Sports Poets Society

Leicester City-speler Patson Daka treurt na het gelijkspel op 21 april tegen Hull City,  waardoor zijn ploeg definitief degradeert.  FOTO JACOB KING/AP Het King Power Stadium is niet langer vol met fans die het wonder van Leicester willen aanschouwen. Er hangt nu een „heel sombere sfeer”, nog verslechterd door de nieuwe degradatie. „Het is alsof ze plotseling niets goed meer konden doen.” De kans dat Leicester in 2016 de landstitel zou winnen, werd even groot geacht als het bestaan van het monster van Loch Ness "Om degradatie te ontlopen moet je als team de nul kunnen houden. Dat is ze al dertig wedstrijden op rij niet gelukt" - Rob Tanner clubvolger voor The Athletic 23 Apr 2026 - NRC Joost Pijpker Het zijn de sporen van een stil protest. Vlaggen van vaalblauwe en vuilwitte stof, slordig weggestopt tussen de stoeltjes van het King Power Stadium. Ze zijn er neergelegd zodat de vaste bezoekers van die zitjes ermee zouden zwaaien – bij opkomst van de spelers van Leicester Ci...

Ian Holloway, en mai 2010, en train de fêter la qualification  de Blackpool en finale de play-offs de Championship. En trente ans de carrière, le coach de 62 ans s’est fait connaître en décrochant deux accessions en Premier League et en plaçant l’humour au coeur de sa stratégie managériale. «J’adore la ville de Blackpool,  on est pareils elle et moi,  on est plus jolis dans l’obscurité»    - IAN HOLLOWAY 30 Dec 2025 - L'Équipe PIERRE-ÉTIENNE MINONZIO La scène se passe à la fin de l’année 2019, à la Réunion. À cette époque, le milieu de terrain Elliot Grandin, âgé de 32 ans, évolue à la Saint-Pierroise, un club de l’île de l’océan Indien, après être notamment passé par l’OM et divers clubs anglais. « Je terminais ma carrière en douceur, dans un endroit où l’on peut vivre en claquettes toute l’année » , confie-t-il. C’est dans ce contexte qu’il reçoit un coup de fil de l’un de ses anciens coaches, Ian Holloway, qui l’avait managé à Blackpool (2010-2012) et à Cryst...

PLUMB IMAGES/LEICESTER CITY FC/GETTY IMAGES Jamie Vardy receives a guard of honour from his teammates Vardy caps final game for Leicester with 200th goal Peter Lansley - King Power Stadium  19 May 2025 - The Guardian Leicester 2 Ipswich 0 Vardy 28, McAteer 69 The moment arrived in the 28th minute, though it had been brewing all match – all day, all week, all month. James Justin won the ball in his own half, accelerated through the centre of Ipswich’s midfield and waited for Leicester’s No 9 to make his run. Jamie Vardy, on his 500th appearance for the club, timed it to perfection, from centre to right, into the area, took one touch to steady himself and then, with a quick second that dispatched the ball into the far corner, scored his 200th goal for the club. Typical Vardy, lifting his finger to his lips, the most vaunted former non-league striker in Premier League history peeled off to the nearest corner flag, lifted it out the ground, and celebrated his tenth goal of the season i...

MICHAEL REGAN / GETTY IMAGESFOX IN THE BOX:  Jamie Vardy hopes to remain in the top flight when he leaves Leicester City VAN NISTELROOY WANTS PLAYERS TO FOCUS ON BEATING IPSWICH IN STRIKER’S FINAL CITY MATCH 17 May 2025 - Leicester Mercury LEICESTER City manager Ruud van Nistelrooy feels the best way to give Jamie Vardy a fitting send-off in his 500th and final appearance for the club is to just stay focused on beating Ipswich tomorrow (3pm ko). Vardy, 38, is leaving the Foxes at the end of the season after 13 years and is not set to be involved for the final game away at Bournemouth, which will allow him a King Power Stadium farewell. Leicester have produced a special commemorative A4 matchday programme dedicated to Vardy, whose goals helped Claudio Ranieri’s side to a memorable Premier League title triumph in 2016. He also won the 2021 FA Cup. Having scored 199 goals in 499 games, the former England striker – who announced his decision to leave the club several weeks ago after r...

https://www.lcfc.com/pages/en/media-article/jamie-vardy-leicester-city-ipswich-town-final-lcfc-premier-league-home-game-goat by Sam Jones Building up to Jamie Vardy’s King Power Stadium swansong, our captain shares thoughts on his final home outing in Leicester blue. Jamie Vardy’s final home game at King Power Stadium will come against Ipswich Town on Sunday The decorated forward is leaving City this month after 13 years with the Club He sat down with CITY to reflect on his time as a Fox; the full interview available to read this weekend In what promises to be an emotional occasion, the Foxes’ greatest-ever player will say goodbye to the Club he has served for the past 13 years on Sunday, when we host Ipswich Town in the Premier League (3pm kick-off) – our last home match of the season. Ahead of his Filbert Way farewell , Vardy reflected on the many highs and lows during an exclusive interview with CITY, which will be available to read in full this weekend, inside the special souvenir...

Former teammates and coaches reflect on striker’s singular career and how he made it to the top of the game ‘I never understand why fans wind him up  because  he’s one of the worst people you can wind up’    - former Leicester defender Danny Simpson ‘He is very relatable.  He has brought his non-league  personality to the top level’    - former Leicester winger Marc Albrighton Ben Fisher 17 May 2025 THE GUARDIAN / Sport Where to start with the wiry teenager turned Premier League icon who once worked 12-hour shifts in a carbon-fibre factory? Perhaps at the beginning of an extraordinary career, his release by Sheffield Wednesday and those days earning £30 a game at Stocksbridge Park Steels hounding defenders in the Northern Premier League . For six months an electronic ankle tag – after he was convicted of assault – meant midweek matches were off-menu and games often saw him being subbed after an hour so he could jump over fences and into his parent...

16 May 2025 - Leicester Mercury By JORDAN BLACKWELL jordan.blackwell@reachplc.com @jrdnblackwell SEAN Dyche is not actively seeking a return to management but could be swayed if the right job comes up, he has said amid links to Leicester City. Reports at the weekend named Dyche as a frontrunner to succeed Ruud van Nistelrooy, whose future at the King Power Stadium is in doubt. Dyche has been out of work since being sacked by Everton in the winter , and said he turned down opportunities in the immediate aftermath of leaving Goodison Park. But even after a few months out of the game, Dyche says he’s not looking to make a comeback right now. The 53-year-old has, in the past, been highly regarded at City for the work he did at Burnley, and he was on the shortlist to replace Craig Shakespeare at the King Power Stadium in 2017. Interviewed on Gary Neville’s The Overlap podcast, Dyche was asked if he was looking to return to management. “ Not at the moment. The timing is wrong anyway ,” he s...

PLUMB IMAGES/LCFC/GETTY IMAGES  16 May 2025 - Leicester Mercury TEEN STRIKER TIPPED AS A LEICESTER City’s number nine shirt will bear JamieVardy’s name for the final time this weekend, and the search for his successor should already be under way, writes Jordan Blackwell. Beyond ensuring they have the right manager in place, the biggest task City face this summer is finding a new striker who can deliver goals. It does not seem that Patson Daka , for all his effort, will be able to deliver the consistency and level of finishing quality that City need up front. He may leave this summer too. Jordan Ayew may stay, and he could play at the top of the pitch, but he would be a target man to build off, not a goal-getter. But what about Jake Evans ? If there’s an heir to Vardy’s throne inside the club, the 16-year-old, left, feels the most worthy of such a grand title. But it would also feel unfair to put that weight on the shoulders of someone so young. Certainly, Evans is not yet in a pos...

PLUMB IMAGES/LCFC/GETTY IMAGES TERRORISING THE NEIGHBOURS:  Jamie Vardy in action against Nottingham Forest last weekend STRIKER APPEARS TO RULE OUT JOINING WREXHAM IN CHAMPIONSHIP 16 May 2025 - Leicester Mercury By JORDAN BLACKWELL  jordan.blackwell@reachplc.com  @jrdnblackwell  JAMIE Vardy does not know where his future will take him – but the Leicester City icon has implied he won’t be joining a Championship rival next season. Vardy plays his last City match on Sunday at home to Ipswich, with no plans for him to feature against Bournemouth on the Premier League’s final weekend. But while it’s the end of his time at City, it’s not the end of his career. Vardy, now 38, has no intention of retiring. He says where he goes next cannot be predicted, but it seems he won’t be playing against City next term, as he is setting his sights on playing in a top-tier division. That would rule out a move to Hollywood-backed Wrexham, who return to the Championship next term and are...

ZAC GOODWIN/PA  CITY OPINION JUDGING ROUTE TO DELIVER 14 May 2025 - Leicester Mercury By JORDAN BLACKWELL  jordan.blackwell@reachplc.com  @jrdnblackwell IT was nearly eight years ago that Sean Dyche first emerged as a contender for the Leicester City manager’s job and now he’s being linked again. Admired for his work at Burnley, Dyche was on City’s shortlist to replace Craig Shakespeare in 2017 . The club ultimately went for Claude Puel and so started a process of moving away from the counter-attacking game that had led them to their glorious Premier League title and towards a more fashionable brand of football. From there, for the majority of the next eight years, City fans mostly saw their team look to keep control of the ball, with Enzo Maresca taking that to an extreme degree. The idea of appointing a manager like Dyche, below, became to feel like a backwards step. City had moved on and the former Burnley boss no longer fit with what they were looking for. But maybe ...

PA LOAN STARS: Sheffield United’s Hamza Choudhury  and Will Alves of Cardiff City BLADES MAY SIGN CHOUDHURY IF THEY RETURN TO PREMIER LEAGUE Jordan Blackwell  14 May 2025 - Leicester Mercury SHEFFIELD United are 90 minutes away from the Premier League with their success potentially leading to a Leicester City windfall, writes Jordan Blackwell. The Blades beat Bristol City 3-0 in the play-off semi-final second leg on Monday night to earn a 6-0 aggregate victory and comfortably book their place at Wembley. City loanee Hamza Choudhury played 90 minutes for Sheffield United at right-back as they again kept a clean sheet and he will be favourite to start the final. If Sheffield United are triumphant, it perhaps makes a permanent move for the City academy graduate more likely. Playing as a defensive midfielder or as a right-back, Choudhury has made 18 appearances since joining the Blades on loan in January, only missing one game. He has done what he was brought in to do and has br...

MIKE EGERTON/PA STRUGGLING:  Jamie Vardy was limping at the end of the Forest match 14 May 2025 - Leicester Mercury JAMIE Vardy will be able to bow out at the King Power Stadium on Sunday with the Leicester City striker only suffering from cramp at the end of the 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest, writes Jordan Blackwell. Vardy was seen limping in added time at the City Ground, but manager Ruud van Nistelrooy alleviated fears that he could be denied a farewell appearance at the King Power Stadium. Sunday’s game against Ipswich Town will be Vardy’s 500th for City and his final for the club at the home ground. He will be hoping to score what would be his 200th goal for the club. “He’s fine,” van Nistelrooy said. “It’s cramp. He felt the cramp in his hamstring and he will be okay for next week.” There were a couple of occasions at Forest where it looked like Vardy might get a shot away. But he did not manage to find the space he needed, instead trying and failing to find Kasey McAteer ...

©Getty https://sport.sky.it/calcio/premier-league/2025/05/09/jamie-vardy-200-gol-leicester 09 mag 2025 - 15:00 Paolo Ciarravano - Sky Sport Insider Lo storico attaccante delle 'Foxes', ormai ai saluti, è a una sola rete dalle 200 con la maglia del Leicester. Un traguardo impensabile per un attaccante, ormai di culto, che fino ai 25 anni giocava ancora con i dilettanti e che diventerà, a prescindere, un pezzo di storia della Premier League Tre partite a disposizione per segnare il gol numero 200 con la maglia del Leicester City Football Club. E raggiungere 500 presenze con la maglia delle Foxes. Il club che Jamie Vardy con i suoi gol ha messo per sempre sulla mappa del calcio mondiale. E soprattutto nella leggenda. A prescindere da dove vada, per lui c’è già un posto assicurato da tempo. 200. Meno uno. Tre partite per fare centro: Nottingham Forest in trasferta, Ipswich Town in casa, Bournemouth in trasferta. La possibilità di chiudere in bellezza malgrado una retrocessione inel...