030
Mate Peteh 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 Leiknir can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Jan 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jan 2030
A row about effort at Leiknir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Róbert Quental Árnason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Jan 2030
“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.
Market14 Jan 2030
“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 Jan 2030
Marko Bakić 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 Leiknir, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Jan 2030
19 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Words at Leiknir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Róbert Quental Árnason 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.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Mate Peteh in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market7 Jan 2030
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Leiknir, another week without a signature from Þorsteinn Emil Jónsson.
Market7 Jan 2030
Mate Peteh linked with a move away
The name of Mate Peteh keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Leiknir say nothing, which says plenty.
Market7 Jan 2030
Still no signature from Marko Bakić
7 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Leiknir could get for him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Dec 2029
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson 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 dugout31 Dec 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 Leiknir, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout31 Dec 2029
Roddick Torfason has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Leiknir 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
The terraces24 Dec 2029
The mood at Leiknir has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market24 Dec 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 Leiknir can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson 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.
Squad24 Dec 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.
Squad24 Dec 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Losika Ratshukudu and Leiknir agree another 4 years.
The dugout24 Dec 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Olafur Skulason trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 Dec 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Olafur Skulason 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.
Squad17 Dec 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.
Squad17 Dec 2029
The medical room confirms 30 days on the sidelines for Vidar Fridjonsson, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout17 Dec 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Philip Bergqvist trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market17 Dec 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Leiknir know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Dec 2029
A falling-out at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout10 Dec 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.
Market10 Dec 2029
Mate Peteh linked with a move away
The name of Mate Peteh keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Leiknir say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout3 Dec 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad3 Dec 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson commits to Leiknir for another 2 years.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson 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.
Squad3 Dec 2029
A row about effort at Leiknir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Róbert Quental Árnason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout3 Dec 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 Leiknir, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market3 Dec 2029
Leiknir bring in an old head
Aron Þórður Albertsson is 33 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
The dugout3 Dec 2029
Roddick Torfason has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Leiknir 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 Dec 2029
Aron Þórður Albertsson arrived with a record at a bigger club than this one, and the room has treated him accordingly. The young ones watch him train; the senior ones watch to see whether it lasts.
The dugout3 Dec 2029
The manager makes Karan Gurung a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Leiknir. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
-
Market
The Karan Gurung talk will not go away
-
Boardroom
The Leiknir production line keeps running
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces26 Nov 2029
Anger at Leiknir spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market26 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.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Đorđe Vladisavljević 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.
Squad26 Nov 2029
A row about effort at Leiknir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Róbert Quental Árnason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Nov 2029
Marko Bakić asks for a word with the manager
“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 dugout26 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 Þorsteinn Emil Jónsson has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 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.
Squad19 Nov 2029
A falling-out at Leiknir
Róbert Quental Árnason and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Nov 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 Leiknir can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Nov 2029
A falling-out at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Nov 2029
A row about effort at Leiknir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lukas Tunedal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Nov 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Olafur Skulason trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market12 Nov 2029
Mate Peteh linked with a move away
The name of Mate Peteh keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Leiknir say nothing, which says plenty.
Squad12 Nov 2029
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Leiknir the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Nov 2029
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson 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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sven Bech and Leiknir agree another 3 years.
Squad5 Nov 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.
Market5 Nov 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 dugout5 Nov 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 Leiknir, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad5 Nov 2029
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
Uneasy
The terraces29 Oct 2029
Anger at Leiknir spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Róbert Quental Árnason and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout29 Oct 2029
Philip Bergqvist asks for a word with the manager
“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
Squad22 Oct 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Leiknir will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout22 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 Leiknir, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market22 Oct 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Leiknir know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad22 Oct 2029
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Oct 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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
A falling-out at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Karan Gurung, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
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 dugout15 Oct 2029
Marko Bakić asks for a word with the manager
“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
Squad8 Oct 2029
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Leiknir will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout8 Oct 2029
Filippos Roberts: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Leiknir have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad8 Oct 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Lionel Dahlkvist commits to Leiknir for another 5 years.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Đorđe Vladisavljević 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.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 Oct 2029
Marko Bakić 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 Marko Bakić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces1 Oct 2029
Anger at Leiknir spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad1 Oct 2029
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Leiknir will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match1 Oct 2029
The season ends: position 9 for Leiknir
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 24 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Player ratings1 Oct 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.34 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Đorđe Vladisavljević 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.
Match29 Sep 2029
Keflavik made Leiknir work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad1 Oct 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Aled Thomas and Leiknir agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The terraces1 Oct 2029
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings1 Oct 2029
Marked 8.38. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Leiknir.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Sep 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 50 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad24 Sep 2029
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad24 Sep 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marko Bakić, and the manager let it.
Match22 Sep 2029
KR take the points off Leiknir
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Looking ahead24 Sep 2029
A six-pointer for Leiknir
Keflavik next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
The dugout24 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 Marcos Iglesias left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
Olafur Skulason asks for a word with the manager
“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 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
Uneasy
Squad17 Sep 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Leiknir will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match17 Sep 2029
Every point is an argument now for Leiknir
Position 10 and 21 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market17 Sep 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad17 Sep 2029
A falling-out at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces17 Sep 2029
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Adam Örn Arnarson, and the manager let it.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.54 on the card, and the Leiknir support went home talking about one name.
Match15 Sep 2029
It needed Philip Bergqvist to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Valur, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
Aled Thomas left out for the big one
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Aled Thomas will call it something else in private.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
-
Looking ahead
The leaders are next for Leiknir
-
The dugout
The plan did not have a place for Olafur Skulason
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Sep 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Leiknir will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market10 Sep 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 Leiknir, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Róbert Quental Árnason was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Sep 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Philip Bergqvist and Leiknir agree another 4 years.
Market10 Sep 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Leiknir, another week without a signature from Þorsteinn Emil Jónsson.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Roddick Torfason, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead10 Sep 2029
Valur next, and one man in the Leiknir dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
Karan Gurung asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces3 Sep 2029
Anger at Leiknir spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Leiknir will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market3 Sep 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 Leiknir, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout3 Sep 2029
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson 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.
Market3 Sep 2029
Marko Bakić told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Marko Bakić has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Leiknir.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
A performance of 8.20 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout3 Sep 2029
A promise honoured at Leiknir
Something was said to Óskar Borgþórsson 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
Squad27 Aug 2029
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Leiknir will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match25 Aug 2029
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Leiknir scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
The dugout27 Aug 2029
Roddick Torfason: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Leiknir have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad27 Aug 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Óskar Borgþórsson commits to Leiknir for another 3 years.
Match25 Aug 2029
At last: Leiknir win one
7 matches without a win, and then this, against Fjolnir. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad27 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 Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match25 Aug 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ahti Haikala. 3‑2 against Fjolnir, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces27 Aug 2029
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The dugout27 Aug 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Aug 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Leiknir will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match20 Aug 2029
Leiknir sink to position 11
17 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
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 Leiknir, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match18 Aug 2029
The wait goes on for Leiknir
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.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2029
Keflavik have accepted the money. What Leiknir do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Boardroom20 Aug 2029
Leiknir close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 12 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad20 Aug 2029
A falling-out at Leiknir
Đorđe Vladisavljević and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2029
Leiknir 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.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2029
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Leiknir will try again when the window opens; Keflavik may not be selling by then.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Aug 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Leiknir will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match11 Aug 2029
The wait goes on for Leiknir
6 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.
Market13 Aug 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
The deal with KR 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.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Róbert Quental Árnason 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 targets13 Aug 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Player ratings13 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.
Squad13 Aug 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Filippos Roberts and Leiknir agree another 3 years.
Market13 Aug 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Leiknir, another week without a signature from Þorsteinn Emil Jónsson.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces6 Aug 2029
The mood at Leiknir has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad6 Aug 2029
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Leiknir will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match4 Aug 2029
The wait goes on for Leiknir
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.
Player ratings6 Aug 2029
Mate Peteh pops up at the right end — 7.54
7.54, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2029
Leiknir had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Fylkir, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson 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.
Match4 Aug 2029
Stjarnan left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Transfer targets6 Aug 2029
Leiknir asked and FH said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad6 Aug 2029
A row about effort at Leiknir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Róbert Quental Árnason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Jul 2029
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
The deal with Breidablik 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.
Match28 Jul 2029
No end in sight to Leiknir's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Leiknir has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad30 Jul 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Róbert Quental Árnason commits to Leiknir for another 3 years.
Squad30 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 Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets30 Jul 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Breidablik have kept their man, and Leiknir go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Words at Leiknir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Róbert Quental Árnason 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.
Match28 Jul 2029
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout30 Jul 2029
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match21 Jul 2029
Beaten 1‑5 by Breidablik, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match23 Jul 2029
Every point is an argument now for Leiknir
Position 10 and 15 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad23 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 Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets23 Jul 2029
The offer went to KR 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.
Squad23 Jul 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.
Looking ahead23 Jul 2029
A six-pointer for Leiknir
Vikingur next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
Boardroom23 Jul 2029
Nobody left the Leiknir dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout23 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 1‑5 Marcos Iglesias left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Jul 2029
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson 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.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Words at Leiknir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Róbert Quental Árnason 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 dugout16 Jul 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.
Player ratings16 Jul 2029
A performance of 8.51 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match16 Jul 2029
Halfway: Leiknir sit in position 7
14 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Match14 Jul 2029
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout16 Jul 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.” Marcos Iglesias chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
Looking ahead16 Jul 2029
The leaders are next for Leiknir
FH top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
Squad16 Jul 2029
One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. Leiknir lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The terraces9 Jul 2029
Supporters organise against the Leiknir board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Match7 Jul 2029
Leiknir leave it late against KR
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 87th, and KR spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Words at Leiknir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Róbert Quental Árnason 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.
Match7 Jul 2029
Three points for Leiknir, 2‑1 the final word against KR in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces9 Jul 2029
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Kacper Kotala 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.
Player ratings9 Jul 2029
Ninety minutes of Óskar Borgþórsson at his very best
Marked 8.18. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Leiknir.
Squad9 Jul 2029
“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 Leiknir know it.
The dugout9 Jul 2029
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match30 Jun 2029
Róbert Quental Árnason had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Valur were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Squad2 Jul 2029
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings2 Jul 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.52 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad2 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 Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout2 Jul 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mate Peteh, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Jul 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” August Kayanja-Drejgaard and Leiknir agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match30 Jun 2029
Honours even between Leiknir and Valur
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
Intake day at the Leiknir academy
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Squad2 Jul 2029
A place in the month's best eleven for Ahti Haikala
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ahti Haikala has come out of that comparison in the side, and Leiknir have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jun 2029
Words at Leiknir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Róbert Quental Árnason 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 Jun 2029
Mate Peteh in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match23 Jun 2029
A 1‑0 win over Fylkir, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings25 Jun 2029
Marked 8.12 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout25 Jun 2029
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.” Marcos Iglesias kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout25 Jun 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 Leiknir, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout25 Jun 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kacper Kotala, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead25 Jun 2029
Valur next, and one man in the Leiknir dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Player ratings25 Jun 2029
Successful dribbles: 11. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Jun 2029
Leiknir are in real trouble now
Position 10, 6 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Leiknir may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson 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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words at Leiknir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Róbert Quental Árnason 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.
Match16 Jun 2029
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
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 0‑1 Marcos Iglesias left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ahti Haikala, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead18 Jun 2029
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Óskar Borgþórsson’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Leiknir needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout18 Jun 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
Uneasy
The terraces11 Jun 2029
The mood at Leiknir has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad11 Jun 2029
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match6 Jun 2029
The small margins put Leiknir out
Out, 0‑0 to Stjarnan, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Match9 Jun 2029
Leiknir end the wait against IA
It had gone 10 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Player ratings11 Jun 2029
Ahti Haikala, 21, steals the show — 7.63
Marked 7.63 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson 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
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ahti Haikala. 2‑1 against IA, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces11 Jun 2029
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings11 Jun 2029
Twelve yards, a goalkeeper guessing, and it still did not go in. He will take the next one, and every soul in the ground will hold their breath.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Jun 2029
The wait goes on for Leiknir
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.
The dugout4 Jun 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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad4 Jun 2029
A falling-out at Leiknir
Róbert Quental Árnason and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match2 Jun 2029
A bad afternoon for Leiknir against IBV
1‑2 to IBV, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Þorsteinn Emil Jónsson has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The dugout4 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 1‑2 Marcos Iglesias left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad4 Jun 2029
A place in the month's best eleven for Mate Peteh
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Mate Peteh has come out of that comparison in the side, and Leiknir have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom28 May 2029
“I have watched this squad. There is more in it than the table says.” First press conference, first promise — Marcos Iglesias made the one every new manager makes, and now comes the part where it gets checked.
Match26 May 2029
The wait goes on for Leiknir
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.
The dugout28 May 2029
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Leiknir have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad28 May 2029
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson 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 dugout28 May 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.
Squad28 May 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lukas Tunedal and Leiknir agree another 3 years.
Player ratings28 May 2029
7.98, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Leiknir had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout28 May 2029
Óskar Borgþórsson is playing like a man with something to prove
The oldest phenomenon in the sport: a new voice in the dressing room and suddenly everybody is available for everything. Óskar Borgþórsson is training as though the last team sheet never existed, because as far as he is concerned it does not.
Match26 May 2029
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 May 2029
7 matches without a win for Leiknir
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Leiknir are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 May 2029
A falling-out at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 May 2029
A row about effort at Leiknir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Róbert Quental Árnason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 May 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 ratings21 May 2029
Marked 8.06 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Match19 May 2029
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 dugout21 May 2029
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Looking ahead21 May 2029
A test against the best for Leiknir
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Stjarnan.
Player ratings21 May 2029
Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces14 May 2029
Supporters organise against the Leiknir board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Match12 May 2029
No end in sight to Leiknir's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Leiknir has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad14 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 Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom14 May 2029
Still no name above the door at Leiknir
Day 13 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Squad14 May 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mate Peteh commits to Leiknir for another 4 years.
Squad14 May 2029
A row about effort at Leiknir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Róbert Quental Árnason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad14 May 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Leiknir can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Match12 May 2029
It needed Davíð Júlían Jónsson to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Breidablik, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings14 May 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 May 2029
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
The dugout7 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.
Boardroom7 May 2029
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Match5 May 2029
No end in sight to Leiknir's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Leiknir has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad7 May 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson and Leiknir agree another 2 years.
Squad7 May 2029
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Róbert Quental Árnason 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.
Boardroom7 May 2029
Graduation day at Leiknir
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
A bad afternoon for Leiknir against FH
1‑2 to FH, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market7 May 2029
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Gylfi Ingason 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson 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.
Squad30 Apr 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 dugout30 Apr 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Apr 2029
Every point is an argument now for Leiknir
Position 10 and 20 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad23 Apr 2029
A falling-out at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Apr 2029
A row about effort at Leiknir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Róbert Quental Árnason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Karan Gurung, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Þorsteinn Emil Jónsson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces16 Apr 2029
Supporters organise against the Leiknir board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom16 Apr 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Leiknir
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad16 Apr 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Philip Bergqvist
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Leiknir lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad16 Apr 2029
A falling-out at Leiknir
Róbert Quental Árnason and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Apr 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 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 Leiknir, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout16 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 dugout16 Apr 2029
Mendim Elis Veselaj is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Lukas Tunedal has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Leiknir will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Apr 2029
Philip Bergqvist damages knee ligaments — 23 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Olafur Ingason 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. Olafur Ingason has, at Leiknir, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad9 Apr 2029
A row about effort at Leiknir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Róbert Quental Árnason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Market9 Apr 2029
He is 17, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Market9 Apr 2029
He is 17, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lukas Tunedal, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Apr 2029
Philip Bergqvist damages knee ligaments — 30 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
Crisis meeting at Leiknir
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Leiknir 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson 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 targets2 Apr 2029
A loan enquiry to KR: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
Óskar Borgþórsson loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Óskar Borgþórsson's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
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.
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Mar 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Philip Bergqvist
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Leiknir lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match26 Mar 2029
Every point is an argument now for Leiknir
Position 10 and 20 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Transfer targets26 Mar 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Leiknir have done the hard part with KR, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad26 Mar 2029
A falling-out at Leiknir
Đorđe Vladisavljević and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets26 Mar 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FH have kept their man, and Leiknir go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad26 Mar 2029
“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 Leiknir know it.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
This is not rotation. Hólmar Kári Tryggvason has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Leiknir is pretending otherwise.
Market26 Mar 2029
The name of Villy Strindlund Larsen has come up in conversations Leiknir were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets26 Mar 2029
A loan move for Gian Piaggio is in the works
Leiknir have made the call to Breidablik. 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
Crisis
The terraces19 Mar 2029
Supporters organise against the Leiknir board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom19 Mar 2029
Pressure builds in the Leiknir boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Philip Bergqvist damages knee ligaments — 44 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
A falling-out at Leiknir
Róbert Quental Árnason and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets19 Mar 2029
Leiknir asked and Valur said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets19 Mar 2029
A loan enquiry to Breidablik: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets19 Mar 2029
FH have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Squad19 Mar 2029
A row about effort at Leiknir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ahti Haikala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Mar 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Leiknir will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Mar 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” August Kayanja-Drejgaard and Leiknir agree another 3 years.
Transfer targets12 Mar 2029
Leiknir asked and Breidablik said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to August Kayanja-Drejgaard, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Mar 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Leiknir can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Transfer targets12 Mar 2029
Breidablik have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The dugout12 Mar 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Mar 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
Emergency meeting at Leiknir
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Market5 Mar 2029
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Leiknir have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson 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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Adam Örn Arnarson commits to Leiknir for another 2 years.
Transfer targets5 Mar 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The 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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Leiknir can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Feb 2029
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Leiknir will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match26 Feb 2029
Leiknir sink to position 10
20 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market26 Feb 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad26 Feb 2029
A falling-out at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets26 Feb 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FH have kept their man, and Leiknir go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
This is not rotation. Hólmar Kári Tryggvason has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Leiknir is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets26 Feb 2029
KR have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets26 Feb 2029
Leiknir have made the call to Valur. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
Óskar Borgþórsson has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Leiknir 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
Crisis
The terraces19 Feb 2029
Supporters organise against the Leiknir board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Leiknir will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom19 Feb 2029
Pressure builds in the Leiknir boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad19 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 Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets19 Feb 2029
Leiknir have made the call to FH. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad19 Feb 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 dugout19 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 dugout19 Feb 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Mendim Elis Veselaj's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Squad19 Feb 2029
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Feb 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market12 Feb 2029
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Leiknir people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Transfer targets12 Feb 2029
Everything agreed with KR, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson 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 targets12 Feb 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Davíð Júlían Jónsson falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
Nobody at Leiknir 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 dugout12 Feb 2029
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Leiknir. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Feb 2029
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Leiknir will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Vidar Bjarnason has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
The Leiknir board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Market5 Feb 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets5 Feb 2029
The deal with Valur 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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Đorđe Vladisavljević 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 targets5 Feb 2029
Leiknir have made the call to IA. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout5 Feb 2029
Óskar Borgþórsson loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Óskar Borgþórsson's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Squad5 Feb 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Jan 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Leiknir will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match29 Jan 2029
Leiknir are in real trouble now
Position 10, 20 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market29 Jan 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Leiknir they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad29 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 Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
This is not rotation. Hólmar Kári Tryggvason has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Leiknir is pretending otherwise.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
Óskar Borgþórsson has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Leiknir 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.
Squad29 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 dugout29 Jan 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 Leiknir, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces22 Jan 2029
The mood at Leiknir has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Leiknir will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom22 Jan 2029
The scrutiny sharpens at Leiknir
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Leiknir is running low.
Squad22 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 Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Jan 2029
“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 Leiknir know it.
The dugout22 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Þorsteinn Emil Jónsson, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Jan 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Leiknir will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad15 Jan 2029
42 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson 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 dugout15 Jan 2029
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.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Words at Leiknir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. August Kayanja-Drejgaard 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
The manager makes an example of Karan Gurung
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Jan 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Birkir Gunnarsson damages knee ligaments — 16 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
Vidar Bjarnason has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Leiknir can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Leiknir are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
Dagur Ingi Hammer loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Dagur Ingi Hammer's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
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
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mendim Elis Veselaj, and the manager let it.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
Mendim Elis Veselaj is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Jan 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 96 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad1 Jan 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Birkir Gunnarsson
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Leiknir lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match1 Jan 2029
Leiknir are in real trouble now
Position 10, 20 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market1 Jan 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Leiknir they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad1 Jan 2029
A falling-out at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
This is not rotation. Hólmar Kári Tryggvason has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Leiknir is pretending otherwise.
Squad1 Jan 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mendim Elis Veselaj commits to Leiknir for another 4 years.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Dagur Ingi Hammer was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces25 Dec 2028
Supporters organise against the Leiknir board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Leiknir will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad25 Dec 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Birkir Gunnarsson
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Leiknir lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom25 Dec 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Leiknir
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Leiknir is running low.
Squad25 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 Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Leiknir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Róbert Quental Árnason 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
Squad18 Dec 2028
Đorđe Vladisavljević 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
A row about effort at Leiknir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Róbert Quental Árnason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Dec 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad11 Dec 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Aled Thomas and Leiknir agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad11 Dec 2028
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dagur Ingi Hammer, and the manager let it.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Mate Peteh 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 dugout11 Dec 2028
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.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
Aled Thomas 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 Leiknir, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout11 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 Davíð Júlían Jónsson is on it.
Market11 Dec 2028
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Leiknir, another week without a signature from Davíð Júlían Jónsson.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Dec 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Vidar Bjarnason has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Match4 Dec 2028
Leiknir sink to position 10
20 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market4 Dec 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market4 Dec 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Leiknir they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad4 Dec 2028
A falling-out at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Dec 2028
A row about effort at Leiknir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Róbert Quental Árnason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
This is not rotation. Hólmar Kári Tryggvason has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Leiknir is pretending otherwise.
Squad4 Dec 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Leiknir are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces27 Nov 2028
Supporters organise against the Leiknir board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom27 Nov 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Leiknir
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market27 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 Leiknir, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad27 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 Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Nov 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Leiknir are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Nov 2028
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad20 Nov 2028
A row about effort at Leiknir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Róbert Quental Árnason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Þorsteinn Emil Jónsson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad20 Nov 2028
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Leiknir will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market13 Nov 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson 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.
Squad13 Nov 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
No place for Karel Vydra in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Leiknir are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
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.
The dugout13 Nov 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 dugout13 Nov 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Ahti Haikala arrived with a record at a bigger club than this one, and the room has treated him accordingly. The young ones watch him train; the senior ones watch to see whether it lasts.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom6 Nov 2028
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Match6 Nov 2028
Leiknir sink to position 10
20 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market6 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 Leiknir, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market6 Nov 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Leiknir they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad6 Nov 2028
A falling-out at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Nov 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 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.
Market6 Nov 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Leiknir are still strangers to each other
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces30 Oct 2028
Anger at Leiknir spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom30 Oct 2028
Pressure builds in the Leiknir boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad30 Oct 2028
28 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad30 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 Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 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.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
Mate Peteh gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout23 Oct 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Leiknir have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Đorđe Vladisavljević 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.
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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Leiknir can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
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.
The dugout23 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Karan Gurung
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market16 Oct 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leiknir can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson 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 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.
Squad16 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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
The formation has left Ahti Haikala behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Leiknir will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
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 Davíð Júlían Jónsson is on it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Oct 2028
Leiknir are in real trouble now
Position 10, 20 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market9 Oct 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 Leiknir can pretend not to have heard.
Market9 Oct 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Villy Strindlund Larsen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Leiknir the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson and Leiknir agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Oct 2028
A falling-out at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 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.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market9 Oct 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.
Market9 Oct 2028
He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces2 Oct 2028
Anger at Leiknir spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom2 Oct 2028
Vidar Bjarnason has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Leiknir can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom2 Oct 2028
Pressure builds in the Leiknir boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match2 Oct 2028
Leiknir finish in position 10
20 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.
Match30 Sep 2028
No end in sight to Leiknir's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Leiknir has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson and Leiknir agree another 2 years.
Squad2 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 Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Philip Bergqvist has just signed for Leiknir, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad2 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout25 Sep 2028
“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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad25 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.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
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.
Player ratings25 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.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout25 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.
Match24 Sep 2028
Point won or two lost for Leiknir?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against KR? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Looking ahead25 Sep 2028
Keflavik next, and one man in the Leiknir dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Sep 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Đorđe Vladisavljević commits to Leiknir for another 3 years.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson 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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Leiknir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Róbert Quental Árnason 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 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.
Match16 Sep 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad18 Sep 2028
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.
The dugout18 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Vidar Bjarnason to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
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.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match11 Sep 2028
Leiknir sink to position 10
18 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market11 Sep 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 Leiknir can pretend not to have heard.
Market11 Sep 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Leiknir they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad11 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Sep 2028
A row about effort at Leiknir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Róbert Quental Árnason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Mendim Elis Veselaj's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Looking ahead11 Sep 2028
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Valur in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces4 Sep 2028
The mood at Leiknir has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad4 Sep 2028
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
The scrutiny sharpens at Leiknir
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Leiknir is running low.
Market4 Sep 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 Leiknir can pretend not to have heard.
Squad4 Sep 2028
A falling-out at Leiknir
Đorđe Vladisavljević and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 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.
Match2 Sep 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad4 Sep 2028
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Leiknir know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
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 1‑2 Vidar Bjarnason left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Aug 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. August Kayanja-Drejgaard has, at Leiknir, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad28 Aug 2028
A row about effort at Leiknir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Róbert Quental Árnason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match26 Aug 2028
Fjolnir made Leiknir work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 11 actions, 6.83, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Marked 8.32 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
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 Leiknir.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson will call it something else in private.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Aug 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.
Boardroom21 Aug 2028
Window shuts: 14 in, 16 out at Leiknir
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 14 arrived, 16 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad21 Aug 2028
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Transfer targets21 Aug 2028
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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson 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 targets21 Aug 2028
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.
Squad21 Aug 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.
Looking ahead21 Aug 2028
A six-pointer for Leiknir
Fjolnir next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
The dugout21 Aug 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Aug 2028
Leiknir are in real trouble now
Position 10, 14 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market14 Aug 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Leiknir, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market14 Aug 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Leiknir they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad14 Aug 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Róbert Quental Árnason and Leiknir agree another 4 years.
Squad14 Aug 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout14 Aug 2028
This is not rotation. Mamadou Cellou Diallo has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Leiknir is pretending otherwise.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Đorđe Vladisavljević falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
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.
Match12 Aug 2028
No clean sheets in sight for Leiknir
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
In brief
-
Match
A bad afternoon for Leiknir against IBV
-
Looking ahead
A six-pointer for Leiknir
-
The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces7 Aug 2028
The mood at Leiknir has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match5 Aug 2028
3 behind and going nowhere, until Dagur Ingi Hammer decided otherwise. Stjarnan had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.98 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market7 Aug 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Leiknir, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match5 Aug 2028
It had gone 7 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad7 Aug 2028
A falling-out at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match5 Aug 2028
Three points for Leiknir, 4‑3 the final word against Stjarnan in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad7 Aug 2028
A row about effort at Leiknir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Đorđe Vladisavljević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Jul 2028
Beaten 2‑5 by Vikingur, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market31 Jul 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Leiknir people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Match29 Jul 2028
7 matches without a win for Leiknir
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Leiknir are no longer polite ones.
Market31 Jul 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 Leiknir, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson 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.
Match29 Jul 2028
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Leiknir and Vikingur, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings31 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Leiknir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Róbert Quental Árnason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces31 Jul 2028
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match22 Jul 2028
No end in sight to Leiknir's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Leiknir has to find a result from somewhere.
Market24 Jul 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 Leiknir, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Keflavik keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Match22 Jul 2028
Breidablik left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad24 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Leiknir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Đorđe Vladisavljević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets24 Jul 2028
Leiknir asked and IBV said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lionel Dahlkvist, and the manager let it.
Player ratings24 Jul 2028
A performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Jul 2028
Every point is an argument now for Leiknir
Position 10 and 10 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market17 Jul 2028
Valur come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Leiknir did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market17 Jul 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 Leiknir, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match15 Jul 2028
No end in sight to Leiknir's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Leiknir has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
This is not rotation. Mamadou Cellou Diallo has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Leiknir is pretending otherwise.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Leiknir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Đorđe Vladisavljević 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.
Transfer targets17 Jul 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Breidablik have kept their man, and Leiknir go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match15 Jul 2028
No clean sheets in sight for Leiknir
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Match15 Jul 2028
Karan Gurung scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Keflavik, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces10 Jul 2028
Supporters organise against the Leiknir board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market10 Jul 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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
A falling-out at Leiknir
Đorđe Vladisavljević and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Leiknir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Róbert Quental Árnason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match8 Jul 2028
A bad afternoon for Leiknir against KR
1‑2 to KR, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad10 Jul 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Karan Gurung and Leiknir agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Vidar Bjarnason after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings10 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout10 Jul 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
Crisis
Market3 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leiknir can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words exchanged at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson 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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at Leiknir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Đorđe Vladisavljević 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.
Match1 Jul 2028
Valur left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout3 Jul 2028
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
7 new boys at the Leiknir 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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout3 Jul 2028
No hiding place for Sven Bech
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sven Bech, and the manager let it.
The dugout3 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 Leiknir, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Jun 2028
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Leiknir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Đorđe Vladisavljević 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.
Match24 Jun 2028
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout26 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.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout26 Jun 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 Leiknir, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
Mendim Elis Veselaj is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Looking ahead26 Jun 2028
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Þorsteinn Emil Jónsson’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Leiknir needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Player ratings26 Jun 2028
Successful dribbles: 10. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match17 Jun 2028
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against Fjolnir, and it could have been more.
Player ratings19 Jun 2028
A brace, and Dagur Ingi Hammer takes the afternoon — 8.97
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dagur Ingi Hammer provided it, and the 8.97 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad19 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
This is not rotation. Mamadou Cellou Diallo has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Leiknir is pretending otherwise.
Squad19 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.
Match17 Jun 2028
3 goals inside twenty minutes with Dagur Ingi Hammer in the middle of it, and Fjolnir unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Player ratings19 Jun 2028
Ninety minutes of Óskar Borgþórsson at his very best
Marked 8.37. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Leiknir.
Player ratings19 Jun 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.17, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout19 Jun 2028
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Vidar Bjarnason on a 4‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces12 Jun 2028
The mood at Leiknir has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market12 Jun 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 Leiknir, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Jun 2028
A falling-out at Leiknir
Ólafur Íshólm Ólafsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Jun 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Þorsteinn Emil Jónsson and Leiknir agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad12 Jun 2028
A row about effort at Leiknir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Đorđe Vladisavljević was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match10 Jun 2028
Leiknir end the wait against IA
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.
Match10 Jun 2028
Leiknir get the job done against IA
A 1‑0 win over IA, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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.
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
A performance of 8.14 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Jun 2028
Oskar Sverrisson damages knee ligaments — 21 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 21 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.
Match31 May 2028
The small margins put Leiknir out
Out, 2‑3 to Breidablik, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Leiknir may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings5 Jun 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.25, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market5 Jun 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 Leiknir can pretend not to have heard.
Match3 Jun 2028
The wait goes on for Leiknir
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.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Leiknir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Đorđe Vladisavljević 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 ratings5 Jun 2028
12 combined actions and 6.63. 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 terraces5 Jun 2028
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 May 2028
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Leiknir lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match27 May 2028
Nowhere to hide for Leiknir
1‑5 against Stjarnan, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad29 May 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Leiknir will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market29 May 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 Leiknir, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad29 May 2028
Đorđe Vladisavljević 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.
Match27 May 2028
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Leiknir and Stjarnan in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad29 May 2028
A row about effort at Leiknir
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Róbert Quental Árnason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout29 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Hjalte Kropp
“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.
Boardroom29 May 2028
Nobody left the Leiknir dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 May 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Oskar Sverrisson
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Leiknir lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad22 May 2028
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Leiknir will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market22 May 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.
The dugout22 May 2028
This is not rotation. Mamadou Cellou Diallo has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Leiknir is pretending otherwise.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Leiknir training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Đorđe Vladisavljević is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad22 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leiknir this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout22 May 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.
Match20 May 2028
0‑1 to Vikingur, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout22 May 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 Vidar Bjarnason to a room that had heard them before.