Guðjón Þórðarson

Football manager infobox
playername= Guðjón Þórðarson
fullname = Guðjón Þórðarson
nickname =


dateofbirth = birth date and age|1955|9|14
cityofbirth = Akranes
countryofbirth = Iceland
height =
currentclub =
position = manager
youthyears = ÍA Akranes
youthclubs =
years = 1972-1986
clubs =ÍA Akranes
caps(goals) = 400+ (22)
nationalyears = 1985
nationalteam = flagicon|Iceland Iceland
nationalcaps(goals) = 1 (0)
manageryears = 1987-1990 1991-1994 1995-1996 1997-1999 1999-2002 2002 2003-2004 2005 2005-2006 2007-2008
managerclubs = KA Akureyri ÍA Akranes KR Reykjavík Iceland Stoke City Start Barnsley Keflavík Notts County ÍA Akranes
pcupdate = 26 July 2008
ntupdate = 8 September 2007

Guðjón Þórðarson (in English - Thordarson) (born September 14, 1955) is an Icelandic football manager. He last managed ÍA Akranes of the Icelandic Premier League but was sacked on 21 July 2008.

He has previously been manager of KA, KR, Keflavík, Notts County, Iceland, Stoke City, Barnsley and Start in Norway.

Þórðarson has three sons who also play professional football, namely: Bjarni, Joey and Þórður Guðjónsson.

=Playing Career [cite news | url=http://kia.ia.is/default.asp?sid_id=27581&tre_rod=001%7C008%7C002%7C001%7C&tId=1 | title=Guðjón Þóðarson knattspyrnustjóri ÍA (in icelandic) | accessdate=2007-09-01] =

Club career

Gudjon played over 400 matches for his hometown club, ÍA Akranes, scoring 22 goals in the process. In his career, Gudjon won 5 league titles and 5 cup titles. He also played 22 European games for ÍA Akranes.

International career

Gudjon played in his only international match in 1985.

Management career

KA Akureyri

Gudjon was appointed manager of KA Akureyri in 1987. The team won its first and only league title in 1989.

ÍA Akranes

After being relegated in 1990, ÍA Akranes appointed Gudjon as manager. The team was promoted at first attempt, and subsequently won the Icelandic league the following year, in 1992. The team dominated Icelandic football the next few years and became champions of Iceland for five years running, 1992-1996 [ [http://www.ksi.is/mot/fra-upphafi/greinar//nr/56 Íslandsmeistarar meistaraflokks karla ] ] .

KR Reykjavík

KR Reykjavik, Iceland's biggest club, appointed Gudjon in 1995. The team had not won the league for more than 20 years and Gudjon was seen as the right man to win the title. He did not win the league in his two year stint at the club, but the team did win the cup.

Iceland

Gudjon was very successful as manager of the Icelandic national team. During the 3 years he was in charge, the team played 24 games, winning 10 of them, drawing 4 and losing 8. The team scored 35 goals in the process, conceding 23.

The team was close to qualifying to the European Championship in 2000, despite being placed in a very strong qualifying group alongside Ukraine, Russia and current world champions France.The game that took place at Stade de France was one that put Icelandic football to a higher standard. After being 2-0 down at half time, to come back too 2-2, and closely loosing in additional time 3-2. If the score had been 2-2 Iceland would have qualified for the Euro 2000.

This result and ÍA´s result under his command created the image of Gudjon as a competent football manager, albeit a tough and highly strung one.

toke City

Gudjon became Stoke City's first non-British manager in November 1999, when he joined the club following the takeover of the club by an Icelandic consortium, Stoke Holding. Stoke was then in the second division. Gary Megson was fired to make way for Gudjon, who had personally worked to put together Stoke Holding. Just 5 months after his takeover, Gudjon lead Stoke to the Auto Windscreen trophy final to win over Bristol City, at the old Wembley. Also becoming the first Icelander to manage a english team to trophy victory. Stoke was in the top 5 for the three years he stayed there. After two years Gudjon shortend his contract to the end of the season 2002, claiming if he did not get them promoted now, he was not the right man to do so. But this proved to be the case, he won promotion in play off finals against Bradford 2-0. There was a thing called the south-end jinx at the Millenium Stadium, for no team had yet won a title in that dressing room. Stoke also became the first team in the 5th league position to gain play-offs promotion. Gudjon´s impending contract renewal was however terminated just 5 days after the promotion to Division 1 (now the Championship). It is said that this was a personal decision taken by club chairman Gunnar Gíslason. The fans ordered a campaign to wish for his immediate reasignment, but the protests of around 5000 people outside the club proved unsuccessful.

To this day Gudjon has one of the best managerial records at Stoke City and highest attendance average. Managing 154 matches, won 77, drew 39 and lost 38. So out of 462 points in the pot, 270 were gathered, or on average just over 1.7 points per game.

tart

Gudjon signed a contract with Start in Kristiansand just through the end of the season to try to steer the club away from relagation. However relagation was inevedable. But at the time Gudjon spent there 5 of the young players in the squad were called up for the U21 Norway side for the first time.

Barnsley

Barnsley appointed Gudjon as manager in 2003. The club had a great start to the season, but his reign ended after a Peter Richdale takeover at the club. Gudjon was fired in 2004.

Keflavík

Gudjon decided to return to Iceland in 2005 and was appointed manager of Keflavik. However, he quit just 3 days before the first game of the season to take charge of Notts County.

Notts County

Gudjon was appointed manager of Notts County in 2005. The team started very well, leading the table early on, but eventually failed to make the playoffs. Þórðarson was fired from Notts County in May 2006 after Notts County finished 21st in League 2. He became the club's first non-British manager when he arrived at Meadow Lane in May 2005.

ÍA Akranes

ÍA Akranes had a difficult season in 2006, avoiding relegation in the last few weeks of the season. Gudjon was appointed manager ahead of the 2007 season, where the team finished 3rd in the league, with one of the leagues youngest teams and also scoring the 3rd most goals in the league.

In June 2008 the media in Scotland repeatedly linked Gudjon with the manager´s post of Hearts F.C. [ [http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/2008/06/11/gudjon-thordarson-to-boss-hearts-with-terry-butcher-as-no-2-86908-20603054/ Gudjon Thordarson to boss Hearts with Terry Butcher as No.2 - The Daily Record ] ] , with Terry Butcher as his assistant, but Akranes officials insisted it was only rumours and he would stay put in Iceland. Gudjon himself did, however, confirm to an Icelandic news-site that discussions with Hearts had indeed taken place [ [http://eyjan.is/blog/2008/06/11/gudjon-ad-taka-vid-hearts-i-edinborg/ Eyjan » Guðjón að taka við Hearts? - staðfestir viðræður ] ] and that he was considering his options.

On July 11th, Hearts appointed Csaba Laszlo as the new manager [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/h/heart_of_midlothian/7500278.stm BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Hearts | Hearts appoint Laszlo as manager ] ] . Whether Gudjon had ever been a serious contender for the job is not known.

On July 21st, Gudjon was fired from his post at ÍA [ [http://visir.is/article/20080721/IDROTTIR0101/728012154 Vísir - Íþróttir - Fótbolti - Íslenski boltinn ] ] . The team´s performance had been going straight downhill for weeks, but the final straw was a 1-6 defeat against Breidablik UBK. Gudjon was replaced by the brothers, Arnar Gunnlaugsson and Bjarki Gunnlaugsson [ [http://visir.is/article/20080721/IDROTTIR0101/220332183 Vísir - Íþróttir - Fótbolti - Íslenski boltinn ] ] .

Controversies

Gudjon Thordarson has been involved in many controversies in his career as a manager. He has been sacked many times [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/n/notts_county/5018300.stm BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Notts County | Thordarson exits Notts County job ] ] [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/s/stoke_city/1987271.stm BBC SPORT | Football | Teams | Stoke City | Stoke sack Thordarson ] ] [ [http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-20552729_ITM Paul Hart named as new Barnsley manager after Thordarson sacked. | The America's Intelligence Wire (March, 2004) ] ] [ [http://fotbolti.net/fullStory.php?id=64338 Fótbolti.net ] ] .

On 13 May 2005 he resigned as manager of Keflavík only a few days before the 2005 season began, because of unfulfilled financial and professional obligations. [ [http://www.mbl.is/mm/sport/landsbankadeild/2005/05/13/gudjon_haettur_sem_thjalfari_keflavikur/ Guðjón hættur sem þjálfari Keflavíkur - mbl.is ] ] Keflavík refused those accusations. [ [http://fotbolti.net/fullStory.php?id=25177 Fótbolti.net ] ] Gudjon had repeatedly refused being in talks with English League 2 club Notts County at the time. [ [http://fotbolti.net/fullStory.php?id=25155 Fótbolti.net ] ] However, one day after leaving his job, on 14 May 2005, he admitted being interested in the Notts County job [ [http://fotbolti.net/fullStory.php?id=25178 Fótbolti.net ] ] , and was subsequently appointed manager of Notts County on 17 May 2005. [ [http://fotbolti.net/fullStory.php?id=25279 Fótbolti.net ] ]

References