Jamie Vardy and the Celtic link

He’s the story that keeps on giving. Jamie Vardy is a brilliant home-made hero in contrast to the Carlos Kickaball’s that dominate the ‘Greatest League in the World’.

Yesterday’s goal at West Brom was the eighth Premier League match running that Vardy has scored on with only Ruud Van Nistelrooy on 10 bettering that record.

With every landmark achieved the fascination with his background increases. A Sheffield Wednesday reject at 16 Vardy’s CV covers Stockbridge Park Steels, Halifax Town and Fleetwood Town before a £1m move to Leicester City in May 2012.

Vardy started the 2011/12 season with Halifax, scored 31 times in 36 appearances helping Fleetwood into the Football League before signing for Leicester.

In January 2012 Celtic were quoted with an interest in the free scoring striker as Fleetwood made their mark in the FA Cup at the same time as Vardy’s goals were powering them to promotion.

Fleetwood manager Micky Mellon was a former Tranmere team-mate of Stevie Frail, as a Celtic fan there’s little doubt that he would have been thrilled to see his striker end up wearing hoops.

Early in January 2012 the Fleetwood boss said: “I heard Celtic were looking at Vardy. I’m not surprised. So they should be because he’s a good player. In fact, he’s a very good player.

“If Celtic are doing their homework and looking for the best young players in England, then Vardy’s one of them. You would expect that.

“The two massive clubs in Scotland should be getting to players like that if their scouting system is working properly but he’s been linked to everybody, it’s not just Celtic. We’ve thirty scouts watching us every home game so we’re used to it.

Mellon added: “We will keep him this season. We’ve a great chairman and we won’t dismantle the team yet, because we want to get promoted.

“There will come a time when players like Vardy will race forward quicker than us because he’s a real top player.

“He’ll be the one to make that decision along with my chairman but at the minute he’s loving it.”

After scoring against Blackpool in a 5-1 FA Cup defeat Seasiders manager Ian Holloway had a £750,000 bid for Vardy turned down, it’s unlikely that Celtic would have bettered that with Fleetwood holding out for £1.

Leicester matched that figure with reports that add-on’s could take the fee to £1.7m. Vardy has extended his Leicester contract until 2018 but if he continues the scoring form he’s unlikely to finish the season with Claudio Ranierri’s side.

Having held out for a £1m fee in 2012 if there’s a sell-on percentage in the deal Fleetwood will be looking at another windfall.

Looking back at the January 2012 transfer window Fleetwood owner Andy Pithey, who paid Halifax £150,000 for Vardy five months earlier, said: “Soon after we signed him the phone start ringing, not just daily but pretty much on the hour.

“It went from clubs at the top of League One, to clubs at the bottom of the Championship to top Championship clubs and eventually Premier League clubs.

“We had £1m bids in January and he had only been with us three months but I desperately didn’t want him to go because if he went we would lose a huge chance of promotion to the Football League.

“We managed to persuade him to stay for three more months and when he left we said: ‘we would be very proud to see him play for England’. Sure it enough it came true this year.

“I was delighted because he could have spat his dummy out and been a pain to us after we didn’t let him go in the January but he rolled his sleeves up and got the goals to get us promoted.”