This time last year was when Vardy-mania really began to take off.
Then, the Leicester City striker was seen as a former non-league player who had started the new season in fantastic form after finishing the previous season with a bang helping his club to avoid relegation.
What followed would have been laughed off if it was suggested 12 months ago. A Premier League record-setting run of consecutive games with goals, a PFA player of the year award, a Premier League winner's medal, and a spot in England's Euro 2016 squad.
His rise to superstardom has been witnessed worldwide, and while we wait for the inevitable Hollywood blockbuster film, the former Fleetwood Town striker has released his own book to tell the full story of how it went down. While we wait for that to be released, Vardy sat down with The Times for a revealing interview to get to know more about the man who became famous for "banging" those who "chatted shit", and we learned not only that Luis Suarez wanted to swap shirts with him after Leicester faced Barcelona in pre-season, but that the player we see on Sky Sports every week really did come from nowhere in just a few years.
In particular, a story about his eating habits and fondness for "skittles-vodka" a Frankenstein combination of, you guessed it, vodka and skittles, shows exactly where he was before his remarkable journey began.
As told by Robert Crampton in his interview which you can read in full over on TheTimes.co.uk, meeting his future wife is what really forced him to get his act:
It was a turning point. Prior to that, as he admits in his new autobiography, From Nowhere, his career had been marked by ill-discipline on and off the field. Until Rebekah sorted him out, he was well on the way to becoming one of those players who never quite fulfil their potential.
He’d turned out for clubs – amateur, semi-pro and lower league – playing well below what is now revealed as his true level. He lacked confidence and, because of his lifestyle, living on a diet of McDonald’s, Red Bull and alcohol, despite being preternaturally fast he didn’t have the phenomenal standard of fitness that is now the hallmark of his game.
“Around that time I had a 3l vodka bottle at home that I would put loads and loads of Skittles in,” he recalls. “Once one batch of Skittles had fully dissolved, I’d top it up with more. I kept repeating the process, and I must have put a different batch of Skittles in at least 20 times. After that, you can drink the vodka neat and it tastes just like Skittles, so you don’t get that minging taste. When I was feeling bored at home in the evening I’d pour myself a glass, sit back and enjoy.”
From casually knocking back sugar-fused vodka and scoffing McDonalds to becoming one of the fittest and most effective players in the Premier League.
From reading the interview you get the feeling that Vardy is where he is simply because he didn't give up, and you can't help but wonder how many players could have achieved the things that he has done if they simply made it their sole focus.
Oh, and here's the Luis Suarez quip as well:
We take a moment to survey the decor of Vardy’s retreat. The ceiling is adorned with framed shirts traded with other players. Shelvey. Lescott. Henderson. Hart. And so on. How is it decided who swaps with whom? “It varies,” he says. “When we played Barcelona pre-season, I knew the lads would all be trying to get a shirt, so I weren’t gonna ask anyone. Then, coming in at half-time, Luis Suarez asked if he could have mine.” Other memorabilia on display includes several Man of the Match bottles of champagne. And a variety of Walkers crisps (Leicester’s sponsor) named in his honour.
Remarkable.
We're looking forward to giving his book a read, even if we do think the film is destined to be a disaster. Apparently Louis Tomlinson from One Direction is the leading candidate to play Vardy. Great. Actually, we'll be surprised if a line of Jamie Vardy vodka doesn't emerge on the back of this.
You can read Crampton's interview with Jamie Vardy in full over on TheTimes.co.uk
