Jamie Vardy has hit the silver screen - revealing he was motivated to break the Premier League goalscoring record by taunts from Manchester United fans.
The England striker decorated Leicester’s title miracle two seasons ago by scoring in 11 consecutive matches, breaking the record previously held by United legend Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Vardy clinched his place in Premier League history in a 1-1 draw against United at the King Power in November 2015 – silencing the noisy visiting fans who had been chanting the Dutchman’s name.
And as Vardy attended the premiere of a documentary charting his search for the next star to emerge from English football’s muck and nettles, he recalled the moment he made history.
Vardy said: “You don’t really think about it like that at the time, but obviously you realise later, when other people are talking about it, that it can inspire others.
“Especially with that goal, I can’t even remember why my celebration was like that.
“I think it was just a bit of emotion and listening to the Manchester United fans shout all day about Ruud van Nistelrooy that made me over-react slightly.
“I probably didn’t understand what an achievement it was at the time, but that comes from having a good team around you.”
Vardy was speaking at the premiere of a fly-on-the-wall series charting his V9 Academy’s search for the next hidden gems in non-League football.
After an exhaustive trawl of semi-professional clubs, 42 out of more than 1,000 applicants were handed a chance to prove they deserved contracts at League clubs.
The first episode of The Next Jamie Vardy will be shown on Sky One on September 16.
“No matter how many times I get asked, I still pinch myself every day and I probably won’t understand the full extent of my journey until I’m retired.
“But it has happened before me, so why can’t we carry on doing it with a lot more players coming through?
“Watching that (premiere) brought back a lot of memories because I was in the same position as some of those lads a few years ago.
“When I first moved from Fleetwood to Leicester, I doubted myself but I had good chat with the manager at the time, Nigel Pearson, and the coach Craig Shakespeare and they assured me I was good enough to be there.
“What’s changed since then? I don’t go out – it’s easier to chill at home.”
Even staying in has its risks, however. Vardy celebrated his epic voyage from Stocksbridge Park Steels to the 5,000-1 no-hopers he fired to the title at Leicester with a famous house party with all his team-mates.
He said: “We were all watching the Chelsea-Tottenham game (where Spurs’ 2-2 draw made Leicester’s lead at the top unassailable) on the giant screen in my kitchen.
“I don’t know what they did to it, but it was blank the next day – I had to get the TV engineers out to repair it.”
*The Next Jamie Vardy, Sky One, Saturday 16 September.