The Ice Man of the Albion Ivar Ingimarrson

Europe may have only found out about the talents of Iceland at Euro 2016 as the nation exploded onto the scene amid thunder claps and a second round humbling of England, but Brighton fans discovered the footballing abilities of the Nordic island 13 years earlier thanks to Ivar Ingimarrson.

Ingimarrson arrived at Withdean in February 2003 on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers. His time with the Albion may have been brief, consisting of just 15 appearances across three months but he still managed to make quite the impression as Steve Coppell’s side battled unsuccessfully against relegation from the second tier.

Ingimarrson began his career in his home nation, starting out with Knattspyrnufélagið Valur in the capital Reykjavík before moving to Íþróttabandalag Vestmannaeyja in the city of Vestmannaeyjar on Iceland’s south coast. Answers on a postcard as to how you say any of those names please.

While with Íþróttabandalag Vestmannaeyja – or ÍBV for short – Ingimarrson won the Icelandic League and Cup double in 1998 at the age of 21.

That piqued the interest of Torquay United, who took Ingimarrson on loan a year later in October 1999. The Gulls were suitably impressed by their new Icelandic international signing but other English clubs were starting to sit up and take notice, with Brentford swooping in with a £150,000 offer which Torquay were never going to be able to match. Suddenly, Ingimarrson was a Bee rather than a Gull.

It was at Griffin Park during the 2001-02 season that Coppell became acquainted with Ingimarrson. Coppell led Brentford to third place in the Division Two table that season behind the Albion’s champions and second placed Reading, Ingimarrson becoming one of Coppell’s most trusted lieutenants.

Defeat to Stoke City in the play off final brought the curtain down on both Ingimarrson and Coppell’s time with Brentford as budget cuts meant that the Bees could not afford to extend their contracts.

Ingimarrson went out on a wave of popularity. He was voted the Brentford’s Player of the Season and had an instrumental track by Britpop band The Bluetones written in his honour. Guitarist Adam Devlin was a huge Brentford fan and so penned the song, titled Ingimarrson, as an ode to the Icelandic defender.

Had fate played a different hand, then Ingimarrson might well have become a Brighton player that summer. It seemed fairly obvious that wherever Coppell’s next job was, he would want to take Ingimarrson there with him on a free transfer.

Following Peter Taylor’s resignation, Coppell was one of the leading candidates to take over as Albion boss. Dick Knight interviewed him but decided to give the job to Martin Hinshelwood, as you do.

Hinshelwood lasted just 12 games in the hot seat – 10 of those resulting in consecutive defeats – before Knight realised the error of his ways in October, sacked Hinshelwood and belatedly gave the job to Coppell.

Had Coppell been appointed that summer, Ingimarrson would surely have followed him to Withdean. Given the impact that both men had on the Albion’s season once they arrived, you could make a very strong case that had they been brought in during the summer, Brighton’s stay in the second tier might have lasted longer than one short season.

Instead, Ingimarrson moved to Wolves. He found first team opportunities at Molineux limited however, playing just 13 times for Dave Jones’ promotion chasers. That allowed Coppell to pounce and in February 2003, Ivar Ingimarrson became a Brighton player.

He slotted straight into the Albion’s back three and it was like he’d been playing there all season. Ingimarrson always seemed to be in the right place at the right time, he never lost a header and when he went into for a tackle, it was with all the force of an Icelandic volcano. He’d win the ball, but the man would know about it too.

His best attribute was his calmness. He was cool as a cucumber and nothing seemed to phase him. He made football look simple, which was half the reason that Ivar Ingimarrson earned the nickname the Ice Man during his time at Brighton – the other half of course being because we’re all unoriginal bastards and it was an easy nickname to give a bloke from Iceland.

Of Ingimarrson’s 15 appearances for the Albion, only five ended in defeat. Brighton kept six clean sheets in those games having managed just four in the previous 31.

It says much that in a defence consisting of Danny Cullip, Dean Blackwell and Ingimarrson, it was he who was the best centre back at the club – suddenly, Iceland meant so much more to the people of Brighton than being somewhere that Kerry Katona would go to pick up a prawn ring.

The fondness between Ivar Ingimarrson and Brighton wasn’t a one-way street either. Ingimarrson told Brian Owen in an interview with The Argus some years later, “Brighton was up there as one of the best times of my career. I loved the city and the atmosphere and the buildings and culture.”

“I think if we had played like we did (in the final few months) for the whole season, we would have been well up the table. That had a lot to do with Steve Coppell.”

A 2-2 draw on the final day of the season away at Grimsby Town – a game Ingimarrson missed through injury – instead condemned Brighton to an immediate return to Division Two.

Had the Albion survived, they were set to offer a significant fee to Wolves in the summer of 2003 to turn Ingimarrson’s loan deal into a permanent transfer.

Relegation and the necessary adjustment of the transfer and playing budget put an end to that dream, and so Ingimarrson returned to the reserves at Molineux.

He wouldn’t have long to wait to be reunited with Coppell, however. On October 9th 2003, Coppell swapped Withdean for the Madjeski Stadium as he was appointed the new manager of Reading. Two weeks later on October 23rd and the Biscuitment paid £175,000 to sign Ingimarrson.

That proved to be a shrewd piece of business. Ingimarrson played 281 times over the course of eight years, including as part of Coppell’s side which tore up the record books when winning the Championship in 2005-06.

Ingimarrson was Reading’s Player of the Season in their first ever campaign in the Premier League and went onto captain the club between 2009 and his departure in 2011.

A brief spell at Ipswich Town followed before Ingimarrson called time on his career at the age of 34, returning to his homeland to run two small guest houses and a farm – from where he watches the surprising emergence of Iceland as a footballing nation with interest.

Not that anyone who saw Ivar Ingimarrson in a Brighton shirt is surprised. Thanks to the Ice Man, we knew long ago that there was talent forged in them there fjords.