Viva Vardy - Show respect to the man who took Leicester City to the top
Leicester City’s gradual transition away from Jamie Vardy as the main man up front always brings some controversial opinions. Jack Holmes thinks the great man deserves more respect from some.
Being back on Twitter has reminded me why I took myself off it for so long. The modus operandi (to quote Pat Murphy) is to have a hot take that’s based on little other than vibes, and to continually double down on it. Returning has done little to calm my state of ‘perma-rattledness’.
If it’s not claiming Wolves are the best side ever to play in the Championship, it’s Leeds having the best squad ever at this level – even some of the stuff written about us really winds me up. I do my best to ignore it, but sometimes I can’t – and last week someone wrote something which really got me.
In response to last week's episode of the BSLB podcast, someone wrote this….
“'[Leicester City] will not be able to get a striker to play well for the club while Vardy is here... Hunters hunt alone and he has [blocked] the path of those who could taken his place”
People are entitled to their own opinion, but if you’re going to put it out there don’t expect it to exist in an echo chamber. At the time I ignored it. I didn’t think it was worth the time of day and judging by the amount of notifications we were getting, I didn’t really need to get involved.
As the week progressed, however, it kept coming back to me. With every player that was linked with a move away I wondered if those who left were truly happy with what they’ve got. Tielemans to Villa’s bench, Barnes to Newcastle’s bench, Rodgers to Celtic - now we can add Castagne to Fulham and perhaps soon Daka to Bournemouth and Ndidi to Forest. Rather like that infamous episode of ‘Come Dine With Me’, imagine reading the results back to Castagne. “£13m to Fulham, Timothy, you defend the backpost with all the grace and decorum of a reversing dump truck”.
It’s a sorry sight. These players were at one stage were playing for Champions League football. Now they’re by and large not playing, consigned to mid-table or worse, a relegation scrap. I can’t really put my finger on the fall from grace they’ve had – was it Rodgers who made them look better than they were? Were they just motivated at the time? It’s really hard to tell. Jamie Vardy has made many of their dreams become a reality.
This is why the comment about Vardy annoyed me so much. He has made a lot of people at this club look better than they were – such is his quality, he made a mid-table club challenge at the top. It’s worth bearing in mind that even during lean spells on the goal front, he was still contributing elsewhere such was his unselfishness and his ability. That’s what elite players do, and Vardy was - there is absolutely no doubt in my mind - elite. I say 'was' as it’s clear his best days are behind him now, but in fleeting moments recently you still see that quality and that menace.
I think sometimes we take that for granted. I’ve done it. I think we’ve all done it. Conversations move on quickly as to who can replace him, who fits best in the Maresca system, and all that nonsense. For this season though, as it looks likely to be his last, I’m just going to enjoy the fleeting final moments of Vardy’s career. I’ve said all summer - they can all leave except him and I really mean that.
We’ll never see the likes of Jamie Vardy again – more than 100 Premier League goals, a Golden Boot, Player of the Year, an FA Cup, a Community Shield, Premier League and Championship winners' medals. It’s the stuff dreams are made of. We’ve lived through an era of a genuine club legend. His story won’t ever be repeated and he deserves every penny we’ve paid for him, or indeed directly to him.
A few years ago, in some bizarre corporate exercise I was asked to list my greatest fears. Having less responsibility in my life back then than I do now, I said ‘Vardy’s going to retire in a few years and I’ve no idea how to replace him’. I’m not sure this was what the person asking had hoped for, but I genuinely meant it. It’s no coincidence as soon as his form dropped we were relegated, and that’s not his fault in any way, shape or form. There’s simply no argument to suggest he's held the club back in any way at all. He’s been the talisman for this club and he’ll go down in history.
The comment which was presented as "a controversial truth" is in fact utter nonsense – there’s no better player to learn from and he deserves every year we’ve given him. He can leave when he likes. We as fans (and I’m aware it’s a noisy minority) cannot bemoan player loyalty when they move onto pastures new, but then moan when players stay too long. He can have a contract until he’s 70 as far as I’m concerned.
The sight of Vardy strutting onto the pitch on Saturday, to be greeted with Ricardo passing him the armband immediately and then proceeding to rattle into tackles and get involved in winding up the Rotherham crowd was sensational. We might not see that beyond this season and when he does retire that’ll be a really sad day for all of us.
If you can’t appreciate that then you really don’t deserve the ride we’ve had.
