Harrison ("Harry") Panayiotou was gleeful. So gleeful, in fact, that he fell over, before being grabbed by Dave Nugent and running to the City faithful who had made the trip to West Yorkshire. It was a glorious moment to be a City fan. A last minute winner against Leeds is always so, so satisfying (see, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Il3TiXJpAA). These moments remind you why you follow football, even in a dead-rubber match, a goal can be scored that you know will live long in the memory. Such a goal has surely earned Panayiotou a place in City folklore.
Just one week on, it feels as if that game against Leeds may as well have been a year ago. A season of what-might-have-been has been transformed into a season of what-might-be.
What is clear is that Nigel Pearson will not be splashing the cash around like the Sheikh of some oil-soaked Middle Eastern emirate. We will not be going after headline-grabbing names and the days of being linked to the likes of David Beckham, Thierry Henry etc.belong to a by-gone era.
The first name on Big Nige's wish-list is Jamie Vardy, Fleetwood Town's number 33. It's pretty clear that opinion among fans is split, with some questioning whether Vardy can make the step up from the BSP to Championship.
It seems that the argument among City fans has generated a lot of heat and not much light. So, who is Jamie Vardy and what's he done to earn his place on Nige's wish list?
Jamie Vardy began his career at Stocksbridge Park Steels, who were then in the ninth tier of the English pyramid (the Evo-Stik Divison One North). For three seasons, between 2007 and 2010 Vardy scored 66 goals in 107 games, a rate of a goal every 1.62 games, for the Yorkshire club as they rose to the Evo-Stik Premier League.
Vardy moved to FC Halifax Town of the Conference North in 2010, turning down a short-term contract with Rotherham United. He netted an impressive 29 goals in 41 games that season (1 goal every 1.41 appearances).
Vardy started this season with the Shaymen and continued where he left off from the previous campaign. He bagged three in the first four games this season before making the step up to Fleetwood of the Conference on the 26 August 2011. Cod Army Chairman Andy Pilley had been investing heavily into Fleetwood, with an eye on promotion to the Football League, and the signing of Vardy was seen as a huge statement of intent as the likes of Huddersfield Town, Burton Albion and Crewe Alexandra had been monitoring the player.
Vardy scored his first goals for Fleetwood when he bagged a brace in his third game at Kettering and has since gone on to net 31 goals in just 36 appearances this season, as Fleetwood strolled to the Conference with a total of 103 points.
In 2012, Vardy has been linked with everyone from Rangers to Palace and West Brom, and now (if rumours are to be believed) he's poised to join Big Nige's revolution at City. I, for one, cannot wait. This is the sort of signing we were crying out for under Svennis; a player with hunger and desire and pace to burn. And, it goes without saying, Vardy is a finisher of supreme quality.
He is also 25, so he is not exactly "one for the future". Instead, he is not far from that make-or-break point of a player's career when he will find out just how high his star can rise.
I remember, in 1997, Leicester City signed a largely unknown central defender from Oxford United. My Dad's reaction "Do they even play football in Oxford?" summed up the ignorance of our fans to lower level football. That player was a certain Matthew Stephen Elliott. That player went on to carve his name into Leicester legend as a fantastic, no-nonsense centre-back (some time centre-forward) and a great Captain.
One Fleetwood fan told me that Vardy could be a successful Championship striker "standing on his head". Now that really would be something to see.
I think most City fans just hope for a player with hunger and fight and I think Jamie Vardy more than fits the bill. The idea of Vardy and Nugent up front next season makes me so, so glad I renewed my season ticket.
" To hope is to risk pain. To try is to risk failure. But, risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKrPMrRGJUo
Yet, after the match, Pearson was unequivocal. As ever, he resembled that PE teacher from school who always bollocked you for forgetting your kit. He was frowning, his arms were folded across his chest and he made it clear that he did not share the fans' joy. He talked of a need to rebuild and bemoaned a poor refereeing performance:
" We finished with a win and that's the best you can say...The season has finished now and we are looking forward to getting a rebuild."
Just one week on, it feels as if that game against Leeds may as well have been a year ago. A season of what-might-have-been has been transformed into a season of what-might-be.
What is clear is that Nigel Pearson will not be splashing the cash around like the Sheikh of some oil-soaked Middle Eastern emirate. We will not be going after headline-grabbing names and the days of being linked to the likes of David Beckham, Thierry Henry etc.belong to a by-gone era.
The first name on Big Nige's wish-list is Jamie Vardy, Fleetwood Town's number 33. It's pretty clear that opinion among fans is split, with some questioning whether Vardy can make the step up from the BSP to Championship.
It seems that the argument among City fans has generated a lot of heat and not much light. So, who is Jamie Vardy and what's he done to earn his place on Nige's wish list?
Jamie Vardy began his career at Stocksbridge Park Steels, who were then in the ninth tier of the English pyramid (the Evo-Stik Divison One North). For three seasons, between 2007 and 2010 Vardy scored 66 goals in 107 games, a rate of a goal every 1.62 games, for the Yorkshire club as they rose to the Evo-Stik Premier League.
Vardy moved to FC Halifax Town of the Conference North in 2010, turning down a short-term contract with Rotherham United. He netted an impressive 29 goals in 41 games that season (1 goal every 1.41 appearances).
Vardy started this season with the Shaymen and continued where he left off from the previous campaign. He bagged three in the first four games this season before making the step up to Fleetwood of the Conference on the 26 August 2011. Cod Army Chairman Andy Pilley had been investing heavily into Fleetwood, with an eye on promotion to the Football League, and the signing of Vardy was seen as a huge statement of intent as the likes of Huddersfield Town, Burton Albion and Crewe Alexandra had been monitoring the player.
Vardy scored his first goals for Fleetwood when he bagged a brace in his third game at Kettering and has since gone on to net 31 goals in just 36 appearances this season, as Fleetwood strolled to the Conference with a total of 103 points.
In 2012, Vardy has been linked with everyone from Rangers to Palace and West Brom, and now (if rumours are to be believed) he's poised to join Big Nige's revolution at City. I, for one, cannot wait. This is the sort of signing we were crying out for under Svennis; a player with hunger and desire and pace to burn. And, it goes without saying, Vardy is a finisher of supreme quality.
He is also 25, so he is not exactly "one for the future". Instead, he is not far from that make-or-break point of a player's career when he will find out just how high his star can rise.
I remember, in 1997, Leicester City signed a largely unknown central defender from Oxford United. My Dad's reaction "Do they even play football in Oxford?" summed up the ignorance of our fans to lower level football. That player was a certain Matthew Stephen Elliott. That player went on to carve his name into Leicester legend as a fantastic, no-nonsense centre-back (some time centre-forward) and a great Captain.
One Fleetwood fan told me that Vardy could be a successful Championship striker "standing on his head". Now that really would be something to see.
I think most City fans just hope for a player with hunger and fight and I think Jamie Vardy more than fits the bill. The idea of Vardy and Nugent up front next season makes me so, so glad I renewed my season ticket.
" To hope is to risk pain. To try is to risk failure. But, risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKrPMrRGJUo
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