How Jamie Vardy transfer request set the Chelsea target on his way to Premier League history
Stocksbridge chief tells how £100-a-week striker now on the champions' radar after scoring in 11 consecutive games asked to be sold in hand-written note
Andy Stenning / Getty
Mister write: The actual letter Vardy gave Stocksbridge in 2010 as he sought a move
Jamie Vardy has Chelsea chasing him these days, but the striker’s former Stocksbridge chairman recalls how he tabled a written transfer request when there were considerably less wealthy clubs after him.
Leicester and England frontman Vardy is the Premier League’s leading scorer with 14 goals after scoring in a record 11 successive matches.
Both Chelsea and Manchester United are now considering £20million-plus bids in January for the former non-League player.
That prospect was far-fetched when Vardy was at Stocksbridge Park Steels, in the ninth tier, after being rejected as a teenager by his local club, Sheffield Wednesday.
In pictures — Jamie Vardy's 11-match goal-scoring streak:
But Vardy quit Stocksbridge in 2010, handing in a transfer request ahead of a summer move to fellow Northern Premier League side Halifax, where he improved his £100-a-week wages.
Now, with the striker due to turn 29 in January, Stocksbridge chairman Allen Bethel feels Vardy may have other big calls looming.
Recalling that transfer request, 74-year-old Bethel told MirrorSport: “It hadn’t been simmering.
“We weren’t on tenterhooks waiting for it. It just arrived when Jamie handed it to me. It is the only one he has done, but of course he could put in another one.
Andy Stenning/Daily Mirror
Teenage kicks: Vardy played for Stocksbridge in the ninth tier as a youngster
“He has had some injuries recently and he might feel this is his last chance to put his future in a totally secure position. He is 29 years old in January.
“Another move would give him financial security for life and a further challenge.
“Clubs get quite desperate around Christmas - it is their only opportunity in the transfer window. Centre-forwards win matches and he has scored 14 goals in that league and scored in 11 consecutive games.”
Halifax got Vardy for a bargain £15,000 in June 2010 after he asked to go in the January.
Andy Stenning
Didn't he do well: Allen Bethel isn't surprised by big guns' interest in Vardy
The striker spent just a season with them, before Conference side Fleetwood snapped him up for £150,000 to fire them to promotion into the Football League.
His feats with the Cod Army would earn him a £1million move to then-Championship Leicester in summer 2012.
And now with Vardy lighting up the Premier League too, Chelsea could bid for him as boss Jose Mourinho is at loggerheads with their No 1 striker, Diego Costa.
Costa was an unused sub in Sunday’s 0-0 at Tottenham following a row with Mourinho during their midweek Champions League match.
Bethel, a Chelsea fan who has been in charge of Yorkshire club Stocksbridge since 1986, added: “Mourinho likes someone with speed. Jamie definitely has that and he has improved so much. When he gets a chance you back him to score.”
Andy Stenning / Getty
Mister write: The actual letter Vardy gave Stocksbridge in 2010 as he sought a move Jamie Vardy has Chelsea chasing him these days, but the striker’s former Stocksbridge chairman recalls how he tabled a written transfer request when there were considerably less wealthy clubs after him.
Leicester and England frontman Vardy is the Premier League’s leading scorer with 14 goals after scoring in a record 11 successive matches.
Both Chelsea and Manchester United are now considering £20million-plus bids in January for the former non-League player.
That prospect was far-fetched when Vardy was at Stocksbridge Park Steels, in the ninth tier, after being rejected as a teenager by his local club, Sheffield Wednesday.
In pictures — Jamie Vardy's 11-match goal-scoring streak:
But Vardy quit Stocksbridge in 2010, handing in a transfer request ahead of a summer move to fellow Northern Premier League side Halifax, where he improved his £100-a-week wages.
Now, with the striker due to turn 29 in January, Stocksbridge chairman Allen Bethel feels Vardy may have other big calls looming.
Recalling that transfer request, 74-year-old Bethel told MirrorSport: “It hadn’t been simmering.
“We weren’t on tenterhooks waiting for it. It just arrived when Jamie handed it to me. It is the only one he has done, but of course he could put in another one.
Andy Stenning/Daily Mirror
Teenage kicks: Vardy played for Stocksbridge in the ninth tier as a youngster “He has had some injuries recently and he might feel this is his last chance to put his future in a totally secure position. He is 29 years old in January.
“Another move would give him financial security for life and a further challenge.
“Clubs get quite desperate around Christmas - it is their only opportunity in the transfer window. Centre-forwards win matches and he has scored 14 goals in that league and scored in 11 consecutive games.”
Halifax got Vardy for a bargain £15,000 in June 2010 after he asked to go in the January.
Andy Stenning
Didn't he do well: Allen Bethel isn't surprised by big guns' interest in Vardy The striker spent just a season with them, before Conference side Fleetwood snapped him up for £150,000 to fire them to promotion into the Football League.
His feats with the Cod Army would earn him a £1million move to then-Championship Leicester in summer 2012.
And now with Vardy lighting up the Premier League too, Chelsea could bid for him as boss Jose Mourinho is at loggerheads with their No 1 striker, Diego Costa.
Costa was an unused sub in Sunday’s 0-0 at Tottenham following a row with Mourinho during their midweek Champions League match.
Bethel, a Chelsea fan who has been in charge of Yorkshire club Stocksbridge since 1986, added: “Mourinho likes someone with speed. Jamie definitely has that and he has improved so much. When he gets a chance you back him to score.”
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