This season has been a relentless grind for Leicester City fans, with little opportunity to take a break from the relentless flood of bad news.
They have already endured a six-point deduction for breaching profit and sustainability rules, a sanction which could increase after the Premier League announced they had appealed the decision of an independent commission and are seeking a greater punishment. Add to that disruption in the boardroom, fan protests in the stands and some shockingly bad displays on the pitch that have left them embroiled in a fight to avoid relegation to League One, and the fairytale Premier League title win of 10 years ago feels a distant memory.
That dream has been replaced by a nightmare from which Leicester fans are struggling to rouse themselves.
For some, though, respite and a reminder of the glory days has been found in a small corner of northern Italy.
Leicester fans seeking a break from the deluge of disaster have been heading for the sunnier climes of Cremona to cheer on the man known as The GOAT (greatest of all time), Jamie Vardy, in his new surroundings of US Cremonese.
For 13 seasons, they had cheered him as one of their own, as Vardy scored 200 goals in 500 appearances for the club during the most eventful period in Leicester’s history. Now, at 39, a new set of supporters are singing his name after his summer move to Italy — but his old Leicester fans haven’t forgotten him just yet.
Jamie Vardy wearing the colours of Cremonese during the Serie A game against Genoa earlier this month (Marco M. Mantovani/Getty Images)
There has been a steady stream of Leicester supporters — around 400 to date — who have made the 1,800-mile round trip to Cremona to watch Vardy in the grey and red stripes of his new club. Cremona is renowned for being the historic capital of violin making, especially the Stradivarius, but it is an old fiddle from Sheffield that has been playing many a good tune in Serie A.
Three of the Leicester fans to have made the pilgrimage were Jake Watson, Jordan Halford and Ric Flair (not his real name), hosts of the Leicester City podcast The Big Strong Leicester Boys, who travelled to Italy earlier this month. They were not alone.
“We must have met between 20 and 30 Leicester fans,” Halford says.
“We saw other Leicester fans too, at the Como versus Fiorentina game on Saturday,” adds Flair. “We went to the game and, lo and behold, behind us there were another few Leicester fans that were over. Some were going to the Inter Milan versus Juventus game later that day as well, and then were coming over for the Cremonese game.”
“We were determined to go at some point when we found out where Vardy was going,” says Watson. “Coupled with the fact it has not been particularly great watching Leicester at the moment, it fuelled that fire and desire to want to go out there even more. It felt like a reminder of our European trips, which we are not going to experience again any time soon.”
Ric Flair, Jamie Vardy, Jordan Halford, Damian Sutton and Jake Watson (BSLB Podcast)
“You have to be mindful that we can’t always have it our own way as football fans, but still we are emotional beings,” Flair adds. “If it (watching Leicester) is crap and you hate it, you can’t pretend to enjoy it — whereas you get to do something like this and it just reminds you why you love football.
“It was nice to have a break from watching us!”
The group reached out to Cremonese and were warmly received. They were reserved matchday tickets for the Serie A game against Genoa at the Stadio Giovanni Zini and were invited on a tour of the ground, where they posed next to Vardy’s kit, laid out for the game later that day.
Ric Flair, Jordan Halford and Jake Watson pose alongside Jamie Vardy’s match kit ahead of the Genoa game (BSLB Podcast)
They found the warm welcome reciprocated wherever they went in Cremona and even recorded an episode of their podcast in Trattoria Franca e Luciano, a bar and restaurant where a collection of shirts bearing the names of famous Cremonese players, or others born in Lombardy, are on display.
Vardy’s name is now alongside that of Gianluca Vialli, current international Alessandro Bastoni, as well as Serie A legends Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
“They welcomed us with open arms,” Flair says. “From the amount of chats we had with local people and Cremonese fans, there wasn’t a single bit of animosity or any negativity. They loved it. It was brilliant.
Leicester supporter Dan Atkinson holds aloft a Cremonese scarf as Ric Flair sups a pint (US Cremonese)
“The warmth and friendliness was just absolutely incredible,” Watson adds. “Everywhere we went, when people saw the Vardy shirts or the Leicester shirts, everyone was stopping asking for pictures and speaking to us. It was like we were celebrities.
“Honestly, it was overwhelming really, how warm and how friendly and just how incredible that experience was.”
The travelling group found the hospitality stretched beyond simple friendliness. They were invited for drinks with supporters, and Flair was even handed a special souvenir.
“One fan called Fillippo was particularly helpful in arranging things for us to make us feel welcome and he even gave Ric a special Cremonese anniversary hoodie,” Watson says.
“I just said how much I liked it and he just took it off and handed it to me,” Flair adds. “I took this mustard-yellow away Leicester shirt from 2001-02 and tried to give it to him in return, but I don’t think he fancied it.
“When we went to leave for the airport, there were some local lads outside the hotel who were interested in Leicester so I gave the shirt to one of them and he loved it, although one of them asked for my trousers. No way was I travelling all the way back to Leicester in my pants!”
Around 400 Leicester fans have made the trip to Cremona to watch Jamie Vardy play this season (US Cremonese)
Vardy’s working-class background and rags-to-riches story has resonated with the people of Cremona and Cremonese supporters. In fact, it was seen as a huge coup for a small club just restored to Serie A to sign a Premier League winner.
“They see themselves as the underdog club and Vardy just fits perfectly with them,” says Halford. “There are some huge clubs nearby, especially the two Milan giants, and Cremonese fans enjoy being the unfancied underdogs. They love Vardy and, if they stay up this season, I think they would love for him to stay another season.”
“He is already one of their favourite players of all time,” adds Watson. “They love his work rate and professionalism — just everything that made him popular at Leicester.”
Vardy’s stint in Italy has yielded five goals in 22 Serie A appearances to date, with Cremonese 17th and outside the bottom three only on goal difference. They host second-placed Milan on Sunday.
The travelling Leicester fans make for the club shop to kit themselves out in Cremonese merchandise (US Cremonese)
The game against Genoa ended 0-0, but the highlight for the Leicester fans from the trip was meeting their hero on the morning of the game — an experience that rendered speechless a group of friends who usually have no problem talking for over an hour in their podcasts. In Flair’s case, it was also a croissant that made him struggle for words.
“We had stayed in the same hotel that the players use to prepare for home games, and the next morning we went down to breakfast and they were there,” Flair explains. “There was a guy and his lad standing there and we had seen them the night before in the foyer. I don’t think they had gone to bed because they were waiting for Vardy.
“Then he came out and he was typical Vardy. He was drinking a Red Bull at 9am.
“I had this croissant and just stuffed it in my mouth to eat it quickly as he came over. I tried to speak and he just said: ‘Do you want to finish that, mate?’
“I just completely changed into a fanboy and to be honest, I was quite pathetic,” Watson adds. “I couldn’t even speak and I didn’t say anything. I just posed for the picture.”
“He spotted that Jordan had these rascal tracksuit bottoms on and he commented on them, asking if he had borrowed them from Serge (Pizzorno, the flamboyant frontman of rock band Kasabian, who is a big Leicester fan and friend of Vardy’s),” Flair adds. “He said Jordan could get away with them but he doubted he could.
“We didn’t want to ask him about Leicester as that wouldn’t be fair, but he did say he had watched the Southampton game (when Leicester were 3-0 up with 30 minutes to go but lost 4-3) and he just shook his head.”
Jamie Vardy has made a positive impression at Cremonese (Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)
Vardy stopped for every fan that asked, leaving the tourists wondering if he or the town are becoming fatigued by all the attention and the constant stream of Leicester fans coming over to visit.
However, club director general Paolo Armenia insists Cremonese have loved having their English visitors. “We have been deeply impressed by the enthusiasm of Leicester supporters, particularly their remarkable turnout at our stadium,” he says.
“Since the beginning of the season, over 400 fans have travelled from the United Kingdom to attend our Serie A matches. We recognise that those who undertake such a journey do so out of a pure passion and love for football.
“For this reason, before the kick-off of our match against Genoa, we decided to let them experience unique behind-the-scenes moments to discover our club’s history. The bond established between Cremonese and Leicester fans extends well beyond the stadium. Indeed, our merchandising data confirms that the United Kingdom is now our second-largest market for orders, following only Italy.
“Cremona is an Italian city steeped in history and tradition, and it is a source of great pride to know that our club can serve as a gateway for the world to discover the cultural excellence of our region.”
The Leicester fans will continue to travel to Cremona to pay homage to Vardy and there are now plans for Cremonese fans to make the trip to Leicester in return later this season.
Leicester may still be in crisis when they do arrive, but a warm welcome is guaranteed.
