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

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.

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.

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.

Stoke 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 third division (the old Division Two). Gary Megson was fired to make way for Gudjon, who had personally worked to put together Stoke Holding. Results on the football field were not quite up to what everybody had hoped for and Stoke City did not gain promotion to a higher level for two years. By then relations between Gudjon and the Icelandic businessmen of Stoke Holding were becoming strained. Gudjon finally oversaw Stoke City's promotion into Division One in the spring of 2002 but was fired only days later.

Start

Gudjon had a brief stint at Norwegian club Start in 2002, but failed inspire the club to avoid relegation.

Barnsley

Barnsley appointed Gudjon as manager in 2003. The club had a great start to the season, but ended very badly. 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.

In June 2008 the media in Scotland repeatedly linked Gudjon with the manager´s post of Hearts F.C., 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 and that he was considering his options.

On July 11th, Hearts appointed Csaba Laszlo as the new 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. 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.

References