The Icelandic centre-back opens up on his time at Royals in an exclusive interview with Berkshire Live

Reading’s connection with Iceland stretches back nearly two decades.

First came Ivar Ingimarsson and Brynar Gunnarsson – two vital cogs in the 106 side in 2006 – before Gylfi Sigurdsson’s explosion on to the scene in 2009.

Jon Dadi Bodvarsson was the most recent senior Icelandic player on Royals’ books but there have been several who have come through the ranks in the club’s academy as well.

One player who graduated from the youth system and represented the first team in a couple of games was Axel Andresson.

A tall and powerful centre-back, Andresson came to England as a 16 year old and went on to spend three years at the club before moving to Norwegian side Viking initially on loan in 2018 and joining permanently last year.

BerkshireLive caught up with the 22-year-old for an exclusive interview to look back on his time at Royals.

“I’ve got an Icelandic agent who has really good links to English clubs,” started Andresson when recounting how his move came to fruition. “He did Gylfi Sigurdsson’s move to Reading.

“I was playing with the U17s [for Afturelding, his former club] and I was only 15 at the time. We went to a European tournament held in Norway.

“I was younger than the other lads in the squad so it was good for me. There were loads of scouts at these tournaments and I had the option of about six or seven teams to go and trial at.

“First I went to Norwich on a trial and got offered a contract but I didn’t like the club at the time. I didn’t think the youth system was the best.

“I went on tour with them to France but I didn’t want to go – I was just so young and homesick. I didn’t want to go anywhere at the time – I just wanted to stay at home because life was so easy and it was easy to stay in my comfort zone.

“After the Norwich trial I went to Reading on a trial and they really liked how I played.

“They offered me a contract straight away and they offered my whole family to come with me and that was the deal breaker. When I heard I could take my whole family with me there was no other place I wanted to go.

“I had the chance to go on a trial at Chelsea and Ajax and some other big clubs but my agent said I had a great opportunity to come to England in a very decent club and youth system and have your family, and I don’t think that’s going to happen at many other places.

“I came over and my two younger brothers were with me and one of them (Jokull – a goalkeeper) is still there which is a dream.”

Eamonn Dolan’s influence

One of the key people behind Andresson’s move was former Reading academy director Eamonn Dolan.

The Irishman, who sadly passed away in June 2016, was an instrumental figure in the club’s recent history due to his work in developing young players on and off the pitch.

His legacy is still felt to this day with a stand being named after him at Madejski Stadium and no fewer than 58 players coming through the youth system and making a first-team appearance.

Many players past and present speak fondly about the impact Dolan had at the club, and Andresson is no different.

“I spoke a little bit to Ivar Ingimarsson about the move and the Icelandic guys who were at the club at the time – so I didn’t talk to many people about it but it was just so professional,” he says.

“When Eamonn was there he was the man who got me over. I’ll happily say Eamonn was 80 to 90 per cent of why I moved over to Reading. He was a wonderful human being.

“When I look back at my time at Reading I don’t remember too many times when Eamonn was around me on the football side; he was more there to get my mind right and he was all about looking at your character.

“He saw through you and what character you were. He was amazing. When he opened his mouth everyone would listen. They would listen with so much respect and a little bit of fear.

“I remember the guys were a little bit scared of him and that’s why they respected him so much. It was a great trait he had – he had so much respect.

“Some players might say he had an impact for them on the pitch but I’d rather say he had an unbelievable influence for me off the pitch – helping me become a man.”

Cleaning Hector’s boots

For anyone, moving to a new country, adapting to a new language, lifestyle and culture represents a huge challenge and learning experience.

Some may shudder at the thought or try it and fail, while others will embrace it and tackle it head on, just like Andresson. But the defender admits although that was the case, it took him a while to find his feet at the club.

“At the beginning of my Reading career it was unbelievably hard,” he explains.

“One of the biggest moments that sticks in my mind is when David Dodds (U18s coach) and Michael Gilkes (then an academy coach, now academy director) took the U18s to RAF Benson for a boot camp trip.

“I got ill because it was so hard – I was just weak mentally at the time.

“I was so afraid of being there so I went ill on the second day and thinking about it now, making it through the ranks and playing a first-team game when I was only 19, I think that was big for me.

“I got through those times – many, many hard times at the training ground. It’s tough and I admire players who go through the ranks at Reading.”

A boot camp was not the only method used by Reading to help instil character in players.

Andresson recalls the days of the younger lads cleaning the boots of the senior players, as well as various odd jobs around the Hogwood Park training ground.

The well-respected defender was put in charge of his teammates and had to ensure each player carried out the task to the best of their ability.

“There were so many more rules when I was there,” says Andresson. “We had to clean the boots of the older players and we had jobs every day.

“I was ‘head youth boy’ so I had to take care of all of the jobs. That was extremely hard – I was more nervous about that than the football! Overseeing all the jobs – there were so many jobs.

“Coming from another country especially, being in that role of telling other people what to do and some people not taking you seriously because my English wasn’t that good or whatever reason – it was a tough challenge but it made me grow up so much and I wouldn’t change many things in my youth career growing up at Reading.

“I had to clean Michael Hector’s boots. He was an unbelievable guy. It was hard but I managed.

“At the time I thought the jobs were awful and I hated it but now looking back we learned so much, how to be disciplined and David Dodds always said you need to do it perfectly, you can’t do a half job.

“It’s funny to think about it now. I didn’t like him at the time – telling me to do all these jobs – but in my opinion the young guys should still be doing that.

“We had to wear black boots – it was the worst rule in the world at the time but now I can see the reason. You’re so much more disciplined in life having done all those jobs.”

Loan spells

A significant part of Andresson’s time of growing up in England was two spells out on loan in the lower leagues.

The defender first went to Bath City for a spell in 2016/17 before joining Torquay United in the National League the following season.

Although he only played around 20 games overall, he says these loans were some of the memories he looks back on most fondly from his time in England.

“They were some of my best experiences of my time in England, especially the Bath loan,” explains Andresson.

“It went so well – I played 16 games and we won 10 of them, only losing two. At the end of that loan experience I was the captain so that was one of my best experiences.

“Torquay was a huge learning curve – we were at the bottom of the table and everything was horrible – the manager was not the happiest! The assistant coach was Martin Kuhl and he was with me with the U21s at Reading.

“All in all, my loan spells were some of my best moments. When I came in to Reading youth system, I had quite a closed mind in terms of getting to know other players in the team.

“It’s a tough, tough world going in to academies from another country.

“You don’t really have any friends – it’s such a big competition and it was hard. When I went out on loan I made life-long friends because I had such an open mind going into the loans.

“One of the biggest things I learned from my time in England was to accept the culture because there were so many rules.

“When I came to England they looked at me like a child but in Iceland at 15 years of an age I was just an adult in the eyes of the older ones. I was just a kid when I came to England and that was really hard to take.

“When I started accepting the culture and the differences between Iceland and England then everything started happening for me.

“I started training with the first team quite regularly, especially after Jaap Stam came in. He saw something in me and when I got my debut he spoke to me and said I was in his plans.

“I started training with them every day and I wouldn’t say I was the next man in but I had a good chance there.”

Senior Reading debut

Andresson was actually handed his first-team bow at Reading by Jaap Stam at the start of the 2017/18 campaign – between his two loans.

The defender was slowly integrated into the senior squad and thrown in for his debut when he replaced Omar Richards for the final half hour of Reading’s 2-0 League Cup first-round win over Gillingham at Madejski Stadium in August 2017.

“It was a wonderful day for me,” says Andresson. “Going over to England and not speaking the language very well – I understood it but I was not very well spoken – and making my debut was obviously the biggest moment of my life.”

Two weeks later, in the second round of the competition, he was given his first Royals start when he lined up alongside Tiago Ilori in central defence for the match with Millwall at the Mad Stad.

Andresson played 89 minutes before coming off for Tyler Blackett in the 3-1 extra-time win.

That proved to be it for Andresson’s first-team involvement, however, and he joined Torquay later that year.

A knee injury ultimately curtailed his campaign and when he returned to Reading, Stam had been sacked.

Paul Clement was brought in to replace the Dutchman and with the former Swansea City and Derby County boss reluctant to turn to youth, Andresson knew his days in Berkshire were numbered.

Academy boss Lee Herron had also left in the January of that year (2018) and been replaced by Ged Roddy which also proved another factor in the Icelander’s exit.

“Jaap Stam was a great manager at the time,” recalls Andresson. “In a short amount of time I learned the most under him. I sucked it in like a swan – everything he said.

“I was really sad – I got quite badly injured just after my Torquay spell and when I got back from injury he had been sacked which was bad for me.

“Paul Clement came in and he didn’t even want to look at me. He wasn’t really in to the younger lads.

“That was the time when I thought to myself – I’m a defender and I have to get experience as a first-team player.

“Then the Norway opportunity came about and I jumped at it, even though I had some opportunities to go to Holland on loan. The role the Norwegian manager gave me [was what I wanted] – he said I would play every minute in a respected league.

“When I came back to Reading they had switched academy managers and the new guys didn’t really know me.

“When Viking bid for me – in my opinion because they didn’t know my character or my footballing skills – they just said yes to the offer.

“They offered me to stay as well because I still had two years on my contract or I could go. And in my eyes if they wanted to keep me but said yes to another offer then I would definitely have to leave.

“But I have no hard feelings towards Reading – it was just the time in my career, I was 21 and had the chance to play in a big league and hopefully I will come back to England, it’s just a matter of time.

“I’ve played a few Championship games and was in the squad a few times and I was so grateful for that opportunity and I hope to get that again because that’s my goal.

“Hopefully it’ll open some doors too when I go back.”

Andresson’s adventure in Norway started in August 2018. Having signed a one-year contract extension with Reading, he made the move to Viking FK – a club based in the city of Stavanger in the southwestern part of the country.

He played nine times for Viking, helping them secure promotion back to the top division at the first attempt.

Having made a strong impression on manager Bjarne Berntsen, the Norwegian side offered to sign Andresson permanently in December 2018.

“I wouldn’t say he [Roddy] made me leave but he was the man who accepted the bid from Viking,”, says Andresson.

“It was a bit of a disappointing end because especially in my later years at Reading I felt at home when I started training with the first team more.

“I definitely saw my career as a Reading player.

“At that point when I left I wasn’t sad leaving because I was going into a team that had great ambitions and now we’re in the Europa League so there are big things happening.

“But my ambition is to get back to England or the big leagues. I wouldn’t say Norway is a pit-stop, I wouldn’t disrespect the country like that but my ambition is to play in the Premier League or Championship.

“I love England – everything about it. At the time I wasn’t that sad but I really miss it.”

“I’ve got no worries under Mark Bowen now, I like him,” said Andresson.

“I think he’s a good manager. It didn’t look good at the start of the season and I had some bad feelings about the season.

“But after Bowen came in he obviously has a good influence on the lads in the team so there’s no fear in my heart any more about what’s happening at the club.”