Was there ever any doubt? Leicester City’s fantastic Mr Fox reached the milestone every neutral football fan wanted. Twenty-eight minutes into his 500th and final match for the club, 13 years to the day he signed for the Foxes, 38-year-old Jamie Vardy ran onto a crisp reverse pass from James Justin who had marauded past the Ipswich Town defence.
What followed was a typically non-Vardy finish: a deft drag of the right foot that took the ball past Ipswich’s onrushing goalkeeper Alex Palmer and the retreating Dara O’Shea. The King Power stadium erupted as the net rippled.
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Vardy roared towards the travelling Ipswich fans who, much like their team, wanted to spoil his farewell on a balmy Sunday in the East Midlands. But Vardy was having none of it. Football fairytales rarely fall through. Shushing them with his celebration, the English striker uprooted the corner flag and held it high in the air. This was proper “Vardy Juice”, as some social media handles described it. Full metal football and the emotions ran high.
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Suddenly, the $1 million transfer fee that Leicester paid for Vardy when he signed from Fleetwood Town in 2012 looks like a snip. It is his rise in English football that has always fascinated me. Imagine a player who played for as low as 30 pounds a week in non-league football. A player who went from factory worker (as a technician who made medical splints) to a Premier League title winner.
In that magical Leicester City 2015-16 season, when Claudio Ranieri’s side kept winning and winning until no one could catch them, Vardy scored some exceptional goals. His strikes were venomous, his technique flawless. This volley against Liverpool was the perfect example.
Forget finesse, forget precision. Vardy always struck the football with pure power. His trademark runs and positional awareness were the bane of even the best Premier League defenders.
When Leicester City defied odds of 5,000 to 1 at the start of the 2015-16 season to win the title, Vardy proved to be their ultimate bet. His return of 24 goals that season were his best for Leicester.
As Leicester head back to the Championship, Vardy can leave with his head held high. Very few players can claim 200 goals and a Premier League winners’ medal in their haul. Add to that an FA Cup triumph in 2020-21, the Community Shield in 2021, a Premier League Player of the Season (2015–16) award and a Premier League Golden Boot (2019-20), and you have yourself a polished Premier League legend. He is also the oldest player to win a Premier League Golden Boot and the only player in PL history to score 100-plus goals after turning 30.
One stat in particular stands out and - as a Manchester United fan - it does not make for pretty viewing. Vardy holds the all-time Premier League record scoring run with an 11-game streak in between August and November 2015. The previous holder of this record was none other than his current coach and former Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy. The 11th goal came against, you guessed it, Manchester United. “It’s 11, it’s heaven for Jamie Vardy.” God bless you, Martin Tyler.
I am neither a Leicester City fan, nor a Jamie Vardy fan. Everyone likes a flashy footballing superstar. But who doesn’t love an underdog story? Who doesn’t love a fearless striker in football who can be both clinical and funny on the pitch at the same time? Sport is after all a mix of emotions, actions and stories we recall years after they were told.
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That’s just how Jamie Vardy always played. The opposition didn’t matter. It didn’t matter if he had a blue cast on his arm. It didn’t matter if he drank a concoction of Red Bulls and coffees before training, as he so shamelessly admitted some years ago. His scoring did the talking on the field.
On Sunday, Vardy left the pitch to a guard of honour in the 80th minute. He hopped back onto the substitute’s bench one last time in Leicester’s blue as the crowd at the King Power stadium continued to sing his name, as they shall for a long, long time to come.
“It’s been a rollercoaster,” Vardy said in a post-match farewell programme, as he addressed the crowd. “I’ve enjoyed every minute of it… The only thing I can say from the bottom of my heart is thank you for taking myself and my family in as one of your own, and I hope I’ve repaid everything for you.”
500 appearances. 200 goals. A Premier League title winner when no one gave him an outside chance. One Jamie Vardy. This was – without a sliver of doubt - the ultimate Premier League underdog story.