Jon Dagur Thordteinsson had clearly not read the script as England’s confidence-boosting farewell was scuppered after just 12 minutes in a drab friendly defeat to old foes Iceland at Wembley
Iceland, or Bejams as it was once known on the high street, won the cod wars with Britain over fishing rights in the North Atlantic in the 1970s.
And Roy Hodgson will never live down the night those upstart geezers from the land of geysers turfed England out of Euro 2016. On a turbo-charged night in Nice eight years ago, Iceland played brill and the Three Lions served up a load of pollocks.
So the Strakarnir Okkar (that’s ‘Our Boys’ in Icelandic) were perfect house guests for England’s send-off party before they fly to Germany on Monday – dark horses not to be taken lightly, and the shock therapists were at it again.
Wish them luck as you wave them goodbye, but the stream of missiles from Wembley’s bored Paper Dart Squadron and half-time chorus of boos spoke volumes for England’s slovenly opening 45 minutes. But for Iceland coach Age Hareide, giving England grief is part of the old routine.
He was part of the Norwegian side who famously beat Ron Greenwood’s side in a 1982 World Cup qualifier, sending radio commentator Bjorge Lillelien into a famous monologue. “Maggie Thatcher, can you hear me? I have a message for you – your boys took one helluva beating,” hollered Lillelien memorably.
Iceland have not quite kicked on since inflicting England’s most humiliating defeat this century. They have slipped to No.72 in the FIFA rankings, but as a nation they have punched above their weight in the Premier League era since biscuit baron Eggert Magnusson was West Ham chairman in 2007-8.
Ultimately, Magnusson’s reign in pie-and-mash heartlands was cut short by the Icelandic banking crash, and the Hammers were taken over by the Two Daves and Karren Brady. He got on well with the late David Gold but later confided: “(David) Sullivan and the nice lady weren’t my type of people.”
Ouch.
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