A Premier League addiction: loving to hate Leicester’s Jamie Vardy

This article explains why Premier League fans love to hate Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy, with the accompaniment of an instructive Sky Sports video.

If you’re a non-Leicester City fan reading this, or neutral in general, let me put a poser your way: if thousands of people were spontaneously, aggressively chanting about someone’s spouse but the target found a way to passively respond to silence them without using violence or obscenity, you would say it’s a triumph for that person, right? Or even for society as a whole?! Welcome to Jamie Vardy’s misunderstood world.

Being labelled a chav, a one-season-wonder as well as being severely underrated will motivate a working class, natural-born goalscorer like the fabled No.9. In fact, Vardy has edged above magicians such as Chelsea hero Didier Drogba on the Premier League all-time scorers list, for example.

Vardy is an undisputed English footballing hero; one who only reached the EPL at age-27 – and still lifted the trophy.

Why do fans love to hate Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy?

Typically over the previous four-five years, Vardy arrives at an away ground and finds opposition in strong voice. In other words, the derogatory songs about the forward and his family begin – before the game even starts. Vardy seems immune to this antagonising now; he merely stores it up as motivation to score and for Leicester to win – along with hopefully throwing all that at his antagonisers, like a proverbial bullet. Below are some of the best examples from Sky Sports.

If you see the Crystal Palace or West Bromwich Albion faithful’s responses to Vardy goals and celebrations above, you’ll see anger, bewilderment and mouthed swearing. Opponents’ support don’t seem to like Vardy. Nor do they appear to love the Sheffield-born hitman, as Foxes of Leicester’s title suggests.

However, there is a pantomime element occurring here: Vardy is their villain and simultaneously a Foxes idol; yet he is supplying entertainment through expert finishing, rattling, rustling and wind ups. And more ferociously than anyone in history. It’s almost predictable: sing about Vardy, then get scored against – chat s**t, get banged.

To prove our point, in every video behind and next to the hostile morons spouting loathsome insults at the athlete, there are loyal fans of opposing sides smiling, laughing and almost enjoying Vardy’s justifiable spectacle.

Even the most obnoxious – such as the deranged WBA supporter in the video – surely go home and realise that they’ve witnessed greatness, albeit against their club. Ironically, by appearing with Vardy on the celebration snippet, they too are a part of history. A strange, f**k you kind of history. The great man turned 34 this week, we’ll all miss him when he retires – even the Sheffield United fans will!