Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stjarnan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stjarnan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birnir Snær Ingason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stjarnan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emil Atlason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kristján Sindri Kristjánsson and Stjarnan agree another 4 years.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ronan Curtis trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stjarnan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Guðmundur Baldvin Nökkvason and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Emil Atlason 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.
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 Jóhann Árni Gunnarsson is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Renzo Cupla trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stjarnan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birnir Snær Ingason 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.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Stjarnan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stjarnan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stjarnan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Alex Þór Hauksson 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.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emil Atlason 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Emil Atlason signs something — a contract at Stjarnan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stjarnan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emil Atlason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Ahmad Blal 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.
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.
Position 6 on 30 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stjarnan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Emil Atlason was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronan Curtis 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.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Stjarnan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Stjarnan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Alex Þór Hauksson 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emil Atlason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Stjarnan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Stjarnan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stjarnan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Guðmundur Baldvin Nökkvason 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.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emil Atlason 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.
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Stjarnan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Birnir Snær Ingason and Stjarnan agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Emil Atlason 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ronan Curtis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Stjarnan 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.
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 Darri Bergmann Gylfason has written the date down.
Position 6, 30 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
In brief
The dugoutRenzo Cupla asks for a word with the manager
BoardroomThe Stjarnan production line keeps running
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stjarnan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Emil Atlason 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birnir Snær Ingason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Stjarnan pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stjarnan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Alex Þór Hauksson 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 Sep 2029
Emil Atlason 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.
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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stjarnan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Emil Atlason and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronan Curtis 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Örvar Eggertsson. 2‑0 against Fjolnir, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emil Atlason 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.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.66 on the card, and the Stjarnan support went home talking about one name.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
Somebody else is better right now than Ronan Curtis
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Stjarnan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Darri Bergmann Gylfason is a Stjarnan player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emil Atlason 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Árni Salvar Heimisson.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Stjarnan know which stage they are at.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Ronan Curtis 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kristján Sindri Kristjánsson and Stjarnan agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
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 Birnir Snær Ingason is on it.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.39 for the rest of it.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 10 arrived, 11 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Hrafn Guðmundsson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stjarnan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Guðmundur Baldvin Nökkvason 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.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Stjarnan will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emil Atlason 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stjarnan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emil Atlason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Stjarnan asked and Ferencvaros said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
FC Copenhagen 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.
Emil Atlason 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ronan Curtis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Level with 88 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Stjarnan had all but put away. FH will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daníel Finns Matthíasson and Stjarnan agree another 3 years.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Árni Snær Ólafsson is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
FC Nordsjaelland 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.
In brief
The dugoutRonan Curtis dropped after a run of poor form
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Stjarnan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Örvar Eggertsson provided it, and the 9.14 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: FH keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Alex Þór Hauksson 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emil Atlason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The phone has started ringing about Alpha Conteh again, and this time the name on the line is Keflavik. Stjarnan are listening politely and promising nothing.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Stjarnan have done the hard part with FH, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Alex Þór Hauksson 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.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Emil Atlason 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout23 Jul 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Ari Skulason to a room that had heard them before.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stjarnan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 7.18 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stjarnan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Emil Atlason 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.
7 goals in one match, Benedikt V. Warén on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Stjarnan and Valur.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Ronan Curtis 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stjarnan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andri Rúnar Bjarnason will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stjarnan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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; Stjarnan are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stjarnan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
91 minutes played. Alex Þór Hauksson found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Fjolnir went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Alex Þór Hauksson scored, was marked 7.96, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Guðmundur Baldvin Nökkvason 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emil Atlason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stjarnan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ronan Curtis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout25 Jun 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Ari Skulason chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Nobody at Stjarnan 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Fjolnir in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.87 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stjarnan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Alex Þór Hauksson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emil Atlason 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stjarnan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stjarnan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
7.67, 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emil Atlason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stjarnan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Ronan Curtis 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Stjarnan, another week without a signature from Renzo Cupla.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ari Skulason after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stjarnan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Alex Þór Hauksson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 May 2029
Emil Atlason 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 93. Leiknir had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ari Skulason after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Nobody at Stjarnan is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stjarnan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stjarnan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Guðmundur Baldvin Nökkvason 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 May 2029
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emil Atlason 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Birnir Snær Ingason. 1‑0 against FH, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.20 — 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.76, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“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 Stjarnan will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Keflavik kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Stjarnan will be asked about the last half hour all week.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Örvar Eggertsson provided it, and the 9.26 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stjarnan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Stjarnan can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Guðmundur Baldvin Nökkvason 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.
Squad14 May 2029
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birnir Snær Ingason 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stjarnan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Stjarnan moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Ari Skulason, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
Emil Atlason 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.
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.
Squad7 May 2029
Ronan Curtis 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Sigurdur Fridjonsson is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Kristinn Johannsson is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ari Magnusson has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Emil Atlason 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birnir Snær Ingason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Stjarnan. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Emil Atlason’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stjarnan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
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 Jóhann Árni Gunnarsson is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Emil Atlason signs something — a contract at Stjarnan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
39 points from position 4. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Strahinja Djuricic trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Andri Rúnar Bjarnason will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stjarnan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Alpha Conteh 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sigurjón Mogensen and Stjarnan agree another 3 years.
Stjarnan opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Andri Rúnar Bjarnason stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stjarnan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Vikingur moved on, Alpha Conteh reports back to Stjarnan, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Emil Atlason 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birnir Snær Ingason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Stjarnan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Rubén Pestana arrives at Stjarnan with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stjarnan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Stjarnan have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
Deadline passes with 3 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Stjarnan 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.
Emil Atlason 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 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. William Bergman is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Stjarnan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Add another name to the list: Vikingur have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Alpha Conteh. The answer from Stjarnan has not changed — yet.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stjarnan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
$440.0K was the most the club would pay and Keflavik were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Alex Þór Hauksson 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.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Alpha Conteh 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.
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 Jóhann Árni Gunnarsson is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Emil Atlason signs something — a contract at Stjarnan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stjarnan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Stjarnan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
$440.0K on the table at Keflavik. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birnir Snær Ingason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Stjarnan are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Renzo Cupla is 20, and Stjarnan have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stjarnan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Vikingur waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Stjarnan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stjarnan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Stjarnan had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Ferencvaros, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
The name of Guðmundur Rafn Ingason has come up in conversations Stjarnan were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Emil Atlason 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birnir Snær Ingason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stjarnan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Stjarnan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Emil Atlason 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.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Stjarnan will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Alpha Conteh 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 name of Hrafn Guðmundsson has come up in conversations Stjarnan were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stjarnan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Stjarnan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The phone has started ringing about Alpha Conteh again, and this time the name on the line is Keflavik. Stjarnan are listening politely and promising nothing.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Darri Bergmann Gylfason will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stjarnan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Emil Atlason and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birnir Snær Ingason 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 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.
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 Jóhann Árni Gunnarsson is on it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stjarnan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Fjolnir have kept their man, and Stjarnan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Peter Lienhart is 19, and Stjarnan have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stjarnan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and FH waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Stjarnan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Stjarnan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Ferencvaros is saying, and nobody at Stjarnan is enjoying the guessing.
Emil Atlason 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.
$70.0K was the most the club would pay and IBV were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. William Bergman has just signed for Stjarnan, and for once the answer mattered.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stjarnan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Stjarnan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Emil Atlason 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 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.
Stjarnan have made the call to Ferencvaros. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stjarnan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stjarnan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Emil Atlason and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birnir Snær Ingason 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.
Nobody at Stjarnan 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Örvar Eggertsson signs something — a contract at Stjarnan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ronan Curtis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emil Atlason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Stjarnan has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Andri Rúnar Bjarnason signs something — a contract at Stjarnan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Alex Þór Hauksson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emil Atlason 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.
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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Stjarnan has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ronan Curtis signs something — a contract at Stjarnan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stjarnan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Darri Bergmann Gylfason will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stjarnan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Emil Atlason and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alpha Conteh 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.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Alpha Conteh has moved up it.
Nobody at Stjarnan 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Örvar Eggertsson signs something — a contract at Stjarnan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Still no offer on the table, and Jóhann Árni Gunnarsson’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stjarnan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Ronan Curtis 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 Dec 2028
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emil Atlason 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stjarnan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Stjarnan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Emil Atlason was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadWords at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stjarnan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Emil Atlason 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Damil Dankerlui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
18 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Stjarnan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stjarnan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stjarnan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Örvar Eggertsson signs something — a contract at Stjarnan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A new partner, a signature and a photograph nobody will remember. It funds a fortnight of wages, which is more than most headlines on this page can say for themselves.
Position 4 on 39 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Stjarnan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birnir Snær Ingason 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.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stjarnan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stjarnan can pretend not to have heard.
Emil Atlason 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 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kristján Sindri Kristjánsson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Emil Atlason 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.
At 21 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birnir Snær Ingason 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.
Nobody at Stjarnan 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ronan Curtis signs something — a contract at Stjarnan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Stjarnan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Darri Bergmann Gylfason will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stjarnan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ronan Curtis 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birnir Snær Ingason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Örvar Eggertsson signs something — a contract at Stjarnan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 4, 39 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Guðmundur Baldvin Nökkvason plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
In brief
SquadEmil Atlason is put on a programme of his own
BoardroomThe Stjarnan production line keeps running
The words a physio says slowly. 54 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Damil Dankerlui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
61 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stjarnan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Emil Atlason 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 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sigurður Gunnar Jónsson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
68 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Stjarnan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Emil Atlason 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birnir Snær Ingason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Stjarnan 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 words a physio says slowly. 75 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stjarnan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Emil Atlason 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
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Damil Dankerlui 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.
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 Jóhann Árni Gunnarsson is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Örvar Eggertsson signs something — a contract at Stjarnan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 4, 39 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Alex Þór Hauksson plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
83 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stjarnan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 4 on 39 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birnir Snær Ingason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Minute 91, against Valur, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Stjarnan have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Árni Snær Ólafsson will call it something else in private.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Ari Skulason chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
91 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Stjarnan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
2 behind and going nowhere, until Örvar Eggertsson decided otherwise. Fylkir had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
Emil Atlason 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birnir Snær Ingason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Alpha Conteh was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.91. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout25 Sep 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Ari Skulason kept it short after the 3‑2 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
99 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Stjarnan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Örvar Eggertsson provided it, and the 9.26 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
7 goals in one match, Örvar Eggertsson on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Stjarnan and Fjolnir.
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.
106 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Stjarnan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stjarnan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birnir Snær Ingason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Ari Skulason chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
113 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Stjarnan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Örvar Eggertsson provided it, and the 8.90 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birnir Snær Ingason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Ari Skulason could afford to be generous.
121 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Stjarnan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Árni Salvar Heimisson is living that version at Stjarnan, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emil Atlason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
0‑1 to Breidablik, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Ari Skulason to a room that had heard them before.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Árni Snær Ólafsson.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stjarnan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom21 Aug 2028
Stjarnan close the window on a squad of their own making
9 in and 1 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emil Atlason 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.
“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 dugout21 Aug 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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Ari Skulason to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stjarnan can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stjarnan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birnir Snær Ingason 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Ari Skulason could afford to be generous.
“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 Stjarnan, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Stjarnan people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stjarnan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Alex Þór Hauksson 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Strahinja Djuricic is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Emil Atlason 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Vikingur waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Stjarnan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ronan Curtis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.04 — 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.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Fjolnir waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Stjarnan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
1‑3 to KR, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronan Curtis 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout24 Jul 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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Ari Skulason to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Alex Þór Hauksson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronan Curtis 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.
24 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.
The dugout17 Jul 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Ari Skulason left the room before anybody could ask which.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Andri Rúnar Bjarnason has his answer from Stjarnan; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Guðmundur Rafn Ingason will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stjarnan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Guðmundur Baldvin Nökkvason and Stjarnan agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Alex Þór Hauksson 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.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronan Curtis 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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Stjarnan will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Benedikt V. Warén provided it, and the 8.41 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It finished 3‑2, and it was Benedikt V. Warén’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Stjarnan.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Ronan Curtis 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.
8.25. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Guðmundur Rafn Ingason has come out of that comparison in the side, and Stjarnan have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Stjarnan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronan Curtis 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Stjarnan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronan Curtis 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.
Alex Þór Hauksson 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Stjarnan lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Stjarnan is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronan Curtis 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.
Guðmundur Baldvin Nökkvason 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Birnir Snær Ingason. 1‑0 against Breidablik, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Ari Skulason kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Stjarnan has been clear about where Gustav Kjeldsen stands, which is more than many ever get.
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stjarnan lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
1 for Alex Þór Hauksson, marked 7.93, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Ronan Curtis 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 92. Vikingur had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Stjarnan has been clear about where Alpha Conteh stands, which is more than many ever get.
The words a physio says slowly. 58 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.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and Leiknir spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Strahinja Djuricic is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emil Atlason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Ari Skulason could afford to be generous.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Damil Dankerlui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Stjarnan will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
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.
In brief
The dugoutGustav Kjeldsen has become a man the manager trusts
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Stjarnan have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Guðmundur Rafn Ingason will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stjarnan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Alex Þór Hauksson 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad15 May 2028
Emil Atlason 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.
Marked 8.28 — 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.
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. 9 actions, 6.84, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 93th minute. KR will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emil Atlason 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Aron Johannsson is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Alfred Gudmundsson has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sigurdur Gudmundsson has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alpha Conteh. 1‑0 against KR, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Emil Atlason 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.
At 21 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.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Damil Dankerlui 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Sigurjón Mogensen 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Osman Taher Petersson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Stjarnan 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.
Guðmundur Baldvin Nökkvason and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Emil Atlason 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Stjarnan, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Stjarnan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Guðmundur Rafn Ingason has written the date down.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stjarnan they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Alex Þór Hauksson 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emil Atlason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Jóhann Árni Gunnarsson is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Emil Atlason signs something — a contract at Stjarnan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 6, 36 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Emil Atlason
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. KR moved on, Darri Bergmann Gylfason reports back to Stjarnan, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Emil Atlason and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Damil Dankerlui 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.
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Örvar Eggertsson’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market10 Apr 2028
The window shut and Heiðar Ægisson is still in the building
Stjarnan spent a month trying to move him and nobody rang back. He trains with a squad that has told him where he stands, and both sides start counting down to the next one.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Vikingur waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Stjarnan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stjarnan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom3 Apr 2028
Stjarnan close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 0 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emil Atlason 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: KR will make the call about Darri Bergmann Gylfason this week. Stjarnan have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Andri Rúnar Bjarnason signs something — a contract at Stjarnan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Stjarnan would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stjarnan will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Darri Bergmann Gylfason will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stjarnan the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Alex Þór Hauksson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Emil Atlason 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.
Nobody at Stjarnan 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and KR waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Stjarnan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Stjarnan will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Guðmundur Rafn Ingason has his answer from Stjarnan; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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 Jóhann Árni Gunnarsson is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Emil Atlason signs something — a contract at Stjarnan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stjarnan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Valur waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Stjarnan is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Stjarnan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Alex Þór Hauksson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Emil Atlason 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.
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 Guðmundur Rafn Ingason has written the date down.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stjarnan will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Stjarnan and FH have settled on $2.1M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“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 Stjarnan, and it is not being withdrawn.
Guðmundur Baldvin Nökkvason and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emil Atlason 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.
Stjarnan asked and FC Midtjylland said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 52 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Stjarnan, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Damil Dankerlui 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.
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.
Alex Þór Hauksson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emil Atlason 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 easiest signature of my career.” Osman Taher Petersson and Stjarnan agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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 Jóhann Árni Gunnarsson is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Emil Atlason signs something — a contract at Stjarnan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 6 on 36 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Stjarnan. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Emil Atlason 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birnir Snær Ingason was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Stjarnan has been clear about where Darri Bergmann Gylfason stands, which is more than many ever get.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Stjarnan are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Emil Atlason 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.
IA wanted more than $70.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Damil Dankerlui 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Valur have kept their man, and Stjarnan go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Maximus Abrahamsson is 20, and Stjarnan have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Josiah Awerosuoghene Egbedi is 18, and Stjarnan have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Alex Þór Hauksson 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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Stjarnan training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emil Atlason 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.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Stjarnan know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
Alex Þór Hauksson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Emil Atlason 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.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Emil Atlason signs something — a contract at Stjarnan or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
36 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stjarnan this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Ronan Curtis 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.