Modern Football Mavericks: Jamie Vardy

Modern Football Mavericks: Jamie Vardy

 

 

 

What is a Maverick?

A Maverick is an unorthodox or independent-minded person. In regards to Football, these individuals has gone against the rules set by clubs, organisations (e.g. F.A) and even those that fans expect any other player to follow. Some are loved and some are hated, and in this mini-series of posts, I will be looking at how they have become a Maverick and what this means for them on and off the pitch.

Name: Jamie Richard Vardy

D.O.B: 11th January 1987

Club: Leicester City

Career Information: Stocksbridge Park Steels (2007 - 2010), FC Halifax Town (2010 - 2011), Fleetwood Town (2011 - 2012), Leicester (2012 - Present).  

Honours:

Club
FC Halifax Town

Northern Premier League Premier Division 2010-11

Fleetwood Town

Conference Premier 2011-12

Leicester City

Football League Championship 2012-13


Individual
Conference Premier Player of the Month: November 2011

Conference Premier Top Goalscorer: 2011–12
Leicester City Players' Player of the Season: 2013-14
Premier League Player of the Month: October 2015, November 2015
Most consecutive Leicester City league games scored in: 11 (9 August 2015 – 28 November 2015)
Most consecutive Premier League matches scored in: 11 (29 August 2015 – 28 November 2015)


If there ever was a more modern Football Maverick, its Jamie Vardy. For the duration of 2015, during Leicester City's Premier League matches, every Football fan thinks of Vardy's incredible journey to the top of the Football mountain. I mean ten years ago Jamie Vardy was a factory worker! Despite his right-wing and not entirely popular views, Vardy has stole the back-page headlines with his amazing work effort and goal-scoring ability. In this post, I will be looking back at Vardy's rise from factory worker to Premier League stardom.

In 2007, Vardy was earning £30 a week when he was playing for Stockbridge Park Steels. Two years later he had a trail at Crewe that didn't work out. He moved to Halifax in June 2010 for £15,000. After a decent time there, Vardy moved to Fleetwood Town after a year and a half. On 1st January 2012, Blackpool manager Ian Holloway offered £750k for Vardy but Fleetwood held out for £1 million which Blackpool never paid.

On 17th May 2012, Leicester bought Vardy for £1 million.

Yes. £1 million.

However, after a very disappointing personal season in which he only scored five goals, Vardy was considering leaving the club after supporters said he just wasn't good enough (well lets just say they said it is more extreme and explicit terms). Vardy only stayed due to Nigel Pearson being able to convince him. The next season, Vardy scored 16 league goals as Leicester won the Championship.

Last season, as Leicester escaped relegation by gaining 22 points since 4th April and finishing in 14th place, Vardy scored and assisted four times in Leicester's amazing 5-2 home win over Manchester United.

And then Vardy's story really started to come to life.

After being bottom at Christmas last season and almost being relegated, no-one saw Leicester being at the top of the table by Christmas (not even Gary Lineker). However, to the amazement of Football fans and Fantasy Football players, Vardy has paired up in a deadly duo with Algerian Riyad Mahrez to rack up an astonishing number of goals and assists that have taken the Premier League by storm and the traditional 'top four' club of the Premier League. On the 28th November, Vardy made Premier League history by scoring in eleven consecutive League games and completed it by scoring against Manchester United. Along the way to this amazing achievement, Twitter users started a trend called 'Chat Shit Get Banged', which bounced onto the social media site from a 2014 Facebook post from Jamie Vardy entitled with the new famous catchphrase.

However, what is forgotten about Vardy is that he is slightly aggressive and has caused some trouble off the pitch. In 2007, Vardy received a conviction for assault following an incident outside a pub, and had to play with an electronic tag fitted for six months. Many would say it unfortunately adds to his attitude and rough up-bringing and there is another incident that proves this. In August 2015, The Sun on Sunday published a video of Vardy at a casino the previous month, calling a man of East Asian origin a "Jap". The Leicester City striker apologised for a "regrettable error of judgement" and was fined by Leicester, who put him on an educational course. There is no place for racism in Sport and its a shame that players can think this behaviour is acceptable. Anyway, away from the dark side of Football, Vardy's rise to the top has proven to a lot of people that it is never to late to achieve your dream.