Jamie Vardy: An appreciation | OneFootball

Given the exploits of players such as Arthur Chandler, Arthur Rowley, Ernie Hine and Gary Lineker, it is some acolade that Jamie Vardy would be most people's pick as Leicester City’s greatest ever striker. Jamie hasn’t scored as many goals as the two Arthurs (198 to date) although he has played more games (496). Naming Jamie as number one is probably partly subjective in that I have witnessed first-hand his great contribution to the Foxes over the years. It is also in recognition, I suppose, of his rags to riches story which lightens the hearts of all football fans together with his loyalty to one club which is so rare in football these days. More objectively, Vardy has been at the heart of the club’s greatest every era, where major trophies, that had for so long eluded Leicester City, were finally won.

Jamie Vardy cost the Foxes £1m from Fleetwood Town, who had just, in 2012, been promoted to the Football League. This was a record fee for a non-league player, but still peanuts for a club in the second tier of English football (as Leicester were at the time). Born James Richard Gill (he took the name Vardy from his stepfather), Jamie was rejected by Sheffield Wednesday, the team he had supported from childhood, at 15 for being too small and lightweight (he was under five feet tall at that age) and signed for Stocksbridge Steel, a suburb to the north of Sheffield, in the Northern League as a part time player. After seven seasons, a move to Halifax Town for £15,000 followed before, less than a year later, he signed for non-league Fleetwood

At first, it seemed like the move up the leagues to the East Midlands was too big a leap. In his first season he scored only five goals in 29 appearances, had lost his place in the team and, according to his own account, was drinking heavily and partying hard. At the time, Vardy asked Leicester’s manager Nigel Pearson if he could go back to Fleetwood on loan, and it was rumoured that Sheffield Wednesday might be interested in taking him. After reassurances he was good enough from the coaching staff in the summer, however, Vardy’s form improved markedly during the Championship winning season scoring 16 goals in 41 games and in May he got his first England call up. The stage was set for his rise to national prominence.

Initially, it was a struggle for Jamie in the top-flight. He didn’t start his first Premier League game until September 21st, five matches in. It was a triumph, a remarkable 5-3 victory over Manchester United in which Vardy scored once and made the other four. However, that was the striker’s only goal until March 2015 with the club looking destined for relegation. And then the so-called ‘great escape’ happened with City winning seven and losing only one of their final nine matches, Vardy scoring four times.

What happened the following season, of course, is well-known. Vardy’s electric pace and fine finishing enabled him to score 24 times in 36 games played, including scoring in 11 successive games, the first Leicester striker since Gary Lineker in 1984/5 to score 20 league goals in a top-flight season. This included breaking the record by scoring in 11 successive games. Jamie’s strikes were also often crucial. In nine games during the season his goals were decisive in either securing wins (in four games) or draws (in five games). That’s a total of 17 points won by vital contributions from Leicester’s number nine. In 2016, The Football Writers Association named him as their footballer of the year and The Sunday Times later listed him as one of the ‘500 most influential people in Britain in 2016’. At his peak, he was certainly one of the best strikers in the world.

A move to Arsenal looked likely in the summer of 2016 but, much to the relief and gratitude of Foxes’ fans, he stayed put. For the next six Premier League seasons, he hit double figures with a high of 23 league goals, and the Golden Boot, in 2019/20. His goals helped City to two top five finishes and five successive top half finishes. Before his retirement from international football in 2018, the Leicester number nine won 26 England caps, scoring seven goals. Jamie’s form in the relegation season (only three goals) seemed to presage the end of a long and distinguished career but he bounced back scoring 18 league goals as City marched to the Championship title.

This season, after a bright start, Jamie, like his team mates in general, has struggled. It has been sad to see. Let's be clear though, his departure from the club he has graced for 13 years is a seismic event. I just hope that he decides to continue his career where he won't have to come up against his former team. Leicester City should be ordering the statute forthwith.