The Vardy Moment: History In The Making

When Kasper Schmeichel clutched at a Manchester United corner in the 24th minute, few in the packed, noisy and vibrant King Power Stadium would have expected that, within seconds, Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy, appropriately wearing gold coloured boots, would score a brilliant breakaway goal, making him the first player ever to score in 11 consecutive Premier League games.
The seconds leading up to the goal will be forever embedded in the Club’s history. Schmeichel threw the ball wide to Christan Fuchs who was deep in his own half on the right. He then took the ball into the United half. Simultaneously, Vardy on the edge of the Leicester box, tore up field on the left, demonstrating why he is one of the Premier League’s fastest players. He outpaced Ashley Young, passed Matteo Darmian, and pointed to the space where he wanted Fuchs to deliver the ball. Fuch’s pass was exquisitely delivered at precisely the right moment. Vardy swooped onto it, and, with total conviction and confidence, scored the history-making goal by powering a fast, well-angled shot to the far post, which hit De Gea’s underside before cannoning in.
In over fifty years of watching Leicester City I have rarely witnessed such joy. The celebrations of Vardy individually and of his team mates collectively will live in the minds of the 32,000 crowd forever. It was a truly historic moment, made all the sweeter by the fact that the record Vardy had just broken had, until that moment, been held by a United player, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, whose name the United fans had been chanting up to that point.
The crowd’s deafening acclamation of this goal was heard far and wide across Leicester. A friend of mine preparing for a concert that evening at De Montfort Hall heard the cheer very clearly, and knew that Vardy had broken the record. Social media went into overdrive. Further afield, millions of television viewers around the globe shared in the moment.
I have witnessed other great moments in the 54 years that I have been watching Leicester City.
I have seen many club records set, including the run of 10 successive top flight and FA Cup wins in 1963, which made Leicester realistic contenders for the League and FA Cup Double.
I have witnessed outstanding individual goal-scoring performances, such as Gary Lineker’s 1984/85 haul which made him joint top scorer in the top flight, along with Ian Rush.
I have read about the outstanding goal-scoring feats before my time as a fan, achieved by the likes of Johnny Duncan and Arthur Chandler, who both scored double hat tricks in games in the 1920s, with Chandler going on to become the Club’s leading scorer of all time. And who can forget the reputation of Arthur Rowley, whose 265 goals for Leicester City in the 1950s, added to the goals he scored at other clubs, resulted in him eventually breaking the all-time scoring record in the history of the Football League?
I have also witnessed moments of unadulterated and over-the-top Blue Army celebrations, at Filbert Street, at Hillsborough and at Wembley. There was the incredible FA Cup match in front of 39,000 at Filbert Street against Manchester City in 1968, Allan Clarke’s late winner at Hillsborough in the 1969 FA Cup semi-final and the unforgettable moments when Steve Claridge scored four seconds from the end of extra time in the 1996 Play-Off Final against Crystal Palace and then scored his winning goal in the League Cup Final the following season.
I have even witnessed the success of another Leicester City striker plucked from non-league football with Alvechurch, who went on to be a huge success at Leicester City and eventually Arsenal and England, one Alan Smith.
All of these wonderful events will live in the memory, but eclipsing them all is Jamie Vardy’s goal on Saturday. It was an unforgettable moment which will live with me forever. And for several reasons.
It is the first time that Leicester City, in its long history, has exclusively claimed a national record. What made it sweeter was the context within which it was achieved.
Entering the game at the top of the able, with Vardy and the Club respectively heading the individual and club scoring charts so far this season, all added to the fans’ euphoria when Vardy scored.
So too did the big match atmosphere, which began building up around the stadium long before kick-off. The media coverage leading up to the match was, for Leicester City, almost unprecedented, reaching a global audience. The Club had well and truly been thrust into the national and international spotlight. On the day, the press box was full with reporters coming from far and wide.
Inside the stadium, the clap banners added to the atmosphere, reinforcing the fans’ truly impressive vocal support, and reaffirming King Power Stadium’s growing reputation as the noisiest ground in the country. The pre-match build-up was outstanding, with the impressive fans’ silver and blue display in the South Stand, the flag bearers, the mascots, the Post Horn Gallop, the drum, Birch announcing the teams and the antics of Filbert Fox, resplendent in his Christmas outfit.
As Club Historian, people often ask me which has been my favourite time as a Leicester City supporter. Until this season I have always said that the Matt Gillies era of the1960s was the best for me. That side had many great players, including the incomparable Gordon Banks. It reached FA Cup Finals, won the League Cup, competed in Europe, and nearly won the League and FA Cup Double in 1963. It played very attractive and highly effective counter-attacking football and was often innovative tactically. Games like an incredible 4-3 victory over Manchester United on Easter Tuesday 1963 which took Leicester City to the top of the league with five games to go are memories that take some beating.
This season, I have changed my mind. Watching this current side play such entertaining, skilful, pacey and effective football at a time when the Club, with its present owners, has never been in better hands, has caused me to come to a new conclusion. This is my best time as a Leicester City supporter.
Vardy’s record-breaking goal on Saturday epitomised this feeling.
Long may it continue.