‘Fearless With Capital Letters’ – van Nistelrooy Hails Vardy’s Legacy

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‘Fearless With Capital Letters’ – van Nistelrooy Hails Vardy’s Legacy

Ruud van Nistelrooy has described Jamie Vardy’s Leicester City career as ‘a remarkable story’ as we plan to bid farewell to our legendary No.9.

2025-04-24T16:11+01:00

Ruud van Nistelrooy & Jamie Vardy - Leicester City

by Sam Jones

Published

24 Apr, 2025

‘Fearless With Capital Letters’ – van Nistelrooy Hails Vardy’s Legacy

Ruud van Nistelrooy has described Jamie Vardy’s Leicester City career as ‘a remarkable story’ as we plan to bid farewell to our legendary No.9.

Sam Jones

2025-04-24T16:11+01:00

‘Fearless With Capital Letters’ – van Nistelrooy Hails Vardy’s Legacy

Ruud van Nistelrooy has described Jamie Vardy’s Leicester City career as ‘a remarkable story’ as we plan to bid farewell to our legendary No.9.

Sam Jones

2025-04-24T16:11+01:00

‘Fearless With Capital Letters’ – van Nistelrooy Hails Vardy’s Legacy

Ruud van Nistelrooy has described Jamie Vardy’s Leicester City career as ‘a remarkable story’ as we plan to bid farewell to our legendary No.9.

Sam Jones

2025-04-24T16:11+01:00

‘Fearless With Capital Letters’ – van Nistelrooy Hails Vardy’s Legacy

Ruud van Nistelrooy has described Jamie Vardy’s Leicester City career as ‘a remarkable story’ as we plan to bid farewell to our legendary No.9.

Sam Jones

2025-04-24T16:11+01:00

The Foxes great has announced he will call time on an illustrious 13-year LCFC career at the end of this season, bringing to an end a fairy tale which took him from the Championship to the UEFA Champions League, an unthinkable ‘Great Escape’ to a sensational top-flight title win, and much more in between.

So often the talismanic figure for City within those iconic moments, it’s difficult to put into words just how seismic his impact has been since joining in 2012. One-hundred-and-ninety-eight goals, 496 appearances, five trophies, countless individual honours. The list goes on. Not to mention his exploits for England – the European Championships; the World Cup.

And so summing all that up is far from an easy task.

“It’s a remarkable story, the story of his professional football career and the 13 years within Leicester City Football Club and how that went through the highs and the lows that were in there,” van Nistelrooy commented, paying tribute to Vardy hours after the news broke.

“He’s also been in the Champions League, the Europa League and the Europa Conference League. He’s really been through all of it and with the impact that he had on games, and especially with his personality, of course, you don’t see many more like that.

“I think it’s fair to say he is the best player ever to play for this Club and had the most impact with all the successes the Club had over the last 13 years. He is four games away from 500 games for the Club and two goals away from 200 for the Club, so those figures say a lot. And then when you put the silverware next to it, you have the complete picture.

“He is the person and player that he is and deserves all the honour and credit because of his performances. Nearly 500 games, nearly 200 goals, all the silverware and the personality he’s got – he’s obviously fearless with capital letters. He’s always in for a nice [reception] and getting things going in home and away stadiums. That’s always fuelled him to perform the best he can be.

“Playing for England as well, of course, playing for his country with the career where it started for him at that age, getting to the highest level. If it will [happen again] in the future, it will be compared to Jamie, but it’s unlikely.”

Van Nistelrooy also reflected on learning about the unmatched JV9 story, coming through the non-league system before forming a deep connection with this Football Club, where his off-pitch character and leadership has become just as important as his natural goalscoring ability.

“I have to say that I’ve had many conversations in and out of football and the conversation that I had with him (Vardy) yesterday was special,” the 48-year-old revealed on Thursday. “He came to my office and told me what he had decided and, after that, we spoke for 45 minutes on many things.

“It was a great conversation from person to person, former striker to striker and player to manager. It was impressive, like his career, and the love for the Football Club comes through in every word he says.

“There’s more things to this story. We spoke about Fleetwood Town, where he came from, but also his time before that. We also spoke about Halifax Town, too, and that was in the Conference.

“Then moving to Leicester, he was promoted to the Championship. That’s where he came in and he was supported by the fans in the beginning. Over the 13 years that he played, there were many highs and lows.

“What stands out is his loyalty and taking responsibility for the Football Club and doing everything possible to be the best he can be and perform.

“He’s been there through thick and thin, always providing the typical Jamie Vardy way of playing – aggressive, really quick, intuitive player and, of course, a fans’ favourite when you have someone who plays like that who can score goals for you.

“I’ve learnt a lot. I’ve got to know him as a person and as a captain you have conversations with him on the Club, on how things are going, on what needs to be done.

“He’sone of the most open and honest people I’ve met. He comes into the office and knocks on the door and says ‘good morning gaffer’ and says what he feels. He says what he thinks is best for the team and the Club and he will tell you like that what he needs. It’s not difficult for a manager to manage him.

“He was always a great support and influencing the team on moving forward together and going through the difficult times that we went through. That’s where he was a great support and also in addition, on the pitch he was our top scorer. That’s what he also had.”

With five games to go this term, the visit of Ipswich Town on the penultimate day of the season will be a final chance for the Blue Army to say goodbye to the GOAT in his natural habitat. Naturally wanting to end on a high, van Nistelrooy believes there is an added incentive for everyone to do their utmost to honour his incredible legacy, as the 38-year-old now looks to decide his next move.

The Dutchman continued: “It will be the farewell for Jamie so it’s a big motivation for the team to play for their captain and play for Jamie and recognise the 13 years that he’s served the Club and the successes that he’s been through and also the difficult times that he’s been through. And those games we can use perfectly for that.

“His farewell is above anything and deserves all the credit and the honour possible from the Club towards him, from the squad towards him, from the supporters towards him, from all the people who love football towards him. And it’s all in focus towards that. That’s how we move forward.

“We talked about the next move. It’s an open book and for him it’s a time to reflect. I had the conversation with him and he informed me on the decision that he made. Of course, I know how tough it is for him to make this decision for his love for the Football Club.

“As he said in his statement, it’s now time for him to move on and together with his family he’s making a decision because he wants to carry on playing.

“At 38 years of age, he’s achieved everything that he wanted to achieve and now it’s an opportunity to play somewhere and take your family along to enjoy those last moments as a professional football player together. That’s why it’s so important to discuss and make the right decision.”

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