Thequickbrownfox

TENTH SEASON 2021/22 “There’s something strange going on tonight, There’s something going on that’s not quite right.” (Wire) On the face of it, this was a pretty decent season, but there were definitely signs that the old Leicester magic was finally starting to fade. Leicester began the season by lifting the Community Shield, then Vardy scored a fine goal against Wolves in the first league game followed by the famous howl celebration. He soon scored his 150th Leicester goal against Brighton and an excellent strike against Man United helped the Foxes to an exciting 4-2 success. However, this was typical of Leicester’s games this season. Despite some fine players, they all seemed either slightly on the wane or else not fully gelling together. This was most evident in the Europa League which could easily have seen us qualify for the next stage, but some frenetic games including a 4-3 win at Spartak Moscow, a 2-2 home draw against Napoli after leading 2-0 and a 3-2 loss at Napoli summed up the slightly scrambled nature of Leicester’s play and ultimately saw us drop into the Europa Conference League. It was a similar story in the Premier League with either enjoyable games like the snowy 4-2 win against Claudio Ranieri’s Watford with Vardy scoring twice against his former boss or the infamous sickener against Spurs that was somehow lost after leading 2-1 in the 95th minute. Then came the fateful FA cup collapse against Nottingham Forest after which the season rather pottered to its close with a burst of five goals from Vardy towards the end lifting Leicester up to a slightly flattering 8th place. The Foxes did manage to reach the semi-final of the Europa Conference League against Roma, but they were edged out 2-1 as the final flicker of the glory years was disappointingly extinguished. ELEVENTH SEASON 2022/23 “Now I’ve swung back down again, It’s worse than it was before, If I hadn’t seen such riches, I could live with being poor.” (James) This season boded ill from the moment that Kasper Schmeichel was sold. Leicester had been quite shaky at the back the previous season, but now with the great man gone, the Foxes were horribly short in defence and conceded 22 goals in their first 7 games. With the disconnect between Brendan Rodgers and the players growing by the day, a sacking seemed inevitable, but Leicester suddenly hit a run of wins and clean sheets before the World Cup during which time Vardy scored another landmark goal against Wolves making him the first player to score 100 Premier League goals after the age of 30. However, this was his only league goal pre-April as time seemed to finally be catching up with him. It was a bitty season for Vardy, as he rarely played full games and was uncharacteristically wayward with his finishing much of the time. It was telling that that the fans mourned Vardy’s decline almost as much as Leicester’s, as no one really wanted to face up to the fact that his time at the top was drawing to a close. He scored a couple more trademark goals in the relegation run-in against Leeds and Everton, but both games were only drawn, when wins were desperately needed. Relegation was confirmed on the final day as Leicester ended a largely great nine year spell in the Premier League on a horribly low note. TWELFTH SEASON 2023/24 “Possession is nine-tenths of the problem.” (John Lennon) Returning to the Championship after almost a decade wasn’t quite the experience that many had been expecting. Back in 2013/14 it had been more like the old-fashioned, rough and tumble football that many of us had grown up with, but now it seemed a very different beast. Though Enzo Maresca did a fine job of getting the squad shipshape again after relegation and started the season winning all but one of his first 14 games, his possession based playing style divided opinion. Grinding teams into submission with constant passing wasn’t the most exciting way to win games and though it looked cultured, many fans were pining for a bit more blood and thunder. That’s not to say that it was all dull and unsurprisingly Vardy was at the heart of many of the best moments. His goal after 21 seconds against Southampton launched a 4-1 win, a fine penalty against Bristol City and former boss Nigel Pearson led to another famous celebration and a superb finish against Blackburn helped Leicester to another 4-1 win. It seemed that Leicester would cruise to the title, but a poor run of form towards the end of the season threatened to drop the Foxes into the play-offs. There were mitigating circumstances with Maresca unable to sign Sensi from Inter Milan in January much to his chagrin and Leicester also being hit with a potential points deduction for next season. After a poor run of results, Vardy rallied the troops, allegedly telling them to play to their strengths rather than risk blowing the season with Maresca’s bland tiki-taka football. Suddenly the fans had three old style football matches to celebrate with a thrilling 2-1 win against West Brom, a superb 5-0 demolition of Southampton and a dominant 3-0 win against Preston sealing the Championship title. Of course, Vardy scored in all three games as he added another trophy to his cabinet and took his goal tally to an amazing 190 for the Foxes. THIRTEENTH SEASON 2024/25 “Heroes are ordinary people who make themselves extraordinary” (Gerard Way) It says something for the depths that Leicester have plumbed this season that the announcement of Vardy’s retirement was almost welcomed, as it gave us a chance to nostalgically celebrate his illustrious past. Obviously his great goals come to mind first, but it’s also his character that really stands out. From the rough and ready early years of the legendary Skittles vodka and the “chat shit, get banged” Facebook post, to the inventive wind up celebrations, to the cheeky spirit and sheer joy of simply scoring goals – Jamie Vardy is a rare everyman footballer in a modern age that becomes ever more anodyne and dull year by year. Vardy is a Rik Mayall type player – someone who seems a little madcap and amusing, but has an awful lot of skill and delivers his craft in a unique and refreshing way. To score nigh on 200 goals for Leicester and win an extraordinary amount of trophies and individual awards is an achievement that will surely never be repeated down Filbert Way. He has managed to chip in with a handful of goals this season including his 100th at the King Power against West Ham, but it’s been a very muted and flat campaign to bow out on. One of the best things to come out of this season is the iconic photo of a smiling Vardy sitting amongst his impressive collection of trophies and medals. With his Inbetweeners-esque humour, Vardy may well bring his Leicester career to close with the simple, but loaded phrase – “Completed it, mate.”

SIXTH SEASON 2017/18 “Don’t settle for mediocrity, Never let good enough be good enough.” (Joel Osteen) Had this been our first season back in the Premier League, it would have been seen as a great success. However, after the glorious craziness of recent times, in a strange way it seemed a little mundane. Despite Vardy’s goals against Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool, Leicester began the season quite slowly in terms of results and Craig Shakespeare was soon replaced by Claude Puel as manager. Many were uneasy with this appointment, as Puel had a reputation for slower, possession based football – the mirror opposite of Leicester’s previous fast, counter punching style. As if to emphasis this, Vardy began the new era finishing a classic team counter attacking move against Everton, then scored one of his forgotten gems with the improvised, airborne chip against Spurs. Leicester also made good progress in the League cup being narrowly edged out by Man City despite Vardy’s last gasp penalty equaliser. Though results were fairly modest after the turn of the year, Vardy posted another record when scoring against Man City in the Premier League in February – thereby becoming the first player to score against all the big six in a single league season. He also equalised in the FA cup quarter final against Chelsea, but they were ultimately beaten in extra time. In the end, Leicester finished in 9th place and with two good cup runs, this had a lot in common with a celebrated O’Neill season back in the day, which made it all the more remarkable that it was now considered almost par for the course. SEVENTH SEASON 2018/19 “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two imposters just the same.” (Rudyard Kipling) A tumultuous season that brought about a new era through both tragedy and necessity. After the dull end to the previous campaign, the season again began in mediocre fashion with Vardy’s red card in the second game against Wolves not exactly helping much. Rumours of Puel’s sacking had begun to circle by the time Leicester faced West Ham on the fateful day of 27th October 2018. After the game, Leicester’s owner Vichai took off from the King Power in a helicopter and never reached his destination. Minutes later, a fatal crash outside the stadium caused his tragic death along with the pilot and three other passengers. Tributes immediately poured in for this very popular owner and massive football fan, who had helped Leicester to achieve their dreams. In such an emotional atmosphere, a sacking almost seemed disrespectful and Puel continued in the job until February, even surviving an embarrassing defeat to Newport County in the FA cup. Vardy had openly stated that Puel’s brand of football didn’t really suit him, though he’d still managed to keep chipping away and had scored eight decent goals before Brendan Rodgers was brought in as the new manager, which brought an instant improvement in both Vardy and the team as a whole. He immediately went on a hot streak and hit a few landmarks scoring his 100th goal for Leicester against Fulham on 9th March 2019 and then passing Gary Lineker’s Leicester tally of 103 against Huddersfield three games later. He rounded off the season with a fine double in a home victory against Arsenal as things started to look much brighter for Leicester. However, the loss of Vichai was far more seismic than many fans realised at the time. EIGHTH SEASON 2019/20 “There was an old-fashioned band of married men, Looking up to me for encouragement.” (David Bowie) Leicester’s first full season under Brendan Rodgers began in fine style culminating in a pre-Christmas run of eight wins in a row with Vardy finding the net in every one of those games. This included the famous 9-0 away demolition of Southampton with Vardy scoring a hat trick, as well as impressive wins over Arsenal and Aston Villa. However, heavy defeats to Man City and Liverpool over the Christmas period seemed to knock Leicester’s confidence and results became a bit more erratic for the next ten games with Vardy only adding three more goals to his initial impressive burst of 16. Still it was shaping up to be an interesting end to the season until the whole country was shut down for the covid pandemic in early March. The season didn’t restart until three months later and obviously the matches now had to played in empty stadiums creating a strange non atmosphere. Some clubs adjusted to this better than others and unfortunately Leicester seemed to struggle with the sea change, but Vardy’s double against Crystal Palace on 4th July 2020 took him to an impressive 100 Premier League goals and further strikes against Arsenal and Bournemouth saw him become the oldest player to win the Golden Boot at the age of 33. This took Leicester to within a whisker of Champions League qualification, but ultimately winning only two of their nine “covid games” meant that the Europa League had to suffice. The cups had also seen a couple of near misses with Aston Villa denying Leicester their first league cup final in 20 years with a 3-2 aggregate semi-final win and Chelsea once again barring their FA cup progress, but it wouldn’t be long until this was satisfyingly rectified. NINTH SEASON 2020/21 “Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, No matter how improbable, must be the truth.” (Sherlock Holmes) The world was still in lockdown for much of this season giving it a slightly surreal feel. However, unlike the muted end to the previous season, Leicester seemed far more attuned to the new “phantom stadium” phenomenon and they began the season in fine style. Vardy scored his third hat trick for the club in a stunning 5-2 win against Man City and his late header gave Leicester their first away win at Arsenal since 1973. He also scored a dramatic injury time equaliser in the frenetic 3-3 draw with Braga in the Europa League and another late winner against Sheffield United prompted the famous flag shattering celebration. Leicester were on course for the top four in February, but a surprise home defeat to Slavia Prague in the Europa League seemed to affect the league form and their hold on the top four started to feel a little shaky. Thankfully Leicester were still in the FA cup and a classic 3-1 win over Man United in the quarter finals helped us to our first final since 1969. When Vardy lined up against Chelsea he set another record that will surely never be broken – competing in all 13 rounds of the FA cup. Tielemans winner meant that Leicester were finally FA cup winners at the fifth time of asking, though there were signs that this was the end of the major remarkable story for Vardy. He’d been far less effective in the second half of the season, which was a big factor in Leicester missing out on the top four again. He was still in his late twenties when he won the Premier League and he had such a sprightly aura about him, that it was easy to forget that he’d now crept up to the age of 34. With the two major English trophies now firmly under his belt, this season was arguably the last of the vintage champagne, but there was still the sparkling wine of his twilight years to come.

Hi all, In light of last week's announcement, I'm currently reviewing all thirteen of Jamie Vardy's seasons. Here's the first five. Of course, nobody's right or wrong - everyone has enjoyed Vardy's contribution to Leicester in different ways over the years. FIRST SEASON 2012/13 “There is a tide in the affairs of men Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.” (William Shakespeare) Leicester had endured a few shaky seasons in the Championship prior to 2012/13, so the arrival of a non-league striker for one million in the summer didn’t exactly have everyone dancing down Filbert Way. He made a decent start scoring four goals in his first six weeks, including one on his debut, but there were still some underlying problems to sort out. Vardy was a heavy drinker at the time and would often turn up for training a little the worse for wear. Also it soon became clear that he couldn’t rely solely on his pace, as he had been doing in non-league football and this became more and more obvious as the season progressed with the goals drying up completely. At one stage he was so downhearted he even talked about giving up the game altogether and becoming a rep in Ibiza. Thankfully Nigel Pearson and David Nugent talked him round, though he gradually became more of a bit part player after Christmas and didn’t feature in the play-offs at all. There’s a famous picture of him sitting with Danny Drinkwater and loanee Harry Kane on the subs bench during the play-offs and after Troy Deeney’s iconic winner for Watford everyone forgot all about Jamie Vardy – for a while at least. SECOND SEASON 2013/14 "It's a long way to the top, If you wanna rock 'n' roll." (AC/DC) Vardy's second season at Leicester showed a vast improvement all round. He still retained his great attributes as both a character and a footballer, but they all became far more aligned to the cause. Much praise needs to go to his strike partner David Nugent who had befriended Vardy the previous season and used his experience to guide him in the art of being a professional league footballer. Add to that the fact that the nucleus of the Leicester "band of brothers" - Schmeichel, Morgan, Drinkwater and Mahrez - was starting to form, then it's small wonder that this was the most enjoyable season since the O'Neill years. With Vardy scoring 16 goals and Nugent 20, the Foxes finally had a potent pairing up front and some of Vardy's goals were starting to show his true ability - a trademark sprint from the halfway line against Millwall and a classic shot across the keeper in the top of the table clash against QPR being a couple of the highlights of a fine Championship winning season, which paved the way for Vardy's Premier League debut at the age of 27. THIRD SEASON 2014/15 "Tea without milk is so uncivilised." (The Great Escape) Leicester's first season back in the Premier League for a decade started quite well, though it was new signing Leonardo Ulloa who was initially amongst the goals scoring in four of the first five games. This included the all time epic against Man United with Leicester fighting back from 3-1 down to register a stunning 5-3 victory with Vardy scoring his first top flight goal to put Leicester ahead. His all round performance in this game drew much critical praise, but Leicester generally struggled after this with Vardy often marooned up front as Nigel Pearson employed a highly defensive system. Leicester were bottom of the table for months until Pearson finally remodelled the system and we began to look much more effective. Despite there only being 9 games left and the situation seeming nearly hopeless, the enigmatic generalissimo Cambiasso began the renaissance with his overall tactical nous and his fine goal against West Ham began "The Great Escape" at Easter. However, almost inevitably it was Vardy who really lit the blue touchpaper with a last minute winner to seal a fine fightback win at West Brom and after that Leicester couldn't stop winning with Vardy scoring another vital winner against Burnley. With the King Power crowd electric and every game critical, this was a thrilling white knuckle ride to the end of the season as Leicester survived with a game to spare. At the time, it seemed like the ultimate triumph, but amazingly it was only the introduction to the greatest chapter in Leicester City history. FOURTH SEASON 2015/16 “You better lose yourself in the music The moment, you own it, you better never let it go You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow This opportunity comes once in a lifetime.” (Eminem) When Nigel Pearson was replaced by Claudio Ranieri in the summer, it was hard to know what to expect from the new season. After the dramatic survival, most fans would have settled for a mid table season, but quite early on it seemed that they were going to be aiming higher than that. The big story of the first half of the season was Vardy’s scoring run. Starting with a penalty against Bournemouth, Vardy then kept his scoring streak going for an amazing three months culminating in the famous Man United “It’s eleven, it’s heaven” goal that meant that he set a new Premier League scoring record of eleven games in a row which helped put Leicester in an excellent position in the league. However, it was still top four that most fans were aiming for until yet another legendary Vardy moment – the sensational Liverpool volley in February (still my favourite goal) which set Leicester up for a critical 2-0 win with Vardy grabbing the second too. When they beat Man City 3-1 in the following game, Leicester were incredibly six points clear at the top with a fairly favourable run in and when Vardy’s double beat Sunderland in mid April, the title seemed close at hand. Still there was a twist in the tale in the West Ham epic with Vardy controversially sent off for diving in the second half and banned for two matches. It seemed like it could be a big miss, but Leicester still managed a win and draw in the matches without him and thanks to Eden Hazard’s equaliser against Spurs in the infamous “Battle of the Bridge”, Leicester were champions before Vardy stepped back onto the pitch and rounded off his season with two more goals against Everton taking his tally to 24 – almost as many as he’d scored in his previous three seasons combined. Winning the Premier League was an astonishing triumph with excellent performances from the whole team as Leicester employed a 4-4-2 system that hadn’t been used in football for so long, it almost seemed to be a new invention. Like Vardy himself, it was a throwback to a bygone era with robust defenders, creative midfielders and a pacy striker providing a simple, but highly effective structure for success. Having been a non-league player only four years earlier, Vardy was now a Premier League champion, Premier League player of the season, FWA footballer of the year and had won a handful of caps for England. This was obviously the high point, but there was plenty more to come from the great man yet. FIFTH SEASON 2016/17 “Oh, what a hell of a show But what I want to know; What exactly do you do for an encore?” (Pulp) Leicester’s miracle title triumph had changed the club’s profile completely. The close season had been a whirlwind of interviews and travel for the players with their incredible story capturing the imagination across the world. They took part in the pre-season International Champions Cup playing against Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona and began the season at Wembley with Vardy scoring Leicester’s first goal at Wembley for 16 years in a narrow defeat to Man United. However the Premier League season began in worrying fashion with the loss of Kante proving problematic and the new signings struggling to bed in. Results were highly erratic with Vardy’s dearth of goals especially worrying. He scored a mere six before February, though this did include an excellent maiden hat trick against Man City in what was a rare win. Things came to a head in February after five Premier League defeats without scoring had put Leicester in real danger of relegation. However after Claudio Ranieri’s sacking, Craig Shakespeare took over and the old magic seemed to return. Vardy was rejuvenated and immediately scored two fine goals in a 3-1 win over Liverpool and scored a further three as Leicester won five league games in a row to pull them clear of danger. Though flirting with relegation was nothing new for Foxes fans, the curious backdrop to all this was that Leicester were tearing it up in the Champions League. They comfortably topped their group, won a thunderous classic 3-2 on aggregate against Sevilla with Vardy scoring a vital away goal and were then just edged out 2-1 in the quarter finals by Atletico Madrid. It was a curious season all round. Had their Premier League struggles been a case of “heavy hangs the crown?” Were Leicester actually more comfortable playing European football now that they had tasted true success? Despite a somewhat uneven campaign Vardy still finished the season as top scorer with 16 goals and remained Leicester’s spearhead as they looked towards the future.

Still, good news about the chocolate oranges.

The past is a foreign country.

Are they having a minute's silence at the King Power? No, just the usual hour and a half.

The fifth Rambo film "Last Blood" was released in 2019. It should have been called "Rambo Number 5."

Interestingly the McLintock side of 1977/78 managed to keep 12 clean sheets in the league. Admittedly it was little use in the end, but you can't see us keeping one clean sheet at the moment.

Certainly does feel like we're heading for the oblivion that most of the 2000s was.

It's a bit of a slow crawl, isn't it?! I thought at the beginning of the season that 10 more goals was easily manageable, but I didn't realise how bad we would be then! A couple more goals for Vardy would at least give us a rare bright spot in a trying season. 10th March 1956 was the last time a Leicester player hit the 200 goal mark. Needless to say, it's a pretty rare achievement.

This was the first game of the 2012/13 season. We'd take this team now - Schmeichel, De Laet, Konchesky, Morgan, Moore, Drinkwater, Marshall, Dyer, James, Beckford, Vardy. Subs - Danns, King, Nugent.

It's a cracking album. 30 years old this year!

"Well, sects of disconnection and traditions of lost faith No culture's worth a stream of piss or a bullet in my face To hell with unity, separation'll kill us all Torn to shreds and disjointed before the final fall"

"I've looked failure in the face - it's not a pretty sight, but as my father used to say "Only a fool doesn't look where he's going."" (Marion and Geoff)

Playing Vardy now reminds me of England playing James Anderson in the 2023 Ashes. Both legends of the game, but both way past their prime. Also both were trying to reach a milestone - 700 wickets and 200 goals. Anderson got there the following year - let's hope Vardy can bag 3 more goals to reach the landmark, but even that's looking touch and go at the moment.

Reminds me of that "Fry and Laurie" sketch. "But you take your son to see "The Phantom of the Opera" every year on his birthday." "I do that because I hate him."

What did the pirate say on his 80th birthday? "Ay, matey."

Even though we avoided the points deduction, its phantom effects were almost worse. It landed us with Cooper which effectively burnt a dozen games for a start. It also made us a less attractive proposition, hence the summer signings were mediocre. Nevertheless there has been some sporadic excitement in the first half of the season and we do look a little bit better under Ruud. It'll be tough to survive, but there's always a chance and hopefully Vardy will soon become only our third player to hit 200 Leicester goals.

A great new start for the team. Far from perfect, but Ruud has instilled some belief into them in no time at all. Also Vardy reaches 100 goals at the King Power!

This is worse than we'd imagined. Bolt all the doors! Hammer large pieces of crooked wood against all the windows! (Blackadder Goes Forth)