*Indicates unconfirmed information. Figures in brackets after English team names indicate all appearances made and goals scored in competitive matches for Football League clubs from 1888 onwards. For Scottish League clubs the figures show details of all competitive appearances and goals scored from 1946/47 onwards.
Ole Gottskalksson
Appearances: 2 Goals: 0
Clean Sheets: 0
Date / Year of birth: 12th March 1968
Position: Goalkeeper
Season of first appearance: 2004/05
Season of last appearance: 2004/05
Also played for: Akranes IA (Iceland), Reykjavik KR (Iceland), Keflavik IF (Iceland), Hibernian (Scotland), Brentford (89,0), UMF Grindavik (Iceland) and Torquay United (17,0)
6' 3" tall Icelandic keeper born in Keflavik who concentrated on basketball during the early part of his football career and represented Iceland at the sport. Ole also played for Iceland's football team at youth and Under-21 level and later won nine full international caps.
He started his football career with Akranes and made 33 league appearances for them during the 1988/89 and 1989/90 seasons before moving on to Reykjavik for the 1990/91 campaign.
Ole went on to play 71 league games for Reykjavik up to the end of the 1993/94 season.
In the summer of 1994 he signed for his hometown club Keflavik and Ole had 63 league outings there before Scottish Premier League club Hibernian paid £200,000 for his services in July 1997.
Ole had a memorable debut for Hibs as they managed to beat Celtic 2-1 on 3.8.97 and he went on to make 70 first team appearances for the Edinburgh club before joining English Division 2 (later League One) outfit Brentford on a free transfer in July 2000.
Ole's first game for the Bees was a 1-1 draw at Northampton on 12.8.00 and he went on to be Brentford's regular keeper until January 2002 when he picked up a shoulder injury in training that finished the 2001/02 season for him.
In the summer of 2002 Ole played in some friendlies for Stockport but turned down a deal with them and stayed at Brentford although his shoulder was still causing him problems. In November 2002 he had to retire from professional football having made a total of 89 appearances for Brentford, it had been ten months since his last outing for the club.
Ole then returned to Iceland and before the end of 2002 he signed for 1st Division club UMF Grindavik before rejoining Keflavik early in 2004. They were also in the Icelandic 1st Division.
In the summer of 2004 Ole returned to England and trained with Championship club Queens Park Rangers before having a trial at Grimsby. He couldn't play competitively there - even for the reserves - due to issues regarding an insurance payment made when he'd retired two years earlier.
Towards the end of August 2004 Ole joined Margate aged 36 and manager Chris Kinnear told the Thanet Times "He's very authoritative. He's a nice man, and he's really professional. He works out a lot, and he's bigger than he looks - it's quite frightening, really." Asked about the prospect of Ole being a long-term signing Kinnear said "We don't know what he's going to do yet - there have been league clubs interested in him."
Ole made his debut in a 2-1 win over Eastbourne in a Conference South match played at Margate's adopted home in Ashford on 28.8.04 and the Thanet Times said he "had little to do". Ole then played in a 2-1 defeat at Cambridge City on 30.8.04 before leaving the club to start a trial with League One club Torquay.
A few weeks later the Devon club signed Ole on a deal to the end of the 2004/05 campaign after a settlement was negotiated with the insurance company who'd paid out following his retirement in 2002 and he made his Torquay debut in a 1-1 draw at Peterborough on 2.10.04. Ole went on to make 17 first team appearances and the last of them came in a 2-2 draw at Bradford on 22.1.05.
His spell with Torquay ended suddenly at the start of February 2005 when Ole abruptly left the club and told an Icelandic newspaper that he had retired. He was quoted as saying "I am retiring for personal reasons, nothing else". However in June 2005 The Sun reported that Ole had actually left Torquay and disappeared after refusing to take a drugs test. The paper also revealed that the Football Association had suspended him indefinitely in April 2005. Ole thus became the first footballer to be officially named for breaking anti-doping regulations since new rules came into force in 2004. He was also the first player to be banned for refusing to comply with a drugs test since Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand who was given an eight month suspension.
In the wake of the revelations Torquay's Chairman Michael Bateson said of Ole "The players were at the training ground at the end of January when the drug testers turned up. He asked to look at the list of banned substances and asked what would happen if he had taken one of them. He was told that the test would be positive and the FA would be informed and he said "I'm refusing to take the test" and packed his things, left the training ground and we never saw him again. We tried to phone and write but couldn't get in touch. In fairness, I am sure he had not taken any recreational drugs. He had had a shoulder problem for several years and if he had taken anything then it was probably linked to that."
An FA spokesman said "Gottskalksson was charged on April 8 with a breach of FA regulations for his willing and knowing refusal to submit to drug testing. He failed to reply to the charge and his case was dealt with in absentia by an independent disciplinary commission. The commission imposed an indefinite suspension pending his appearance in front of the commission and the FA has applied to FIFA for his suspension to be applied worldwide."
Ole never played again having returned to Iceland and in October 2009 an Icelandic court charged him and a younger accomplice with burglary and assault. The pair had broken into a man's house and tried to steal his laptop computer. Ole was sentenced to ten months in prison and had to pay damages to the victim.
|
SEASON (CLUB) |
FULL (MAX) |
SUB |
GLS |
FAC |
FAT |
CC |
KSC |
| |
|
2004/05 (MFC) |
2 (51) |
0 |
0 |
CONFERENCE SOUTH (21ST OF 22) |
3QR |
1R |
4R |
W |
|
Margate relegated to
Isthmian League Premier Division. | |||||||||