Article from the New York Times GLOBAL SOCCER A Long Climb to Top for Leicester City Player Jamie Vardy Scores Against Manchester United in First Premier League Start Jamie Vardy of Leicester City celebrating after scoring in his team's 5-3 victory over Manchester United. CLIVE ROSE / GETTY IMAGES By ROB HUGHES SEPTEMBER 23, 2014 LONDON â Everywhere in the world, there are boys who dream the dream, only to have it kicked down before they become men. At 16, Jamie Vardy was rejected after an apprenticeship at his local club in England, Sheffield Wednesday. He was told he was too small for the rough-and-tumble of professional soccer, but looking back, it may have been a combination of his skinny build and his unreliable nature. Aspiring players are âlike turtles in the South Seas,â a former Manchester United winger, Steve Coppell, once said. âThousands are hatched on the beaches, but few ever reach the water.â Coppell was a rarity. He graduated with a degree in economics in his spare time while playing for one of the worldâs most glamorous teams. Vardy, at 16, had neither prospect. He was a lost, hurt and, by his own account, rebellious lad. A year later, he joined the reserves of a team called Stocksbridge Park Steels in the eighth tier of English soccer. He remembers the toughening-up process of being a kid who was kicked around by grown men. From that small beginning, he grew. Now 5-foot-10, he is far from the short size of Lionel Messi, Maradona or Gianfranco Zola. Vardy may not have their genius on the field, either. But he is quick and has an eye for the goal, and on the way back up the ladder toward fame and maybe fortune, he has been helped by other coaches who saw a spark in him. On Sunday, Vardy was the player who ignited Leicester Cityâs comeback from a 3-1 deficit to beat Manchester United, 5-3. He shared the field with the likes of Ãngel Di MarÃa, Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie, then scored the game-winner in front of a global TV audience. All this, in his first start in the Premier League at age 27. Through a combination of speed and never-say-die spirit, he also contributed to the other four goals for Leicester. The likelihood is that Unitedâs head coach, Louis van Gaal, had heard little, if anything, of Vardy before Sunday. Van Gaalâs summer had been preoccupied managing the Dutch to the World Cup semifinals and then spending $250 million on new players for Manchester. But this is Vardyâs story, not Unitedâs. Way back when he was struggling to make a foothold â any foothold â in the game, Vardy made mistakes in life. He was sentenced to wear an electronic monitoring device and told not to go out at night after his part in a pub brawl. Yet, deep down, he obviously desired to be a top player. It wasnât about the money or the fame. Soccer was perhaps the one thing he could do better than most. He had basic speed and decent techniques, but what he needed was to rekindle his desires if he wanted to realize his potential. He found enough men who would believe in his talent and work on his temperament. He would always be noticed because he scored goals â and there are coaches at every level who search for that skill, hoping to find someone in the lower tiers who might be able to transfer that talent to the top. Leicesterâs Nigel Pearson is such a coach. Pearson must scour the world, be it Buenos Aires or north Sheffield, to find cut-rate bargains. While Leicester may be owned by Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, a Thai billionaire, the clubâs budget is still far less than those of its bigger opponents. So Pearson has had to shop where Manchester United would never look. This summer, he persuaded the owner to spend $13 million on Leonardo Ulloa, an Argentine whose journey through eight clubs in three countries took about the same time as Vardyâs slow rise up the English ladder. The finest goal of Sundayâs remarkable match in Leicester was undoubtedly Di MarÃaâs with his surging run, an exchange of passes with Rooney and then a superb lob over the goalkeeper. The next best was Vardyâs sprint down the right and his measured cross for Ulloaâs thumping header into the net. Unitedâs problems, apart from defense, are excused by the fact that with so many new players, it needs time to gel. But Sunday was the first time that Vardy and Ulloa have played more than a few minutes together because Vardy has been battling a thigh injury since the start of this season. Possibly their moment of sublime co-ordination was a one-off. Maybe Vardyâs first 75 minutes of Premier League action will prove his finest. But Leicester is betting on something far more lasting. It recently revised Vardyâs contract, extending it to 2018. Management believes there is more to come from him, and that the player who took almost 12 years to ascend from rejection to the top tier of English soccer now has the desire, confidence and skill to be a regular pain in the side of Premier League millionaires. On Monday, the Leicester players were given a day off and went to the local horse track. Vardy, by all accounts, is the life and noisy soul of the locker room. He is known as âcannonâ because of his tendency to get into mischief. A player reclaimed from the scrap heap of discarded youth.
It's hard not to love Jamie Vardy. His story along with his attitude and approach on the pitch make him a great role model He just needs to sort his hair out
Ooooh get Jamie in the New York Times! Can't fault his attitude or goals, it's just the hair. It's not a ridiculous as Hamer's beard though. Good article, thanks Harborough.
Fear the beard Hamers beard would only look as stupid if he did with it what Vardy did with his hair, shave 1/3 of it off at a stupid angle.
One analogy I have seen is a comparison to Craig Bellamy ... there are similarities, not necessarily in the way they play but more in the reaction from opposition fans ... like Bellamy, Vardy will not be popular with the opposition suporters. For me he is a gem ... at risk of seeming a bit of a 'know-it-all knob' I'll put in my second "... told you so" of the week ... at the beginning of last season I posted words to the effect that we shouldn't necessarily 'give up' on Vardy ... I saw enough of him in his first few games to think he could be a surprise ... he was a little unlucky to have a couple of 'good goals' ruled out in his first few games ... he has the priceless asset of pace and, as he showed at Fleetwood, a predatory eye for a finish ... doesn't matter what level you play at in terms of the finishing equation ... when the chance arises it is a question of putting the ball in the net whilst beating the obstacle(s) ... goalie (and sometimes defenders) .. he's pretty good ... better than Nuge tbf ... but it's not all about the finishing ... it's also about what you can contribute outside of that art and his work rate and his assists (including the penalties he 'wins') are priceless .. Did make me smile a bit that a some Man United supporters were raging at the 'scandalous gamesmanship' that won him our fiirst penalty when you consider the antics of Ashley Young, Nani, Cristiano Ronaldo, Rooney, Van Nistelrooj and many many others over the years ... Kepp going my son ... everyone loves a working class hero ...
