Jamie Vardy – The Greatest Of All Time

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Jamie Vardy – The Greatest Of All Time

Once upon a time, in a city called Leicester, a fairy tale was written. It’s a story scrawled not in ink, but in blood, sweat, and tears too. It’s an impossible fable penned by a man who became a living legend. That man, of course, is Jamie Vardy – the creator of dreams, breaker of records, our ultimate 5,000/1 hero.

2025-04-24T12:30+01:00

by Sam Stevens

Published

24 Apr, 2025

Jamie Vardy – The Greatest Of All Time

Sam Stevens

2025-04-24T12:30+01:00

Jamie Vardy – The Greatest Of All Time

Sam Stevens

2025-04-24T12:30+01:00

Jamie Vardy – The Greatest Of All Time

Sam Stevens

2025-04-24T12:30+01:00

Jamie Vardy – The Greatest Of All Time

Sam Stevens

2025-04-24T12:30+01:00

And now, as our greatest-ever striker prepares to close the chapter on a thunderous Leicester City career, we find ourselves approaching the final page after 13 precious years. Its inevitability doesn’t soften the blow we’ll feel as we finally say farewell. But these feelings are the price we must pay for the memories we shared. For the impossible dream, that sun-drenched evening in Victoria Park, that astonishing Sevilla comeback, that storybook day at Wembley, that sing-song in Eindhoven, for all of it.

He came from a world of boggy pitches and rusty fences to bask in the spotlight’s glare. Once a factory worker by day, striker by night, he probably didn’t allow himself to dare dream of the glories to come. There’s no wax-sealed invitation to join the elite, no VIP pass. He had to bulldoze through and take the English crown for himself. He didn’t scale the heights alone, he dragged us all with him for the ride. He gave us the times of our lives, propelled us to unspeakable glory, and carved his name in folklore forever.

His connection with the Blue Army was authentic and raw. What you see is what you get with our No.9. And fans could see themselves in Jamie Vardy. Flawed, fiery, real. He was prepared to scrap for the badge on his chest, to do anything to win. The fire in his eyes, the bite in his late tackles, the venom in the tips of his boots – that’s what we’d all try to bring to the table, if ever we were lucky enough to represent this club of ours.

Life wasn’t always simple in Leicester. An unheralded signing from non-league Fleetwood, it took time, considered counsel and pure determination to construct the Jamie Vardy of today. It was Nigel Pearson who went all in back in 2012. He was our million-pound gamble. It was an outlay which was branded as foolhardy at best, strange at worst. An inconsistent first year on Filbert Way seemed to confirm the latter. But Pearson, alongside his trusted lieutenants, the late Craig Shakespeare and Steve Walsh, stood firm. Vardy was their man, and they were prepared to ride the rapids with him.

Sixteen Championship title-sealing, promotion-clinching goals were the reward in 2013/14 – calling time on our decade-long Premier League absence. We didn’t know it, but this was just the start of something seismic. Football’s tectonic plates were beginning to rumble. A rip-roaring display against Manchester United on his full top-flight debut was next. A mohawked Vardy wreaked havoc against Louis van Gaal’s expensively assembled Red Devils, scoring one himself and playing a role in each of City’s five strikes on that balmy September afternoon in 2014.

Leicester otherwise looked to be wilting in the Premier League sun that year, but an improbable yet ordained renaissance took hold. Seven wins from nine propelled us from the foot of the standings and into the more serene waters of mid-table. Vardy’s gratuity was a spot in the England national squad. Roy of the Rovers was now Vardy of the Foxes. That did feel like the apex at the time. Pearson’s departure the following summer was abrupt and uncomfortable. The Foxes had made sure they’d live for another day in the Premier League, but for how long? Claudio Ranieri’s appointment was a roll of the dice. ‘Claudio Ranieri? Really?’ Vardy’s star had already risen, but he was about to go supernova – and be joined in the night sky by a constellation of Leicester City heroes.

A fine collection of shirts from over the years.

Riyad Mahrez, N’Golo Kanté, Kasper Schmeichel, we could go on. With every passing week the whispers grew. They couldn’t, could they? Vardy had scored five goals during his maiden Premier League campaign, but he’d eclipsed that tally by September this time around. Then came The Streak. It began in Bournemouth, stunned Villa, rolled into Stoke, dented the Gunners, speared the Canaries, defied the Saints, shattered Crystal Palace, riled the Baggies and stung the Hornets by the time we arrived in Newcastle. When he launched an arrow into the bottom corner at St. James’, he equalled Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record – before piercing Man Utd’s net a week later to smash it to pieces. ‘It’s eleven, it’s heaven for Jamie Vardy!’ – words which echo through the years.

City kept winning and the doubters kept doubting, but league tables don’t lie. A finish with panache for England in Germany in March was another reminder of Jamie’s new status on the global stage. By May, Vardy and Leicester City ascended to the English throne. Cast by Asprey London, the Crown Jewellers, the Premier League trophy, which has a sterling silver body and a crown made of 24-carat silver gilt, had long been beyond our reach. The preserve of others. Engraved with the names of England's most illustrious footballing rulers, only five clubs had previously reigned over the country's footballing establishment. There were so many personal triumphs in that squad, but the sight of Vardy lofting that iconic trophy to the skies naturally took the headlines.

He could have left us that summer. Suitors were swirling, but he stayed. He always stayed. An intrepid adventure in the UEFA Champions League was the next chapter of his incredible journey, scoring in Seville and against Atlético Madrid as we leapt more hurdles than any other English side to gatecrash the quarter-finals. Only Diego Simeone’s rock-solid Atléti could deny us a pop at Real Madrid in the last-four. Jamie’s 24-goal haul in 2015/16 would commence a seven-season sequence of double-figure Premier League campaigns. Even as the years rolled on, he defied time. Managers came and went. Systems shifted. Stratagems were finessed. But Vardy remained – a constant in a world of change. We had to go again after the heartbreak of Khun Vichai’s passing, a man who always believed in Jamie like the rest of us. He was more than a Chairman to the players, especially our No.9. Inspired by that legacy, we dared to dream of Europe once more. We wanted more, but successive campaigns in the UEFA Europa League gave us a seat at the game’s top table again.

And then there’s the FA Cup. Vardy had played in all the preliminary rounds for Stocksbridge Park Steels, Halifax Town and Fleetwood. Now, in May 2021, he was under the Wembley arch shooting for the trophy itself. The day unfolded like a blur. Fans were back as the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic slowly began to ease. Tielemans’ rocket, Schmeichel’s saves, the last-gasp equaliser that never was. And the Foxes grasped the 6.3kg FA Cup trophy for the first-ever time. As the ticker tape streamed down and the cannons exploded into the north-west London skyline, another precious picture was carefully placed into Vardy’s Leicester City scrapbook.

It's been tough at times since then. Reaching a European semi-final in the cauldron-like Stadio Olimpico was undoubtedly a highlight. Relegation in 2023 was a shock, but Vardy’s 20 Championship goals pushed us towards a record eighth second tier title. This year has been another hurtful one and will end in a return to the Championship. Our top goalscorer, though? Who else? Our Premier League, FA Cup, Community Shield champion. Our England international, Football Writers' Footballer of the Year, Golden Boot winner, Premier League Player of the Season, Ballon d'Or nominee. The man who’s bagged 143 Premier League goals, 38 in the Championship, four in the FA Cup, eight in the League Cup and four in UEFA competition – an astronomical 198 in total. He's 15th in the Premier League’s all-time scoring charts and third in our own, eclipsed only by bygone icons Arthur Chandler and Arthur Rowley. Vardy, though, did it in the eras of Guardiola and Klopp, of centurions and four-in-a-row winners. He faced giants and became one himself. From the FA Vase to the Premier League, Bracken Moor to the Vicente Calderón, the terraces to the throne – he did it all in Leicester City blue.

There’s only one thing we can say as we near the end of this tale. Thank you, Jamie. For the glory. For the story. For everything.

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