It was a day to remember as Jamie Vardy capped his run as Leicester City’s hero with a 200th goal for the club and a 2-0 victory.
In celebrating his 13 years as a City player, there was plenty going on, from pre-match displays to post-match appreciation with 90 minutes of football in between.
For those that couldn’t make it to the King Power Stadium, also those who may not have been able to take in all of the sights and sounds, here’s a few moments that you may have missed.
Contrasting chants
While it was a day to honour the club’s greatest player, it was also the final home match of a relegation campaign, and the emotions that accompany both of those scenarios were on show, sometimes in the same minute.
Not long before Vardy scored, City fans chanted ‘Stand up if you love Vardy!’ But that almost instantly turned into a rendition of ‘Sack the board!’ and ‘We want Rudkin out!’
Those chants of unhappiness continued throughout, and emerged again just as Vardy was about to deliver his final words on the pitch, fans again singing ‘We want Rudkin out!’
Players targeted with boos
It wasn’t just the hierarchy who were targeted. There were scatterings of boos for players too.
As against Southampton, boos could be heard when Wout Faes and Jordan Ayew’s names were read out prior to the match, while that was also true for Boubakary Soumare, the Frenchman returning to the side in place of Oliver Skipp.
There were groans in the stands for Soumare and Ayew in particular when they didn’t move the ball forward as quickly as fans had hoped, although Ayew won supporters around by the time he was withdrawn, the Ghanaian applauded when he was substituted.
There were boos too when the current squad emerged from the tunnel post-match to join the guard of honour for Vardy, fans expressing their unhappiness with this season’s performances as a whole.
Love for Nigel Pearson
There was a host of former City players there, especially those from early days of Vardy’s career, and including the manager who signed him for the club.
Vardy has often talked up the importance of Nigel Pearson in his City career, and the former manager received a lot of love from the fans.
During the game there was even a request for him to return to the club, with chants of ‘Pearson, sort it out!’
Post-match, one of the biggest cheers of the afternoon came when Pearson’s face was shown on the big screen. It took a moment for Pearson to realise it was his appearance that prompted the cheers, and he looked chuffed to bits when he did notice.
Later on, in the bowels of the stadium, Pearson passed the mixed zone and spotted journalist Ian Baker, who was the subject of the manager’s ostrich-themed press conference 10 years ago.
After a warm greeting between the two, Pearson asked: “Is your head still in the sand?”
Player of the season announcements
The player of the season was announced on the pitch after the game, with Vardy triumphing, winning the emotional vote to perhaps pip Bilal El Khannouss and Mads Hermansen, who perhaps would have been contenders.
The development squad player of the season was announced too. It’s decided internally rather than by a fan vote, and there were joint-winners too.
After their incredible rises through the ranks, it was hard to split Jake Evans and Jeremy Monga, and so they each accepted the award, posing for photos with the chairman and with Andy King, who’s been their mentor since they were promoted to the first team.
There were no announcements over the young player of the season award, nor the goal of the season award, which were voted for by the public.
Vardy’s daughter takes the limelight
Once the presentations to Vardy had finished, the striker was asked to lead a lap of appreciation. Before they could begin, Vardy’s youngest daughter dashed off and ran around the pitch by herself.
Her turn of pace earned chants of “sign her up!” from the King Power Stadium crowd.
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