Jamie Vardy is the subject of a new Netflix series titled Untold.
The documentary opens with the line: “A raw, caged animal, drinking, partying and fighting,” setting the stage for an in-depth look at the life of the renowned footballer.
Vardy, now 39 and currently playing for Cremonese in the Italian top flight, uses even stronger language to describe his younger self in the film.
His story is presented as a compelling underdog narrative, a rags-to-riches tale of a player reflecting on his life and career before a group of journalists at Netflix’s London headquarters.
“I don’t have time to reflect, to be honest,” Vardy stated after the initial screening of his Untold UK film, with his wife Rebekah observing quietly, occasionally reacting to questions or her husband’s responses.
“At the minute, it’s playing, the season finishes and I just want to forget about football. I need to mentally forget everything and get back to a normal place.”
Vardy was aware when he chose Cremonese over Feyenoord in the summer that he was joining a team facing a relegation battle, and they currently remain in the drop zone with only three matches remaining.
“Physically and mentally, football is a killer,” he added. “It’s such a grind on your body and your mind, so I just want to completely forget about it.”
Vardy clarifies that this is not a complaint: “Of course I love it. If I didn’t still love it, I wouldn’t still be playing.”
However, when asked if he would relive his journey, he admits: “If you asked me to go and do it all again, I wouldn’t.”
From playing in the eighth tier at Stocksbridge Park Steels to winning the Premier League and becoming an England international with Leicester City, it’s clear that his journey has been arduous.
A series of portrait photos were taken of Vardy to accompany the film.
Vardy was released by Sheffield Wednesday, his boyhood club, for being too small. However, the documentary reveals footage of his prolific goal-scoring form during his time at Stocksbridge, where he also worked in a factory making medical splints.
Vardy admits in the documentary that he had “no stability” in his life in 2007, the first of a series of problems. He had been convicted of assault after a drinking incident and had to wear an ankle tag for six months.
He also had a 6 p.m. curfew, which meant he had to leave matches early.
He later moved to Halifax Town, where he met his longtime agent John Morris, and then to Fleetwood Town, before his £1 million transfer to Leicester City, then in the Championship.
The documentary highlights “The Inbetweeners,” Vardy’s small, all-male social group from Sheffield, who act as his main support system, along with his wife.
“If one of us is having a problem, then get it in the group. Might get abused for a bit but at least it’s us lot keeping an eye on each other,” Vardy explained.
According to former Foxes midfielder Andy King, Vardy experienced an initial “culture shock” at Leicester, where he felt he wasn’t good enough.
Physiotherapist Dave Rennie also corroborates accounts of Vardy’s struggles with alcohol, which were exacerbated by the pressure of the move, including “manufacturing his own Skittles vodka at home.”
Vardy would arrive at training hungover and, on one occasion, could not be reached by Rebekah, then pregnant, whom he affectionately calls Becky.
There was a sense that he was on the verge of squandering his career, but the efforts of a “good psychologist,” the patience of manager Nigel Pearson, and his own efforts to mature after the birth of his daughter Ella kept him on track.
Fame, however, brought further challenges. A 2015 Sun on Sunday story revealed a video of him using a racial slur against a Japanese man in a casino.
He later described it as “a massive, massive learning curve,” explaining that he had never been taught which terms were acceptable to use.
The film also highlights “one of the harder things” Vardy experienced when he rushed home from a team-bonding trip to Helsinki after learning that a tabloid was about to publish a story about his secret biological father, whom he had never known.
Despite these challenges, Vardy became the poster boy and top scorer for Leicester’s Premier League title-winning campaign in 2015-16, went on to lift the FA Cup, and fulfilled his agent’s prediction that he would one day play for England.
When asked if he could have achieved more internationally after retiring from England in 2018, Vardy replied: “Possibly. We’ll never know.”
“I’ll be honest, going away with England is unbelievable – you want to play for your country – but the mental side of it was tough. That changed when Gareth [Southgate] came in, but before that you were stuck in your room all day.”
“You trained and then you were just back in your hotel room, pulling your hair out. There’s only so much time you can spend on a PlayStation or speaking to the kids on video calls. You’ve already not seen them and now you’re getting pulled away for another two weeks. It’s tough.”
“At the time, after the World Cup, I just wanted to protect [my legs] as much as possible, prolong my club career, and as I’m still going now, it was obviously the right decision.”
Vardy has scored five Serie A goals this season.
“I watch as many games as I physically can and it’s not nice to see,” Vardy said of Leicester’s plight, having returned to watch them last month before their relegation to League One.
But what does the future hold for Vardy?
“Management? No. I’ve not really thought about it,” he said. “I’ve not looked that far down the line.”
Rebekah, watching from a plush mini-cinema room, described his lack of planning as “infuriating.”
While there is no direct reference to the infamous ‘Wagatha Christie’ social media dispute between her and Coleen Rooney, she features prominently as Vardy seeks to better himself throughout his coming-of-age story.
Afterward, she lingered, curiously asking members of the media for their honest assessments of the film, which depicts Vardy as hands-on with his parenting.
“We bring them up as normally as possible,” he said of his children. “They need to have a home life, be kids and enjoy it, but also do what I didn’t and work hard at school.”
That focus on the present gives him a chance of playing another season at Italian top-flight side Cremonese, which would take him into his 40s.
“I wake up in the morning, train and go again – the same on matchdays,” he said.
“I give as much as I can. I still love football or I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing.”
Finally, Vardy was asked if another non-league footballer could achieve what he has.
“I think, luckily, I was just a bit of a freak,” he added. “I don’t think it will probably happen again, no, but it happened for me and it was hard work.”
“It really was tough, but all worth it.”
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