VARDY’S VENTURE REQUIRES PATIENCE
JAMIE Vardy deserves great credit for remembering his roots. His V9 Academy, designed to showcase Non-League’s finest untapped talent, is a noble idea. Sadly, without a sea change in mentality at the highest levels, the project faces a monumental challenge. Too many supporters demand instant results.Too many owners cave to their demands.Too many managers pay the price. And until that cycle of short-sighted stupidity ends, players like Vardy will slip through the cracks. Nobody can effortlessly leap through the divisions. Life isn’t like that.You need time to learn, to adapt, to figure out the shortcuts and dirty tricks. Were you as proficient at your job five years ago? Was Gordon Ramsey a top-class chef when he enrolled at Oxford Technical College in 1985? Roger Federer won the Wimbledon Junior title at 16, yet it would be three years before the Swiss maestro claimed his first major ATP title, the Milan Masters, in 2001. Even the best need time. Vardy is a case in point.The 29-year-old waltzed through Non-League, only to find he had two left feet following a £1m move to the Championship with Leicester.
Frustrations
During one Foxes game in early 2013, I bumped into Vardy on the King Power concourse. “Hi Vards,” I said, without thinking. “You injured or something?” “No mate,” he said sheepishly, before scurrying off. Little did I realise then that he was contemplating quitting the game. But Vardy was talked round by Foxes manager Nigel Pearson and his assistant Craig Shakespeare, men who could see the potential and were determined to coax it out. Lee Gregory, who shared a lift to training with Vardy during their days at Halifax, endured similar frustrations following a move to Millwall in June 2014. That first season, the striker scored just six times in 40 fitful appearances as Millwall were relegated to League One. A year on, he’s the Lions’ top scorer with 27 goals. “I never really played when I first arrived,” said the 27-year-old. “Then I was in and out. It did hit my confidence. But the new manager (Neil Harris) came in and said ‘You’re playing the next ten games. I don’t care if you miss a thousand chances, you’re my striker’. “That helped me relax and play my natural game. Basically, it’s just being that bit fitter, that bit sharper and that bit more comfortable in my surroundings.” Sounds simple eh? But Vardy and Gregory were lucky. Both had managers able to bide their time. Very few have such a luxury. During the course of last season, 54 managers lost their jobs across the top four divisions, a 15-year nadir that the LMA branded “embarrassing”. The Championship alone has seen 38 sackings in just two seasons.
Foothold
Those guys know that five defeats will have the fans on their back. That a miniscule drop in attendances will frighten the chairman. That even a sniff of relegation trouble will loosen the trigger finger. They aren’t going to stake their job on potential. They aren’t going to sign a player who’ll take 12 months to deliver. They want quick fixes and ready-made solutions – experience, international caps, a background in one of Europe’s top divisions. England will provide 20 per cent of the players at Euro 2016, a dismal statistic which illustrates the extent to which homegrown players are being shunned. And the sad thing is, they are good enough. Vardy has proved it. Ian Wright proved it. Next season, Andre Gray and Albert Adomah will prove it. Of course, that’s not to say every Non-League player can emulate Vardy. His pace is truly exceptional. But there are plenty out there who, with a year of coaching and exposure to better players, could do a solid job in the Championship or above. Vardy’s academy will give those players a foothold. But it is the job of everybody else – starting with the posturing punters who light up 606 blathering on about managers who have ‘taken the club as far as they can’ – to shut up, show some patience, and haul them to the summit.