Jamie Vardy - The Movie

Scene 1 – The beginning

In the first scene, we see Jamie Vardy as a child, playing football in the park with his school mates. It is a cold autumn afternoon, but the boys are running about and don’t feel the cold. The sky is grey with rain clouds and the people in the park are wearing thick clothes to protect them from the cold. The group of boys playing football are wearing school uniforms and kicking an old leather football. There isn’t a football pitch so the boys put their school bags on the grass to mark two goals. The young Vardy is small for his age, but he’s quick and runs around his friends, controlling the ball with natural talent. He shoots and we see the ball flying past his school mates and through the goal. Jamie celebrates his goal, imagining he was playing for Sheffield Wednesday, his boyhood team, in front of thousands of fans.

Scene 2 – The rejection

Vardy is 16 years old and training at the Sheffield Wednesday youth academy. He's been a Wednesday fan all his life and he still goes to all the matches with his dad. We see the action from the perspective of two coaches who are watching and commenting on the players. The coaches are impressed with Vardy’s talent, but think that he isn't big enough to make it professionally. We overhear them saying that the young Vardy doesn’t have the physical presence to be competitive.

At the end of the scene, we see one of the coaches talking to Vardy. The coach tells the young Vardy that that he’ll always be blocked and pushed around by the bigger defenders because he is too small. Vardy looks upset about what the coach is telling him. He walks away, and later we see him throw his kit in the bin.

Scene 3 – The factory years

Jamie is now 20 years old and working in a factory. In this scene, Vardy is wearing overalls and pushing a stack of boxes on a trolley. However, he hasn’t given up his football dream. The factory bell rings and it’s the end of his shift. He rushes to the staff changing area and then takes off the overalls and we see that he is wearing a football shirt underneath. He grabs his bag and rushes out to the car park where a friend is waiting to take him to play in a match. The car pulls into the carpark at the Stocksbridge Park Steels FC ground.

Scene 4 – Non league goals

In this scene, we see Vardy and his teammates celebrating winning a match. Vardy is now 22 years old and still playing for Stocksbridge Park Steels in the seventh division of English football. The Steels manager, Gary Marrow, puts his arm around Vardy and tells him that he needs to take his football more seriously. He tells the young Vardy that he has talent and should be playing for a bigger club. The manager is very friendly towards Vardy and wants to see the young footballer do better. The other players praise Vardy and laugh and make jokes, however, we can see that the manager’s words have made an impact on the young striker. Over the next year, we see a change in Vardy. He seems more determined on the pitch and works harder, running, passing and shooting. His reputation is growing and managers from different clubs are seen in the stands watching Jamie play. In this scene, we see a montage of Vardy goals and promotions as he signs first for FC Halifax and then for Fleetwood Town.

Scene 6 – Fleetwood Town

Fleetwood is a small town on the north-west coast of England. The town grew up around fishing and the football team’s nickname is the Cod Army. In this scene, we join Jamie and his teammates before their final match of the season against Lincoln City. Vardy scores his 33rd and 34th goals of the season as Fleetwood Town win promotion to the football league for the first ever time. After the match,  Fleetwood’s manager invites Vardy into his office:

"We’re going up to the Football League ... But not you Jamie (Jamie looks sad), we’ve had an offer from Leicester City  (Jamie’s eyes light up). It’s a million pounds, we can’t say no."  

Scene 7 - Joining Leicester

Later that month, Vardy becomes the most expensive player in non-league history and joins Leicester City in the Championship. At first, he finds it difficult and even thinks about quitting the club, but in his second season at Leicester his form improves and he scores 16 goals to help fire the Foxes into the Premier League. Leicester City are in the Premier League for the first time in over 10 years and Jamie Vardy is in the Premier League for the first ever time!

Scene 8 - Leicester City's great escape

Once again, Vardy finds it difficult to adapt to the better quality of football in the Premier League. In April, Leicester are bottom of the Premier League and Vardy has only scored twice in thirty matches. However, Leicester pull off one of the greatest ever Premier League escapes from relegation. Vardy gets a 90th-minute match-winning goal against West Brom and then the Foxes win seven of their last nine matches to finish in 14th place. Vardy and the team are getting used to Premier League football at last. The scene finishes with Leicester fans chanting; 'We are Premier League, I say we are Premier League.'

Scene 9 - Breaking the Premier League goal scoring record

The following season, Leicester and Vardy start the season like a train. By the end of September, Vardy already has more goals than he had scored in the entire previous season, and by the start of December, Leicester have already won more matches than they had won in the whole of the previous season. Vardy breaks the Premier League record for goals scored in consecutive matches when he scores his eleventh consecutive goal against Manchester Utd. 

Scene 10 - Winning the Premier League

Vardy finishes the season with 24 Premier League goals as Leicester win the title by an amazing 10 points! Because of his performances, Vardy is named Premier League Player of the Season! From factory worker to Premier League winner! What a story! What a film!