Tag Archives: Jamie Vardy

Jamie Vardy: The New Ian Wright

I went down the Lane,
The other night,
To tell the Y**s,
We got the new Ian Wright,

They said to me,
How can that be?
I said to them,
We got Thierry Henry…

Thierry Henry, Thierry Henry,
Thierry Henry, Thierry Henry,
Thierry Henry, Thierry Henry,
Thierry Henry, Thierry Henry!

10 JAN 1996:  Ian Wright of Arsenal listens to the cheers of the supporters after he scored in the Coca Cola Cup quarter final match against Newcastle at Highbury.

That was 1999. 17 years ago. And whilst Thierry Henry was Ian Wright like when putting the ball into the back of the net, on and off the pitch he was a completely different character.

Less charismatic. More thoughtful. More concerned with his own image. Not a bit of a nasty piece of work.

And it is that last one which set Ian Wright apart from other strikers in the 1990s. He was a nasty piece of work.

Whilst England was full of polite, well-mannered player; Alan Shearer, Teddy Sheringham, Gary Linekar, Les Ferdinand. Ian Wright for all intents and purposes, a bit of a scum bag.

Growing up on a council estate in poverty, 3 to a bed, he would do time in Chelmsford before getting his break as a professional footballer. At 21 he was working manual jobs in Greenwich, already a young father to both Shaun and Bradley, he finally got his chance at Crystal Palace just 3 months shy of his 22nd birthday.

At Palace, he developed into one of the most deadly strikers in England. including when he scored a hat-trick in just eighteen minutes in Palace’s penultimate game of the 1990/91 season away to Wimbledon.

Whilst scoring goals, he never forgot where he was from, who he represented. He was still that nasty piece of work from the streets. Happy to put his foot in. Wind an opponent up. Start a fight.

In 1991 he joined Arsenal, he was a little shy of 28. The medals, the records, the suspensions, the FA disciplinary records, they all rolled in.

We all loved him, opponents all hated him.

He was a nasty piece of work on the pitch, but a deadly goal scorer. A c**t but our c**t.

25 years after we signed him, Arsenal are on the verge of repeating a similar feet. Jamie Vardy.

Vardy has taken a similar, and well written about, path to Premier League football. From non league to Premier League in less than 5 years.

He has scored goals everywhere he has been, but at no point has he lost his edge. His nasty streak. That thing you need when playing Saturday league football in Sheffield.

He is not politically correct, he is not interview trained, he, like Ian Wright, is just a normal bloke who is good at football. And came into the game late enough that he has not had his personality, his nastiness, coached out of him.

Wright was signed for £2.5m when the world record transfer fee was just £8m. Vardy will join for around £20m when the world record is £80+. Fairly similar prices.

I will never forget the first time I heard about Jamie Vardy. He was at Fleetwood Town and someone I go football with, who is also from Fleetwood, was banging on about him. “He will play for England one day” “I’d love Wenger to sign him” “31 goals in 36 games”. Of course, we all laughed. He was in the conference at the time!

In one year at Fleetwood he became a club legend, scored the goals to win them the conference, then moved to Leicester City for £1m.

Already at Arsenal, we have our Alan Smith, by Monday I hope we have signed our new Ian Wright.

I went down the Lane,
The other night,
To tell the Y**s,
We got the new Ian Wright,

They said to me,
How can that be?
I said to them,
We got Jamie Vardy…

Jamie Vardy, Jamie Vardy,
Jamie Vardy, Jamie Vardy,
Jamie Vardy, Jamie Vardy,
Jamie Vardy, Jamie Vardy!

Keenos

White Knight Danny Welbeck Destroys the Evil Leicester

Cheaters never prosper.

Or at least that is how the old Chinese proverb 骗子永远繁荣昌盛 go’s.

For 94 minutes yesterday, it seemed like the cheats were going to win. Or get a draw. Until White Knight Danny Welbeck rode in from the Arsenal treatment table to become the Arsenal hero of the day. Saving the sides league title challenge. Saving football for all of humanity. Ensuring the dirty horrible Leicester did not win.

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Jamie Vardy, with looks like an evil goblin, was chief cheat. Going down like he was the incarnation of Andy Johnson to cheat his way to a penalty.

We have all complained already about the biased coverage, but in case you have not already seen it, Scouse evil fairy Danny Murphy said something along the lines of:

“It was a blatant penalty. Nacho Monreal planted his foot on the floor. He has no right to plant his foot on the floor. It was an utter disgrace. The way Monreal attacked the ground, causing shockwaves that were felt in Christchurch, New Zealand has no place on a football field. Jamie Vardy was unable to keep his feet. It was a 100% penalty.”

And Jamie Vardy scored that penalty. Celebrating with a face only a mother and people from Stoke could love. And the cheating did not end that there.

Other incidents – not mentioned on MOTD2, include a dive by Riyad Mahrez and a hand ball by N’Golo Kanté, where he was clearly auditioning for the French National Volleyball Team.

And then we come to Danny Simpson.

He spent much of the first half kicking Alexis Sanchez at every opportunity. Eventually he was righty booked. Then early in the second half, he pulled Alexis Sanchez as if he was holding hands on a Valentines Day date. He was given his 2nd booking and sent off. It then took him 4 minutes to leave the field of play – Will the FA extend his ban for failing to leave the field of play?

Probably not.

Evil, the whole lot of them.

Leicester are clearly cursed. It seems like their players are inflicted with a curse that means that when their number go’s up on the 4th official’s board, they lose their ability to walk. It took a life time for each one of their substitutions to take place as they almost crawled to the touch line,

And then we have that challenge by Danny Drinkwater on Aaron Ramsey. It was a red card. Our friend Danny Murphy did not like it at all.

“I hate seeing that”

Of course, he was talking about the disgusting potential leg breaking challenge. Or was he?

So here we have a pundit, an ex-professional football player, saying that Vardy has every right to go down for the penalty, but hate’s seeing a player go down after being on the end of a potential leg breaking challenge. One which Drinkwater felt so bad about himself that he actually apologised to Ramsey at the final whistle.

Maybe the BBC will apologise to tax payers for employing such rubbish pundits?

Danny Murphy, you are a disgrace. Hope when someone hits you with a car, and you role over the bonnet and onto the pavement a few times, the ambulance man says “Oh, I do not like seeing that much” and walks off.

As for the referee. Martin Atkinson, the new Mike Dean? He is a disgraceful referee. The only thing consistent about him was his consistency.

Taking out the penalty and the diving, he seemed to change the hand ball rule as he went along.

At one point penalising Alexis Sanchez for a handball whilst running, he then failed to penalise Vard for the same incident. And then we have the Kante one. His arm was out straight and it was straight infront of the linesman. How a penalty was not given, Atkinson is the only one who can answer. Sadly, refs are answerable to no one.

And then rewinding the incident for the Leicester penalty, some bloke was climbing so on Mesut Ozil’s back it was like he was trying to reach heaven from hell. No free kick given, and luckily for us at the final whistle he was sent back to where he came from.

In the 95th minute, Mesut Ozil and Danny Welbeck combined to save the day. And the world was right again.

Good rose above evil and The Arsenal won 2-1.

Keenos

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