Jamie Vardy - Flop to Fans Favourite

Article by e-Leicester Correspondent Jonathan Smith

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The last game of the 2011/12 season saw Leicester travel to Elland Road to play Leeds United. Jermaine Beckford and Martyn Waghorn started in attack with David Nugent, Darius Vassell and Harry Panayiotou on the bench as back-up. Waghorn scored a first half goal to put City in the driving seat. Nugent, Vassell and Panayiotou all came on with the latter scoring the winning goal on his first team debut at the age of 17. The tone of Nigel Pearson’s post-match interview that day was slightly unexpected. Instead of coming out and praising the team for their hard-fought win, Pearson spoke of the changes that would be needed the following season if Leicester were to be good enough to challenge for promotion. He didn’t single the strikers out for criticism in particular but you could sense his desire for more changes to be made to the squad. He had already signed Wes Morgan, Danny Drinkwater and Ben Marshall on permanent deals during the January transfer window that season but it clearly wasn’t enough to improve City’s league position.

The summer of 2012 saw the arrival of many new faces. Matty James and Ritchie de Laet joined from Manchester United, Anthony Knockaert came from French side Guingamp, Marko Futacs and Zak Whitbread were brought in to add competition to the squad and there was one other notable signing. That signing was Jamie Vardy. The type of striker Nigel Pearson was looking for.

Vardy had joined Fleetwood Town the previous summer having impressed whilst playing for FC Halifax. In his one and only season playing for Fleetwood in the Conference Premier, Vardy scored 34 goals in 40 appearances. His efforts hadn’t gone unnoticed. He was linked with a number of Championship clubs during the January transfer window in 2012 but, for whatever reason, the Sheffield born striker remained with Fleetwood for the rest of the 2011/12 season. The rumours soon started up again as Vardy’s goals led to promotion to League Two for him and his club. It was suggested that Cardiff City were also interested in signing him that summer but Leicester managed to land him at a price of a million pounds; a record fee for a non-league player. It was reported that the fee could rise in future depending on various factors. Vardy is known to be a Sheffield Wednesday supporter so the fact that Nigel Pearson is a legend at Hillsborough may have helped lure him to the club.

Vardy was slightly unlucky during his first season with Leicester. He started brightly scoring four goals in his first nine appearances and showing an impressive work-rate; something Jermaine Beckford rarely displayed when playing for the club. Unfortunately, his season was blighted by injury which stalled his progress. Vardy’s last appearance came in March 2013 meaning he sat out the last nine league games and the Play-Off Semi-Finals. He wasn’t injured for that whole period. He appeared on the bench but didn’t enter the field of play. Harry Kane, on loan from Tottenham, was chosen ahead of him when it came to picking a player to make an impact in the second half of games. Vardy’s form had dipped. His last goal came at the beginning of December 2012 and he didn’t score again until the first game of this season.

I get the feeling that most City supporters weren’t expecting much from Vardy this season. There was talk during pre-season that the club might look to offload him and put his signing down as an experiment that didn’t quite work out. What a mistake that would have been. He’s scored five goals in his last eight appearances; that’s the same as he managed all of last season. His tally is up to twelve now and it’s not just his goals that have impressed. His pace has frightened Championship defences on a regular basis and his first touch has improved from last season. He’s admitted that he had to work hard on his fitness during pre-season and the hard work is clearly paying off.

Looking to the future, it’ll be interesting to see if Vardy is able to make yet another step-up to the Premier League, should Leicester gain promotion. He’s not long turned 27 years old so you’d think the next few seasons will be the peak of his footballing career but it’s difficult to say. His late progression in the game could mean he’s still some way off reaching his peak. One thing’s for sure, Vardy’s game is based on his pace and his energy levels so he may find the going gets tough, especially once he gets the other side of 30. For now, Vardy’s eye for goal is helping City push for the Championship title and hopefully he will continue to make progress as he has done this season.

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