Vardy Reflects on Career: "If They Asked Me to Do It All Again, I Wouldn't"

Reflecting on his career, Jamie Vardy, the seasoned English striker now with Cremonese, discussed his unconventional path to stardom, winning the Premier League with Leicester, and the enduring importance of his childhood friends, whom he affectionately calls the "Inbetweeners."

"I was just a little freak in the system," Vardy stated with his characteristic self-deprecation, speaking about his rise in football. The 39-year-old believes his improbable journey is unlikely to be replicated. "It's not the common way of doing things, is it? I don't think it will happen again, but it happened to me, and it was the result of hard work. It was really, really tough, but it was worth it," the forward confessed in a lengthy interview with The Guardian, coinciding with a new documentary about his life, which chronicles his journey from a factory job making splints and crutches to success at the pinnacle of British football.

In the documentary, when asked to describe himself in one word, Vardy chose "idiot," though he later softened it to "joker." Currently in Serie A, the player has been sidelined by injury but returned in the 1-2 defeat against Lazio last weekend. The striker insists he will continue playing as long as his legs allow. "When they say enough is enough, then that will be the end," he declared, adding that his days of being fueled by vodka and Skittles, a detail that emerges in the documentary, are long gone.

The highlight of the English international's career was undoubtedly winning the Premier League title in 2016 with Leicester. Vardy fondly remembers the squad that achieved this feat, a team forged by Nigel Pearson and later led by Claudio Ranieri. "We're all still in a WhatsApp group. We're always talking to each other, keeping in touch, seeing what the lads are up to. The bond we had back then was unbelievable," he revealed.

The forward highlighted Pearson's role in building the team's unity, foundations that remained strong into the following season under Ranieri. "Big Nigel was very good with the foundations, making everything very tight-knit, and that just carried on into the next season," he explained. Vardy also praised Ranieri's intelligence for making only minor adjustments to the winning formula. "He brought us all together, said he'd seen the great escape [from relegation] the season before and didn't want to change much at all, which I think was the right thing to do for the group we had," he recalled.

Jamie Vardy, who bid farewell to Leicester a year ago with his 200th goal in his 500th game, has no plans to pursue a coaching career, stating that life on the bench is not for him. The English striker also reflected on a career marked by moments of chaos, scandals, and personal trauma.

Despite observing Leicester's "disastrous" Championship campaign from afar, Vardy dismisses the idea of returning to the Foxes, or any other club, as a coach. "Coach, no. They're at the training ground even longer than the players. I can't do it," he stated, adding that he prefers to live day by day. "I haven't thought much about the future. I'm very much a 'get today done, go to sleep, and see what tomorrow brings' kind of guy. I've always been like that, which I know annoys some people."

Vardy's career has not been without controversy. In 2015, he was fined by Leicester for using racist language in a casino, an act he attributed to ignorance. In the same year, he faced personal trauma upon discovering the identity of his biological father, a secret that had been kept from him.

To cope with his problems, Vardy never considered seeking external counseling, preferring to rely on internal club support. "We had a good psychologist [at Leicester], so I was constantly talking to them," he explained. "It's just normal conversations like this one we're having now. It's easy to talk when you're in that environment. I think the problem arises when you're alone and trying to keep everything to yourself. You don't want to talk to people, and that's what then causes the problem."

Looking back, Vardy insists he has no regrets about the highs and lows of his career. "There wouldn't be any, none at all," he said. However, he wouldn't repeat the experience: "But if you asked me to do it all again, I wouldn't!" For Vardy, one wild ride was enough.

The documentary titled Untold UK: Jamie Vardy will be available on Netflix from May 12.