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Jamie Vardy -A Tribute to the King


Being a football fan, means that you are invariably accused by your partner, "You love that football club more than me". To which the answer, is of course reassurance that that is not the case, and that they are obviously number 1. However in the case of Leicester City fans, the accusation comes in the form of, "You love Jamie Vardy more than me" To which the answer is less easy to formulate, with equivalence at best offered.


So why do Leicester fans have such an adoration and love affair with Jamie Vardy? Well the reasons are multiple, with numerous causes given, however they can actually be described rather easily. He is the perfect footballer for a fan to love.


There are 3 main reasons for a football fan to love a player. Firstly, due to that particular player being a cult hero. Becoming a cult hero is different to being a a traditionally well-liked player. They may not be the best player on the pitch, but boy do they put in a shift. They may have the best chant attributed to them, sung with gusto from stadium to stadium. Or it may just be that they are as daft as a brush and continuously have a smile on their face. Either way, they live long in the memories by fans, and are loved all the same. Kevin "Rooster" Russell, Steve Howard and Shinji Okazaki all spring to mind as prime examples of being Leicester City cult heroes.

The second grouping for loving a particular individual, are for more obvious reasons. These are purely for footballing reasons and for their footballing ability. Whether they be colossal centre backs keeping clean sheets for fun, midfielders who can tackle, pass and shoot or strikers who cannot stop scoring. They are the players that are the best players, the ones you look forward to watching play, the players that head up the list of younger fans for whom they want on the back of their shirts. These are the players that go down in folklore, with stories and memories continuously retold of their exploits, with favourite goals and performances replayed and remembered over and over. Keith Weller, Gary Lineker, Muzzy Izzet, Esteban Cambiasso, Riyad Mahrez. We have been lucky at Leicester to have been blessed with many a fine player who are passed down generation to generation, and will always make All Time XI's.


The third and final cause for a fan's love is loyalty. In a sport and industry where loyalty is very rarely rewarded, and even more rarely seen, a higher price is therefore placed on those players who stick with a particular club, even turning down offers from other teams, which on paper look an improvement or potentially better for their career. They are the constant, in a game where change is the norm. These are obvious to spot at Leicester - Steve Walsh, Andy King and Matt Elliott are all players that will go down as legends due to their commitment and longevity to the cause. Given the nature of football, loyalty features heavily as a reason for receiving fans adoration.

So this leads us back to Jamie Vardy and the central question - why do Leicester fans love him so much? Well the answer is quite simple, he is that rare breed - he is all 3 of the groups described above in one perfect footballer. From the immortal words of "Chat shit get banged" to his infamous shithousing of opposition fans each and every week, that would be enough to achieve cult hero status. You then combine those with his karate kicking of corner flags on a consistent basis, a love of port and red bull before each game and going to toe to toe with everyone in the league, including memorably squaring up to Diego Costa and you have the perfect ingredients for being a cult hero.


These qualities are then combined with quite simply an awesome footballing talent and goal scoring ability. We all know his history, arriving at Leicester after having spent the entirety of his previous career in non-league football. But 7 and a half years later, we can see the full extent of his scoring ability. 134 goals in Leicester City colours from 290 appearances, including 114 in the Premier League, putting him amongst the elite in the history of the competition. He was won the golden boot in 2020, possessing a scoring record against the top 6 that others would dream of, and holds the Premier League record of scoring in 11 consecutive games. Most of all, he is the man who powered Leicester City to the greatest of all achievements, giving us the most glorious day in the sun, when we won the Premier League in 2016. Not only is he the best striker we have ever had, he is now our best player of all time, a feat that looks extremely hard to be matched anytime soon.

And so we finally move to loyalty, of which Vardy has it in spades. After winning the Premier League in 2016, he had a firm offer on the table from Arsenal, no doubt for more money, and potentially better prospects. But he said not thank you, I'm staying here. A quote appeared on twitter recently, attributed to Vardy - "Leave Leicester? they wanted me when no one else wanted me. I will never let them down" Those words, even without the Arsenal rejection, are what every football fan dreams of hearing, especially from their best player regarding their club. They are the words that make every Leicester fan shout his name even louder in stadiums, and defend him even the world may criticise.


Jamie Vardy is the king of footballers. He is the goal scoring hero, the number one rustler, and importantly, he is ours. So with apologies to our partners, the Leicester City love affair with him will not dampen down anytime soon.

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