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BBC News
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
It was all 'classic Jamie Vardy'
Jamie Vardy's 'Last Dance' for Leicester City was planned the flags bearing his name provided for the home fans, the "Goodbye to the Goat" messaging which was emblazoned across the matchday programme, as well as the stadium big screen, to all the VIPs in attendance, which included the manager who signed him, Nigel Pearson, a number of his former team-mates, plus Vardy's family and received an abundance of additional information on email and WhatsApp prior to kick-off, I can't have been the only one thinking this will be proper awkward if he doesn't score!This shaped my questioning to Ruud van Nistelrooy pre-match when I asked if there was any danger of sentiment getting in the way of his players decision-making when attacking. His robust response clearly indicated this had been a discussion point during the week, but Van Nistelrooy was clear in explaining how it was Vardy himself who led the dialogue of their focus being on the team rather than any individual, and winning was the most important 200th club goal, which is set to be replayed for years to come, was classic Jamie soon as the counter was on, he held the high line to force the Ipswich defence into retreat, which created room for James Justin to drive into. Vardy then made the run to find just enough space so when the ball did arrive at his feet, he was able to deliver the type of 18-yard box finish which has become so synonymous throughout his goalscoring career. Topped off with a customary celebration in front of the away supporters, it was a full house when it comes to a Jamie Vardy goal bingo was a surprise to all media in attendance to discover Vardy's only post-match interview would be conducted by the club, as the squad carried out their lap of appreciation. However, in addition to his goals, given his time at Leicester was largely fuelled by homemade Skittles and vodka, and cutting on and off the field banter, which even his own team-mates and their 'Danish friends' couldn't escape, I respect how he was determined to go out on his own terms.
New York Times
19-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Vardy's last party: An emotional ending to one of the Premier League's greatest stories
If Jamie Vardy's time at Leicester City has been a fairytale, it got the perfect ending as he scored his 200th goal for the club in his 500th and last appearance. The rags-to-riches story of a player plucked from non-League who climbed to the summit of the game during 13 incredible years with Leicester is finally over, but Vardy ensured he went out as he started on his debut in a League Cup tie away against Torquay United in August 2012 — with a goal. On an afternoon of celebration and appreciation for his service to the club, everywhere you looked around King Power Stadium, there they were – replica Leicester shirts with 'Vardy' and '9' on the back, all ready for one last Vardy party. Some of those who had their tops adorned with the name and number of the player dubbed the greatest of all time (GOAT) by the club's fanbase weren't old enough to remember a Leicester squad that didn't have an available Vardy in it. There were also some wearing masks bearing the face of their star striker. Vardys aplenty then, but there is only one Jamie Vardy, and the crowd were keen to celebrate his legacy as English football's first £1million signing from non-League levels said his goodbyes on an emotional afternoon. That crowd included family, friends, and former team-mates and coaches, such as Nigel Pearson, the manager who made the bold decision and signed him on exactly the same date in 2012 that Vardy has now waved farewell to the club following what has been a deeply disappointing season that will end with relegation to the Championship. Usually after such a dreadful campaign, the supporters' vitriol and discontent could spill over at the final home game of the season, and there were several chants on Sunday to sack the board and for the removal of director of football Jon Rudkin, but once Vardy announced that this would be his swansong in a Leicester shirt, how could there be any emotion other than gratitude for a player who has achieved so much for them? Advertisement After helping win the Premier League, FA Cup, Community Shield and two Championship titles and setting numerous goalscoring records, Vardy fits the billing as Leicester's greatest of all time. No other player has been so synonymous with the most memorable and successful period in the club's history. No wonder then that they gave him such a tremendous send-off on a sunny afternoon at a stadium he has graced with such distinction. Before his final training session, the other players formed a guard of honour as he stepped onto the pitch, then hoisted him into the air and gave the 38-year-old the 'bumps'. On matchday itself, every seat in the place was adorned with a blue or white flag with 'Thank you Vards' printed on it. A selection of his greatest Leicester moments was played on the ground's giant screens, and every mention of his name was greeted with cheers. He walked out accompanied by three of his children while 13 giant flags, one for every season he's been at Leicester and all depicting trophy wins and other triumphs to treasure, were waved. The question was: would there be a last special Vardy moment in his finale? He began the match against Ipswich Town on 199 Leicester goals and had already decided to call time on his career at the club on 500 appearances, so with one game of the season, away to Bournemouth next Sunday, remaining. Even by 2024-25 Leicester's levels of disappointment, surely he would get his moment against another of the relegated sides? The Ipswich fans were revelling in their party-poopers role, chanting Wayne Rooney's name to taunt Vardy, whose wife had lost a High Court libel case against his fellow striker's spouse, Coleen Rooney. As he has done so often, he responded in the finest way possible, latching onto James Justin's 28th-minute through ball and sliding a finish past Alex Palmer in the Ipswich goal before racing in celebration towards his taunters. The king of s***housery doing what he does best until the very end. When Kasey MacAteer made it 2-0 midway through the second half to ensure a rare victory, only their sixth in 37 league matches this season, the party truly started. Vardy was then replaced with just over 10 minutes to go, being given another guard of honour by his team-mates and a standing ovation from the crowd as he left the pitch. Advertisement On so many occasions this season, disappointed and dejected Leicester supporters had headed for the stadium's exits early, but on Sunday, they stayed to show their respect for Vardy and all he had achieved while bearing their club's fox badge on his chest. They waited patiently to see their talisman walk back onto that pitch one more time, for a special pre-game presentation, which included many of his former team-mates forming another guard of honour along with the current players, with some boos and chants of 'You're not fit to wear the shirt' aimed at the latter audible. The pain of going straight back down in such dismal fashion following last season's promotion is still fresh and had it not been for the fact that this was Vardy's final home game, that simmering anger could have boiled over. This may be a tough time for Leicester fans, but yesterday was about honouring the last member of the side who created history by winning the 2015-16 Premier League title still playing for the club. Vardy, who was also named as the club's player of the season, said in the build-up to this match that he doesn't show emotion, and sure enough, when he was asked how he felt, he simply replied: 'I'm alright, to be honest.' But as the tributes continued and a video montage of his highlights — introduced by his children — played and he stood watching in the centre of the pitch, he would have needed a heart of stone not to feel sentimental over the ending of an era. The man with the golden touch in front of goal was then presented with a commemorative golden fox to go along with his golden boot from finishing as the 2019-20 Premier League's top goalscorer – a remarkable feat among so many for a Leicester player to achieve. During his final weeks at the club, camera crews working on a Netflix documentary about Vardy have been following him around, and they were, of course, at his last game too. They will have captured the most fitting finale of what has been one of the Premier League's greatest stories.
The Guardian
18-05-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Jamie Vardy signs off in style with 200th goal for Leicester on final appearance
The moment arrived in the 28th minute, though it had been brewing all match – all day, all week, and all month, to be fair. James Justin won the ball in his own half, accelerated through the soft centre of Ipswich's midfield and waited for Leicester's No 9 to make his run. Jamie Vardy, on his 500th appearance for the club, timed it to perfection, from centre to right, into the penalty area, took one touch to steady himself and then, with a quick second touch that took the ball through Dara O'Shea's legs and into the far corner before Alex Palmer could react, scored his 200th goal for the club. Typical Vardy, lifting his finger to his lips, the most vaunted former non-league striker in Premier League history peeled off to the nearest corner flag, lifted it out the ground and celebrated in front of the Ipswich fans who had just been mocking him and his wife. The scoreboard had his image and the number 200 all ready and waiting to flash up. If only Leicester had been able to choreograph their season the way they have this landmark. There were flags ('Thank you Vards') for every supporter waiting in their seats. There was a super-sized commemorative programme ('Goodbye to the GOAT'). Nigel Pearson, who signed him 13 years ago to the day, was among his former managers in attendance, as were many of his teammates from the 2016 title-winning team, including Wes Morgan, Marc Albrighton, Kasper Schmeichel and Danny Simpson. Vardy warmed up with his three children, who were among the mascots. Then there were the trademark runs and chances that indicated this would be his day, and a good one to hide Leicester's other, deeper concerns. It was an emotional occasion even if the match, other than Vardy's landmark goal, felt almost irrelevant with both clubs, starting on 22 points, long since relegated. As well as where the striker's future lies, beyond a beach with his family next week after he asked to make this game his last so he could wave farewell to the club's supporters at home, there are so many questions to be answered. After a 'shitshow' of a season (to quote Vardy) when Leicester suffered nine successive home defeats without scoring, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, who has gained eight points from six games since relegation was accepted, has no idea if he will still be manager next season, so cannot start planning. Even though Leif Davis shot against the inside of a post in the sixth minute, Ipswich reminding us there was another team involved in this occasion, Vardy set about making this a day of celebration. Making one of his trademark diagonal runs, he was sent in by Jordan Ayew and zoomed past O'Shea to face goal. But recovering defenders forced him wide and he shot into the side-netting via an unrewarded deflection. Two minutes later, he received a free-kick from Bilal El Khannouss, back to goal, and managed to swivel before shooting into the side-netting. 'Stand up if you love Vardy' rang around the King Power Stadium. The vast majority of those present did. Those with professional duties felt like doing so. But before his breakthrough goal came the chants of 'Sack the board' and 'We want Rudkin out' – Jon Rudkin, the director of football – from the Leicester fans not willing to accept Vardy's fairytale was the only story in town. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion Claiming his first Premier League goal, Kasey McAteer had already shot against a post as Leicester sought to make the points safe when he did so, in the 69th minute, rifling a shot into the far top corner from a tight angle after El Khannouss's clever run invited a neat layoff from Wilfred Ndidi. The Leicester players formed a guard of honour on the touchline as, with 10 minutes to go, Vardy's number went up and the player who is being called the greatest in Leicester's history was replaced by Patson Daka. He took his seat in the dugout and stretched his arms up and behind him, closing his eyes, drinking in the moment. Chants of 'Jamie Vardy's having a party' alternated with appeals to 'Sack the board' throughout an afternoon that culminated in Rob Dorsett, the Sky Sports reporter, preparing to interview the man himself alongside Top Srivaddhanaprabha, the Leicester chair. Talk about attempting to bury bad news. But it would be churlish to deny Vardy his right to a proper send-off. No player has done more to make this the greatest decade, replete with Premier League title and FA Cup, in the club's history.
New York Times
18-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Jamie Vardy's 200 goals in 500 Leicester games: How he scored them, who he scored against and the five best
No one who saw Jamie Vardy's first goal for Leicester City in a League Cup tie at Torquay United in August 2012 would have imagined that, 13 years later, he would still be putting the ball in the back of the net in a Leicester shirt, scoring his 200th for the club in his 500th and final game, against Ipswich Town on Sunday. Advertisement Back then, the striker added the last goal in a 4-0 win and in typical fashion, ran in behind the defence to latch on to an angled Ben Marshall long pass before beating the on-rushing goalkeeper to head into an empty net. Vardy had forged a reputation for using his electric pace to sprint beyond static defences. It was what caught the attention of then-Leicester manager Nigel Pearson and his assistants, Craig Shakespeare and Steve Walsh, and convinced them to make their move while others hesitated. At first, it looked as though the gamble would not pay off. He scored just four more times in his first season, but contributed 16 in their Championship title-winning season in 2013-14. Over the next few years in the Premier League, Vardy would become much more than a striker who could run the channels. He became one who could score all types of goals. Former head coach Enzo Maresca said in November last year, before they were reunited as his Chelsea side took on Leicester, that Vardy had been the best English striker of his generation. 'England has been quite lucky with strikers, like (Harry) Kane, (Wayne) Rooney and many others, but he has been the best one,' he said. 'He can do many things, like run in behind and finish, but the best thing is his open mind. Last year, he changed the way he was playing by dropping in, linking the play and he still wants to learn. But he still has the one thing that is most difficult to find, which is to score goals.' Here, The Athletic looks at the stats behind those 200 goals, who they came against, and then pick his best five… Vardy's goal reel includes the full repertoire during his 13 years with Leicester. Of his 200, 126 have been scored with his right foot, 49 with his left and 25 with his head. Most of his goals have come inside the penalty area (193, including 34 penalties). Apart from the Conference League, he has also scored in every competition he has played, including 145 Premier League goals, which puts him 15th on the all-time record goalscorers' list. When he scored for Leicester against Ipswich Town on May 18, he became the Premier League's ninth-oldest goalscorer at 38 years and 127 days. He leads the way for the most goals scored from the age of 30, with 111 Vardy has done it against the best sides as well. He has scored 11 goals in 18 games against Arsenal, the club that nearly signed him in 2016 after Leicester won the Premier League. He has notched 10 against Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur and nine against Manchester City. The clubs he has been less successful against have been Brentford and Cardiff City, facing them five times without scoring. In 2016, when Vardy was on a short barren spell in the season after the title win, former England striker Michael Owen described him as lucky and 'not a natural finisher' while working as a television pundit. 'He's the type of centre-forward or finisher that is very much head down and hit it,' he said before Leicester's goalless draw with Copenhagen in the Champions League group stage. 'He goes for power a lot. He's not necessarily a cute, classy finisher. Advertisement 'He doesn't once lift his head. He almost hits it through goalkeepers. To be a finisher like that, you need a lot of luck — sometimes you'll have it, sometimes you won't.' Owen may have changed his tune now, but Vardy's manager at Leicester, Ruud van Nistelrooy — who knows a thing or two about scoring goals from his career with Manchester United and Real Madrid — says it doesn't matter as long as he is still scoring goals. 'You can call it natural or not natural, he puts those chances away,' Van Nistelrooy said after the 2-0 win against Southampton this month. 'He's been doing that for Leicester, he has won the league and has won the FA Cup. He may not be the dominant force in many games because of where the club has been over those 13 years, so whether you call it natural or not, it doesn't matter. He's a great goalscorer.' Van Nistelrooy picked out goal number 199, against Southampton, as a classic example of how technically good a striker Vardy is. 'Look at that goal,' he says. 'He scored a volley on his left foot with a drop kick. The technique was fantastic. 'So was his movement in the build-up, the way he moves away and then goes to the near post to create a yard of space for himself. 'That instinct and the intuition come into place and his technique, how he connects with that volley and how the ball leaves his foot in the top corner.' Vardy = goals 🐐 — Leicester City (@LCFC) May 3, 2025 Vardy's time with Leicester City is now at an end, but the striker the fans call the GOAT isn't finished yet and intends to continue to show his finishing prowess at the highest level possible. If any potential suitors need a short montage of what Vardy can do, here we have selected five of his best goals for Leicester. Read through and add yours below… His journey through the football pyramid had reached its summit when Vardy started his first Premier League game against Manchester United and marked the occasion with a typical Vardy goal. The ground was already buzzing as Leicester had come from 3-1 down to Louis van Gaal's men to be level at 3-3 and were pushing for a first home win of the season. Full-back Ritchie De Laet then broke up a United attack and spotted Vardy's run. He probably could have played the pass blindfolded, so confident would he have been that Vardy had already started his burst. Vardy was virtually free in the middle — De Laet picked him out perfectly and he raced away, but instead of smashing his finish as he might have a few years previously, Vardy calmly side-footed the ball inside the near post to beat David de Gea. He scored with a smarter finish at West Bromwich Albion towards the end of the season during a run of four goals in the final eight games to help Leicester secure their Premier League status, but for the iconic moment and the celebration, his first Premier League goal stands out. Shame it took him six months to score his second, but he certainly made up for that goal drought the following season. The strike that broke Van Nistelrooy's scoring record was among his most memorable. It was his 11th consecutive Premier League goal and the cameras caught his celebration, which was typical Vardy: 'It's me, it's me, it's all f****** me,' he screamed. But the goal that equalled the record, at Newcastle United, showed that Vardy is not just about the finish. He can create his own goalscoring opportunities, too. He had a little help from Leandro Ulloa, one of the unsung heroes of the Premier League title triumph that season, with a neat one-two, but then it was all Vardy as he cut inside Moussa Sissoko and slipped his near-post finish past Rob Elliot. He made this finish look so easy. Vardy is the classic fox in the box but when he did find the net from outside the box, they were special strikes — none more so than this finish against Liverpool. As was usually the case that title-winning season, his tandem threat Riyad Mahrez was the assist-maker with a long ball over the top, but Vardy still had a lot to do. This time, instead of trusting his pace to take him clear of the Liverpool defence, he spotted Simon Mignolet off his line and, with the ball bouncing, hit a dipping first-time shot into the net. Roy Hodgson, then England manager, was watching on with glee, but Vardy was never fully unleashed at international level. England's loss was Leicester's gain. Vardy showing Owen how wrong he proved to be. A natural finisher has a sense of where the goal is and where the keeper is, and Vardy proved this at West Brom. Once again, Mahrez was the provider, with another pass over the top — but this time, the ball was dipping over Vardy's left shoulder. With little disruption to his stride and without looking at the goal, Vardy waited for it to drop and gracefully guided it into the bottom corner with his left foot. The pandemic denied fans the opportunity to witness one of Vardy's more instinctive and clever finishes. He had demonstrated in March 2016 that he could deliver the deft backheel flick, scoring his first international goal for England in Germany in a similar fashion. Four years later, he was reproducing it, and from a more acute angle, as Leicester put five past Manchester City in their own backyard.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
‘He brought a non-league personality to the top': Jamie Vardy prepares for farewell party
Where to start with the wiry teenager turned Premier League icon who once worked 12-hour shifts in a carbon-fibre factory? Perhaps at the beginning of an extraordinary career, his release by Sheffield Wednesday and those days earning £30 a game at Stocksbridge Park Steels hounding defenders in the Northern Premier League. For six months an electronic ankle tag – after he was convicted of assault – meant midweek matches were off-menu and games often saw him being subbed after an hour so he could jump over fences and into his parents' car to beat his 6pm curfew. By then, his work was usually done. Word of mouth spread. He signed for Halifax for £15,000 in 2010, then Fleetwood a year later for 10 times that. Ten months on he joined Leicester in the Championship in a £1m deal, a non-league record. The story goes that he first appeared on Nigel Pearson's radar while scoring 66 goals across 107 Stocksbridge appearances. A friend of the Leicester manager who ran a fish and chip shop in Sheffield mentioned his name, a throwaway comment about a prolific striker in the eighth tier. Soon scouts were flocking to Fleetwood and Leicester beat off competition from Blackpool, Peterborough and Southampton to sign a 25-year-old by the name of Jamie Vardy. Advertisement Related: 'A total embarrassment': Jamie Vardy apologises for Leicester's awful season Steve Walsh, then an assistant manager and head of recruitment at Leicester, first scouted him when Fleetwood won an FA Cup tie at Yeovil in 2011. Vardy scored and Walsh made him his No 1 target. Leicester showed Vardy a montage of his best bits, and Pearson's status as a Wednesday hero helped persuade him Leicester was the best destination. He scored a header on debut at Torquay but initially found things tough and, concerned the jump was too big, asked to return to Fleetwood on loan. 'I think that's the one and only time in his life where I would say he lost confidence,' Walsh recalls. 'He was used to being the star of the show, scoring every week and people saying how good he was. All of a sudden there was a reality check. We had to point out that it takes time to adjust.' On Sunday Vardy, who turns 39 in January, will make his 500th and final appearance for Leicester, he hopes with a 200th goal to boot. No wonder Netflix is releasing a documentary charting his journey from turning up at sloping pitches in a clapped-out Renault Clio to breaking records on the biggest stage, chiefly scoring in 11 successive Premier League matches to eclipse Ruud van Nistelrooy, now his manager at Leicester. 'His story is almost a fairytale, but they don't need a script – just tell the truth,' says Walsh. 'He is a living legend.' Vardy has won the Premier League, against all odds under Claudio Ranieri in 2016, the division's Golden Boot, the FA Cup, played in the Champions League, for England at a World Cup and been nominated for the Ballon d'Or. He is joint 14th on the list of Premier League goalscorers, two shy of Teddy Sheringham. He even has a Guinness World Records certificate owing to that record-breaking goal against Manchester United en route to the title. 'Not many managers would but Claudio mentioned it beforehand,' says the former Leicester winger Marc Albrighton. ''Yes, we want to get the result but let's do our utmost to help Vards break this record.'' Advertisement Wearing gold boots, Vardy latched on to a no-look pass by Christian Fuchs and capped a devastating counterattack. 'Everyone was so genuinely happy for Vards to have achieved the record,' Fuchs says. 'It was pure joy. The only other moment that could top that was when Tottenham drew against Chelsea – that was probably more emotional and intense.' Fuchs is talking about the infamous party at Vardy's old house in Melton Mowbray on the night Leicester achieved the unthinkable. Vardy, who spent the day at a tattoo parlour, invited his teammates around in case Spurs dropped points and Leicester were champions. Many arrived with crates of beer. Late on Eden Hazard equalised for Chelsea, prompting Vardy's TV to be smashed and Fuchs to ask the Belgian if he could kiss his feet when they met on the final day. The celebrations went on until 4am. All the while television crews and supporters gathered outside. 'Suddenly we saw Vards's house on the telly in front of us … it was crazy,' says Fuchs. 'We felt like Hollywood stars. When I drove out of the gates, you couldn't see where you were going – just camera flashes.' Leicester's No 9 gets a kick out of riling opponents and opposition fans. He even learns swear words in different languages to unsettle defenders. 'He kills them with kindness,' says Fuchs, chuckling. Clips of Vardy mimicking an eagle after scoring against Crystal Palace, howling like a wolf after netting against Wolves and running the length of the pitch to shush supporters spring to mind. Last August, his final act against Tottenham was to point towards the Premier League badge on his shirt. 'I never understand why fans wind him up because he's one of the worst people you can wind up,' says the former Leicester defender Danny Simpson. 'Because it gives him a lift. If he thinks he is a bit off the pace, he knows how to raise his game, be it smashing into defenders, having a bit of beef with the fans. He loves all of that. That's a big part of his game when he's in that zone.' Does Vardy get more stick than any other current player? 'Probably,' was his own verdict this week. Advertisement 'In a time where footballers are high-profile celebrities, famous figures, he is very relatable to the fans,' says Albrighton. 'He has brought his non-league personality to the top level. A lot of players come through structured academies and are told to act a certain way. He's got this raw personality and character that initially took everybody by surprise but I think now even most opposition fans actually love him.' Central to Vardy's success has been his straight-talking and carefree character. 'He is like a big kid; you hear him before you see him,' says one of his former coaches of a player known to blast balls against the windows of Leicester's training pavilion. This is the Vardy who wore a 'Chat shit, get banged' T-shirt on their title parade, a nod to his Facebook post from 2011, when he was an unknown. Then there is the Spider-Man costume he donned at training under Claude Puel in 2019. 'Claude was giving him stick about his new red and blue 'Spider-Man' boots and I remember Vards saying: 'If you want Spider-Man, you can have Spider-Man,'' says Albrighton. 'He came in the next day with this morphsuit on, hid behind the bush, waited until Claude walked out, jumped out and scared him.' This month he blew the referee David Webb's whistle while the official lay injured. 'Endless stories … not many PG ones,' says Albrighton. 'He was always up to something, whether it was winding the laundry girls up or, going back a bit, hurling bread rolls at the youth team as they were singing in front of us at Christmas to get their boot money. Suddenly pigs in blankets are flying all over the canteen. He is a one-off.' Vardy's status as a joker was cemented while playing cards or Uno on the team bus, smashing eggs with Fuchs or pranking Demarai Gray by sending a bucket of water into his hotel room. Advertisement Vardy has his pre-match routine nailed down: three cans of Red Bull and a cheese and ham omelette. 'It frustrates the fitness coaches and the nutritionists when they're telling everyone what they should be eating and Vards, the main guy, has his own diet,' says Albrighton. In Leicester's title-winning season, on the eve of matches, he drank port out of a Lucozade bottle. 'I had a few of those with him,' says Simpson. 'If you compare his body 13 years ago with now, he hasn't changed.' Vardy ditched his homemade Skittles and vodka cocktail only when the then Leicester physio, Dave Rennie, informed him it hampered his rehabilitation from a dead leg. 'He ripped up the manual,' Walsh says. Vardy's story is also one of rejection. He was heartbroken by Wednesday letting him go as a schoolboy. At the peak of his powers he turned down Arsenal after they triggered his £22m release clause during Euro 2016. 'He stuck with Leicester and people must give him credit for that,' Walsh says. Vardy has not always been the best trainer but teammates count on him to deliver and view him as the ultimate team player. 'Some strikers just want to score and have all of these goal accolades but he just wants to win and I think that is what sets him apart,' says Simpson. Sometimes it means home truths. 'In a Jamie Vardy way,' says Fuchs, laughing. In recent years Vardy had a cryotherapy chamber installed at his Lincolnshire home to aid recovery. This season he has reported to Leicester's Seagrave base on days off to enhance his fitness or watch training. In terms of finishing, Van Nistelrooy is perhaps best placed to comment. 'Jamie is never bothered about the occasion,' the Dutchman says. 'He's always ice-cold.' Advertisement There are a trove of moments to cherish. His hat-trick in the 9-0 rout of Southampton in 2019, his strike from distance against Liverpool in 2016. 'I can picture the ball coming over his shoulder, bouncing and him hitting it from about 30 yards,' says Walsh. Simpson highlights the run to the Champions League quarter-finals. 'I will never forget the away goal he got against Sevilla … a good night.' Fuchs picks out Vardy's volley against West Brom in 2018. 'A ball from Riyad Mahrez came over his head, he took it first-time, just inside the box, left foot … it was one of those classic Vardy goals, something out of nothing.' Vardy represents the best £1m Leicester have spent. 'I don't think I'm ever going to top that one,' says Walsh, stressing the signing was a team effort, highlighting Craig Shakespeare, the scout David Mills and Kevin Phillips, who coached Vardy. 'I had to go to the owner, Vichai [Srivaddhanaprabha], and ask if he was prepared to pay the money, which is always difficult. But Vichai had complete trust in the staff to build a team he expected would do well … it turned out all right.' Vardy is the last remaining member of the title-winning squad, many of whom will be present to witness him bow out against Ipswich. Vardy considers himself emotionless but the planned tributes will test his tear ducts. He plans to carry on playing but will for ever be synonymous with Leicester. 'You don't see him get too emotional away from the pitch,' Simpson says. 'Maybe this time he will because it's the last time his kids will walk on with him.' Then, maybe, there will be one final knees-up. The class of 2016 WhatsApp group has been abuzz, the message from the firestarter typically to the point. ''We're having another Vardy Party, you better all make sure you're there,'' Simpson says. 'We need to celebrate him and what he's achieved. It's going to be weird not seeing him in a Leicester shirt, looking at the team and seeing Vardy's not up front. Hopefully he gets that 200th goal which would be the perfect ending.'
