Dean Smith has revealed that he wanted to sign Jamie Vardy for Charlotte FC.
Smith managed Vardy during his time in charge at Leicester City in the spring of 2023, though it was an ultimately unsuccessful period, as the Foxes were relegated to the Championship.
The ex-Aston Villa boss still hoped the 37-year-old could have been persuaded to join up with him in the United States, but Leicester’s subsequent promotion back to the Premier League ended any real hopes of a reunion.
He said: “I did text him and see if he wanted to come over to America, but I knew that was going to be hard once he took Leicester back to the Premier League.
Smith backed Vardy to shine on his return to the top flight, as long as the veteran striker is managed correctly.
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Leicester City cruised to a 3-0 win over Preston on Monday to clinch the Championship title with a game to spare.
Jamie Vardy was the star for the Foxes as he scored in both halves before Kasey McAteer made sure of the points with an unmarked header.
Abdul Fatawu had the chance to cap an already memorable night for the travelling fans but hit the post with his curler.
Preston slumped to a fourth consecutive defeat, while Leicester go into their final game against Blackburn Rovers with the knowledge that they will lift the trophy after the final whistle.
CHAMPIONS!
— Leicester City (@LCFC)
Data Debrief
Jamie Vardy has scored 18 goals this season (two in this game), more than any other Leicester player in the competition. He has…
UEFA is committed to its plan of hosting Euro 2020 across 12 host cities, despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Euro 2020 was due to take place last year, with 12 nations having been selected to host matches in celebration of the competition s 60th anniversary.
However, the COVID-19 crisis resulted in UEFA taking the decision last March to push the tournament back to 2021.
Although Europe is still struggling to deal with the pandemic, with many nations under lockdown rules and travel severely restricted in a bid to limit the spread of the virus, UEFA has reaffirmed its intention for the competition to take place later this year.
In a statement released on Wednesday, UEFA also said it is retaining hope that the 12 venues will be able to accommodate som…
Aberdeen celebrate the 40th anniversary of their European Cup Winners’ Cup triumph over Real Madrid on Thursday.
The club and city council are honouring the players, who will be awarded the Freedom of the City of Aberdeen in a ceremony on Friday.
Here, the PA news agency looks back at the ‘Gothenburg Greats’ – the 12 players who took to the field under Sir Alex Ferguson at the Ullevi Stadium to beat Madrid 2–1 after extra-time in 1983.
Jim Leighton – Followed Ferguson to Old Trafford in 1988 before ending his career at Pittodrie in 2000 following spells with Dundee and Hibernian. Scotland’s most-capped goalkeeper with 91 international appearances, he had two spells as Aberdeen goalkeeping coach before leaving football in 2015 to work in the oil and …
Gylfi Sigurdsson wants France and his friend Hugo Lloris to claim Euro 2016 glory after they ended Iceland s remarkable run with a 5-2 quarter-final win in Saint-Denis.
Iceland s exploits in moving through the competition unbeaten, with wins over Austria and England, appeared to catch up with them on Sunday and France ruthlessly exploited signs of fatigue among a starting XI unchanged for the fifth consecutive game.
Didier Deschamps men cruised into a 4-0 lead at half-time, with tournament top scorer Antoine Griezmann to the fore before Olivier Giroud completed his brace after half-time.
There were welcome goals from Kolbeinn Sigthorsson and Birkir Bjarnason to restore a measure of Icelandic pride but Swansea City midfielder Sigurdsson reflected on a supreme fi…
The 2012 European Championships are scheduled to begin in just 19 days, with Poland v Greece and Russia v Czech Republic set to kick-off the competition on 8 June in Group A.
Now then, let s take a look at the latest news and rumours surrounding Euro 2012.
Group A
Russian centre-back Vasili Berezutski has been ruled out of the 2012 European Championships due to a right thigh muscle injury.
The experienced 29-year-old defender has been a part of Russia s senior side since breaking into CSKA Moscow s first team in 2003.
There s no doubt that he ll be missed, but Euro 2012 commentators will be relieved of confusing Vasili with his twin brother Aleksei, who also happens to be a centre-back for CSKA Moscow and the Russian national team.
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Moscow has dazzled, as has all of Russia, in what has been an incredible week and a bit!
The World Cup got off to the perfect start, certainly as far as the hosts were concerned, with a 5-0 hammering of Saudi Arabia.
The celebrations that followed set the tone with impromptu parties breaking out all over Moscow, and its focal point, the awe-inspiring Red Square.
Maradona popped in, caused controversy as always, before Mexico stunned Germany, Cristiano Ronaldo downed Morocco, Senegal overpowered Poland and Belgium sparkled against Tunisia.
And if the football was good, what about the hats? Everyone likes a good hat and there have been plenty on show.
Take in the sights and sounds in our Twitter moment below:
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Austria and Switzerland are ready to host the European football championship on June 7-29, having completed their preparations on schedule, one month before the kick-off.
The host cities have never been ready so early, said the president of the Euro 2008 organising committee, Martin Kallen, who already led the committee that organised the European championship in Portugal in 2004.
The last major construction projects have now been completed in Vienna.
The Ernst Happel stadium, which will host the final, has been entirely modernised and refitted to seat 51,000 people, and builders finished putting up the 460-seat media centre last month.
The city s U2 underground line has meanwhile been extended to the stadium, facilitating access by public transporta…
Alvaro Morata and Noah Okafor scored in the dying stages for Milan as they salvaged a 2-2 draw in their Serie A opener against Torino on Saturday.
The visitors were moments away from a memorable victory at San Siro thanks to a Malick Thiaw own goal and a header from Duvan Zapata, only for Milan to fight back with goals in the 89th and 95th minutes.
The visitors took the lead on the half-hour mark when Raoul Bellanova s header hit the post and Thiaw’s attempted clearance ended in an own goal.
Torino then doubled their advantage in the 68th minute with Zapata heading in Valentino Lazaro s cross from close range.
With the clock about to tick into stoppage time, Morata gave Paulo Fonseca s side hope by deflecting Tijjani Reijnders long-range shot into the …
After two engrossing games on Friday, we have our first Euro 2020 semi-finalists.
Spain ended a nine-year wait for a place in the final four of a major tournament, but they had to do it the hard way once again, with penalties needed to defeat Switzerland after a draw in Saint Petersburg.
Then came arguably the finest match of the tournament to date, Italy prevailing against Belgium to set a new record for consecutive wins in this competition and continue their remarkable form under Roberto Mancini.
Here are some of the key data takeaways from day one of the quarter-finals
Switzerland 1-1 Spain (aet, 1-3 pens): Luis Enrique s men are the Euros shoot-out kings
Switzerland s previous three European Championship knockout games had gone to penalties …