PUPIL v MASTER
Vardy academy graduate Penny takes on the boss
PETERBOROUGH defender Alex Penny says he is ready to give mentor Jamie Vardy a kicking despite being indebted to Leicester’s England striker.
Penny was one of four players plucked from obscurity last summer to land a pro contract at a league club after impressing in the inaugural year of Vardy’s V9 academy.
The pair sat alongside each other yesterday ahead of their meeting tomorrow in the FA Cup fourth round at League One Posh.
The televised tie pits the former Premier League champions’ top scorer against United defender Penny. Both men insist no quarter will be asked or given.
Penny, 20, signed from Nuneaton last summer, said: “It is going to be good to play against someone who has given me the opportunity.
“I am ready for it and have been ready ever since the draw was made.
“Will he still be talking to me afterwards? It depends on the tackle I put in on him in the first five minutes. Anything goes on the football field in my opinion, so once we cross that white line I am sure we will both go into our own zones.
“Playing against him is going to be good for the academy and there is no reason why anyone shouldn’t follow in my footsteps or Jamie’s.”
Vardy and wife Rebekah set-up the project to help discover more nonleague talent following the England forward’s own rags to riches fairytale.
Penny said: “Jamie told me just work as hard as you can because there is always someone else willing to do it you don’t.
“If you go that extra step you are going to give yourself the best opportunity and chance to make it to the highest level.”
Vardy has already helped knock his former club Fleetwood out of the competition in a third-round replay earlier this month.
Now he insists he will be ruthless against protege Penny after recently scoring his 11th of the season in the Foxes’ defeat of Watford. Vardy won and scored a first-half penalty (celebrating below) when Molla Wague brought him down before the Mali defender went off injured early in the second half.
Vardy, who turned 31 earlier this month, started out at Stocksbridge Parks Steels in the eighth tier of English football, before helping Fleetwood reach the league.
He said: “It has been a strange FA Cup this year, facing my old club Fleetwood in the third round and now getting to play against this man.
“It is going to be interesting Saturday. Hopefully he won’t do too well, Leicester need to get through. “One of the Watford lads pulled his hamstring trying to catch me. There has not been a race yet between me and Alex, but I am sure we will find out who is quickest on the day. “Alex has done great and luckily us getting through against Fleetwood has given me the opportunity to come up against him. “We will swap shirts afterwards – hopefully he will frame it and not use it as toilet paper!” Vardy’s V9 academy launched their second year at the King Power Stadium yesterday, with another intake of 42 players planned for this summer. He is funding the project with Rebekah, and they have expanded the application process to include players in League One and League Two, plus the Northern Irish and Welsh leagues and the Scottish Championship. Vardy said: “There is loads of talent in non-league and this year we have opened it up to the rest of the UK.”