THE JAMIE VARDY YEARS - SEASONS SIX TO NINE

[Thequickbrownfox]

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.