Heiðar Helguson: Difference between revisions

Heiðar Helguson
Personal information
Full name	Heiðar Helguson
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	Queens Park Rangers
Number	27
	‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 09:13, 20 November 2008 (UTC)

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Revision as of 06:34, 27 May 2009

Heiðar Helguson (born 22 August, 1977 in Akureyri; first name commonly anglicised to Heidar) is an Icelandic footballer currently playing as a striker for Queens Park Rangers.

Heiðar, who is also an Iceland international, previously played for Bolton Wanderers, Watford and Lillestrøm. He joined Bolton in the 2007–08 off-season for an undisclosed fee from Fulham, moving on a three-year deal.^[1]

Club career

Lillestrøm

Heiðar came to Lillestrøm S.K. at a young age from Icelandic club Þróttur R. He made his first team debut in 1998, curiously wearing number 1 on his shirt. The next season Helguson became one of the great surprises in Norwegian football scoring 16 league-goals. Helguson was a very popular player, and even had his own fan-club.

Watford

Heiðar was signed by Watford manager Graham Taylor mid-way through the 1999-00 season for a club record £1.5m. Brought in to boost the struggling club's striking department, Heiðar had a torrid debut at home to Liverpool FC, where he suffered from the physical presence of Liverpool's Sami Hyypiä. However, Heiðar endured and scored in his first game. He later picked up the Display of the Season award for this goal scoring debut against one of the finest clubs in English football. He did so five more times that season. His goals weren't enough to keep Watford up, and the Hertfordshire club were relegated after only one year in the Premier League.

Back in Division 1, Heiðar was part of a Watford side that was undefeated for the first 15 games of the season, topping the league. However, when the side's form slumped in late 2000, Helguson suffered a crisis of confidence - one of several during his first few years at Watford - and was well below his best for a large amount of that campaign.

At the end of the season Taylor retired and was replaced by Gianluca Vialli. Under the Italian's somewhat bizarre tactics Helguson was deployed out of position as a right wing-back, which, understandably, didn't suit him.

With Ray Lewington in charge for the 2002-03 season, Heiðar showed a marked improvement. Although still prone to injury (he didn't start the season until late September), he finished the season Watford's top goal scorer with 13, including goals in Watford's run to the FA Cup semi-Finals. In 2003-04 injury kept Heiðar out of most of the first half of the season. On his return he put in some notable performances, the most notable being his leading of the line against Chelsea in the FA Cup.

2004-05 was Heiðar's best season in a Watford shirt. Relatively free of injury, he scored 20 goals and picked up the "Goal of the Season," "Display of the Season" and "Player of the Season" awards at the end of season awards ceremony. Inevitably his goal tally brought about interest from Premier League clubs and with Watford needing money, the offer from Fulham was accepted.

Fulham

Heiðar signed for Fulham on June 27, 2005 ^[2] and was largely confined to the bench at the beginning of the campaign. He scored his first goal for Fulham in the 5-4 League Cup victory over Lincoln. More recently he has been enjoying an excellent run in the side, and the front pair of Heidar and Brian McBride caused trouble to the best defences in the Premier League. Heidar scored against Chelsea (penalty), Aston Villa (penalty), West Ham (open play - left foot) and Manchester United (open play - header), a double in a 6-1 win over West Brom, Bolton Wanderers (header as a result of a free kick) and against Middlesbrough (penalty). For the start of the 2006–07 season he was moved from No. 10 to No. 9 at Fulham.

Bolton Wanderers

On 20 July 2007 it was announced that Heiðar was leaving Fulham to join Bolton Wanderers F.C. for an undisclosed fee, as part of manager Sammy Lee's squad restructuring. Helguson reportedly signed a three-year contract with the Trotters, having been forced to consider his options following the signings of David Healy and Diomansy Kamara.

He made his Bolton debut as a substitute for the injured Kevin Davies on August 11, 2007 with Wanderers already trailing to Newcastle United. Four days later he returned to Fulham for the first time since leaving and got on the scoresheet in a 2-1 Bolton defeat.

It was the end of January 2008 by the time Heiðar got any more playing time, but his return was welcome with Bolton desperately short of firepower having sold Nicolas Anelka to Chelsea earlier on that month. His first appearance back in the side was a goalless draw against old club Fulham where he came off the substitutes bench for the last eight minutes of the game. He scored his first goal for Bolton since coming back from injury 4 days later against Reading in a 2-0 win.

Bolton confirmed in May 2008 that they had sent Heiðar over to Belgium for more surgery in order to have him back for pre-season training.

Queens Park Rangers

On 20 November, it was announced that Heiðar had joined Queens Park Rangers on an emergency loan until the end of January, 2009.^[3]. However, the loan did not go through until the following Friday.^[4]

After failing to score on his debut against Wolverhampton Wanderers and in his second match against Sheffield Wednesday, Heiðar scored once against Plymouth Argyle and braces against both Preston North End and Blackpool to bag himself 5 goals in his first 10 games. On 2 January, the deal was made permanent for an undisclosed fee^[5].

International career

Heiðar made his debut for Iceland in an April 1999 friendly match against Malta, coming on as a substitite for Ríkharður Daðason, and earned 41 caps, scoring 7 goals.^[6]His last international match was an August 2006 friendly match against Spain. In June 2007, Heiðar announced his retirment from international football. On 28 August 2008 Heiðar announced his return to international football and was immediately selected in the Icelandic team to face Norway and Scotland a few days later. He scored a goal against Norway in the world cup qualifier as the match ended 2-2. ^[7].

Playing style

Heiðar is known for his aerial prowess. Despite being only 5'10, his giant leap and positioning skills make him a lethal header of the ball. His other notable characteristic is his decision making and huge work-rate - many times in a game will a defender encounter Heiðar bearing down on him at full pelt. Early in his Watford career this occasionally spilled over into dangerous and reckless tackles, but thankfully this part of his game has since been curbed. He has a sharp finish, a good penalty taker (although never taken a spot-kick that has won a game) and has scored against many top clubs. He has never scored a free-kick in his career.

Unfortunately Heiðar is fairly injury-prone. During his time in England he has been out for sustained periods of time in every season, this problem is hopefully over since his operation to repair his troublesome hip joint.

Name

Heiðar was named Heiðar Sigurjónsson at birth but changed his name to Heiðar Helguson later in honour of his mother.

References

^ Helguson Set To Sign For Whites | Bolton Wanderers | News | Latest News | General
^ "Heidar Helguson Fulham Player Profile". 4THEGAME.com. Retrieved May 4. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
^ "Helguson is a loan ranger". Bolton Wanderers. 2008-11-20. Retrieved 2008-11-20.
^ "Helguson seals QPR move". Sky Sports. 2008-11-28. Retrieved 2008-11-28.
^ "Helguson seals permanent QPR deal". BBC. 2009-01-02. Retrieved 2009-01-02.
^ Iceland - Record International Players - RSSSF
^ Íslenski landsliðshópurinn - Heiðar Helguson að nýju í hópnum, Icelandic national team selection - Helguson back Retrieved 28th August 2008

External links

[1] Helguson Set To Sign For Whites | Bolton Wanderers | News | Latest News | General

[2] "Heidar Helguson Fulham Player Profile". 4THEGAME.com. Retrieved May 4. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)

[3] "Helguson is a loan ranger". Bolton Wanderers. 2008-11-20. Retrieved 2008-11-20.

[4] "Helguson seals QPR move". Sky Sports. 2008-11-28. Retrieved 2008-11-28.

[5] "Helguson seals permanent QPR deal". BBC. 2009-01-02. Retrieved 2009-01-02.

[6] Iceland - Record International Players - RSSSF

[Helguson_back-7] Íslenski landsliðshópurinn - Heiðar Helguson að nýju í hópnum, Icelandic national team selection - Helguson back Retrieved 28th August 2008

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@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 |            position = [[Striker]]
 |          youthyears = 1994-1996
-|          youthclubs = [[UMFS Dalvík]]
+|          youthclubs = [[UMFS Dalvík]]<br />[[Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur|Þróttur]]
 |               years = 1997&ndash;1998<br />1998&ndash;1999<br />1999&ndash;2005<br />2005&ndash;2007<br />2007&ndash;2009<br>2008&ndash;2009<br />2009&ndash;
 |               clubs = [[Knattspyrnufélagið Þróttur|Þróttur]]<br />[[Lillestrøm SK|Lillestrøm]]<br />[[Watford F.C.|Watford]]<br />[[Fulham F.C.|Fulham]]<br />[[Bolton Wanderers F.C.|Bolton Wanderers]]<br />→ [[Queens Park Rangers F.C.|Queens Park Rangers]] (loan)<br />[[Queens Park Rangers F.C.|Queens Park Rangers]]