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Craig

Jamie Vardy - Goodbye to our GOAT

By Craig, in Leicester City Forum

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pkonline

pkonline

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Posted

It also feels like a goodbye and curtain closed to one of our great periods - the Pearson-Premier League-FA Cup generation. The final player to leave from that amazing part of our history.

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Dawko

Dawko

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, Dawko said:

Fuchs was a major plus. His long throw ins and the no look pass to Vardy were highlights of that season.

Ulloa was awesome.

  • Like 1
Poznan34

Poznan34

Posted
Posted

Quite simply Leicester City's greatest ever player.

 

I hope he moves abroad now, MLS would seem to fit nicely, not sure I could stomach him playing for another team in the Premier League. 

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davieG

davieG

Posted
Posted

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/how-leicester-city-should-honour-10131390

 

How Leicester City should honour Jamie Vardy - and why instinctive sadness should instead be a joy
Jamie Vardy is leaving Leicester City after 13 years, bringing to an end the career of the club's greatest player and sparking thoughts over how best to recognise his career

ByJordan Blackwell
19:21, 24 APR 2025
Jamie Vardy finishes his career at Leicester City this summer
Jamie Vardy finishes his career at Leicester City this summer (Image: Harriet Lander)

Instinctively, it feels like a sad day. Jamie Vardy will be Leicester City’s number nine for one more month and five more games. Then it’s over.

He’s been a constant in fans’ lives for more than a decade. His farewell represents the end of an era, the final Premier League title winner to say goodbye. Tears will be shed.

Maybe these are the final days of what will be City’s golden era, never to be repeated. Especially with his career at the club ending with a relegation. It feels like City could revert to life before Vardy was plucked from non-league, bouncing around the top two divisions with occasional success, longing to compete regularly at the top and challenge in the biggest competitions and for the biggest titles, but never quite doing so.

 

But really, witnessing the end of Vardy’s 13 years at City should be regarded not with sadness, but as a privilege. The club’s fans get to watch and say farewell to their team’s greatest player.

How many clubs’ fans have had the opportunity to say that? Stories of sides’ all-time heroes usually hark back to bygone eras, players from the ‘20s and ‘30s, or ‘50s and ‘60s. City have a modern-day icon.

He is one of a kind in the current age. Nowadays, with the domination of the very wealthiest clubs, the moment a player looks like having the potential to become the best-ever for their team, they’ll be snapped up by one the big boys. But not Vardy.

It’s not just the story of his 13 years at City, it’s the journey to the club too. There’s a romanticism to it. Even now, it feels far-fetched.

Here was a lad who, in his early 20s, was playing part-time and working in a factory making medical splints. When City gave him his chance in professional football, he was 25. By modern standards, he was past the point at which he could make it.

Maybe Vardy believed that too. In his first year at City he had to overcome doubts over his own ability. He wanted to go back to Fleetwood, where he was more comfortable.

Nigel Pearson, Craig Shakespeare and Steve Walsh stood by him and he eventually adjusted.

 

There was uniqueness to his personality and style of play that enamoured him with supporters too.

Vardy hared around the top of the pitch, flying into centre-backs as they tried to clear their lines, never giving them a moment’s peace. He was a pest, an irritant. But in that, there was desire and determination that fans adored.

He went to extreme lengths to wind up the opposition. Supercharged by chants from the stands, his celebrations have ruffled feathers like few players have ever been able to. He has learned phrases in foreign languages in order to insult opposing centre-backs in their mother tongue.

These are things that have made him stand out and made supporters cherish him.

 

Then there’s the goals. At first, so much of his game was based on speed, perfect for City’s counter-attacking style during their title win as he sprinted off the shoulder, latching on to passes from Danny Drinkwater, Riyad Mahrez and Marc Albrighton.

But his qualities inspired doubts among pundits, Michael Owen infamously declaring that Vardy wasn’t a natural finisher. If he wasn’t, he became one.

That is what City fans know to be true but perhaps gets lost in the wider football world, how Vardy’s professionalism saw him improve. He became an elite penalty-box finisher, his career at the club filled with high-class strikes.

It wasn’t just over his ability that he has proved people wrong. It's with his longevity too. The moment Vardy reached his 30s, questions over how long he could last were asked constantly. He kept defying them.

The inevitable slowdown never came. He won the Golden Boot at 33, the oldest man to do so in the Premier League. He scored 20 goals in the Championship last season.

He prolonged his hero status, taking in hundreds of team-mates, some who grew up idolising him. When Kasey McAteer was 13, his computer password was ‘jamievardy’. McAteer has now played two seasons alongside him.

It feels, with Vardy’s age, that City supporters should have prepared for this day, knowing it would come eventually. But Vardy has spent so long defying logic and modern expectations that maybe it was just assumed he would go on forever.

This is what’s made Vardy so special. It’s the goals and it’s the trophies, but it’s also the journey, the personality, the longevity and the loyalty.

It is a shame how it’s ended, with a “****show” as Vardy put it. But it would be a bigger shame to let relegation overshadow these next five games, knowing they’re Vardy’s last for the club. It must be acknowledged what it means to watch the best-ever do it a few more times.

 

There will be plenty of ways for City to remember and honour Vardy’s time at the club. Perhaps that is with a statue, or by retiring the number nine shirt.

But perhaps it is by always embodying the spirit with which he played the game. No player in the history of English football has made the impossible possible quite like Vardy.

City should play with the belief that reaching the pinnacle is always possible, just like when the lad from non-league led them there.

  • Thanks 1
Iwebema

Iwebema

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Kitchandro said:

Statue yes, but I hate this retiring shirts thing.

 

There may be a young Leicester fan who works his way through the academy one day, wearing the number 9 should be a motivation. Besides, number 9 is kind of an important number in football.

That's fair, I think I'm just currently in the denial stage of grief, finding it hard to imagine anyone would be worthy of it ever again.

 

When they give it to Ayew next season 🤢💔

Wasyls Pec Deck

Wasyls Pec Deck

Posted
Posted
33 minutes ago, HankMarvin said:

A tad wishful thinking, relegated in the last match. Been on the cards for weeks if not a month 
What makes you think people would be any worse than on the back of consecutive defeats before the Brighton Match. It’s been about as bad as form can get 

 

Well I was planning on gobbing off!

  • Haha 1
HUNTA84

HUNTA84

Posted
Posted

Might have been posted already but thanked Khun Vichai, Top & Whelan but no mention of Rudkin - do one last thing before you go.......2 foot Rudkin out the door too :ph34r:

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HUNTA84

HUNTA84

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, moore_94 said:

Please go abroad…


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2025/04/24/jamie-vardy-to-leave-leicester-city/
 

It was understood to be Vardy’s decision to leave Leicester, feeling it was the right time to finally sever his ties. He is going to explore all options, which include potentially staying in the top flight. There are other offers both domestically and overseas.

Arsenal are still looking for a number 9 :whistle:

nettle

nettle

Posted
Posted

The best player I've ever seen at city and probably the best I'll ever see which is a bit sad really. The guy is just the 🐐 and I'm going to miss him.

fox in the sox

fox in the sox

Posted
Posted
5 hours ago, Finnegan said:

 

I'd rather Vardy’s moment over shadow a promotion than a relegation over shadow Vardy’s moment. 

 

I don’t think relegation will overshadow it. With nothing to play for on the pitch we can concentrate on giving him a good send off and actually end the season on a positive note by remembering the wonderful career he has had with us.

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