RANGERS hero John ‘Bomber’ Brown has revealed he urged then-manager Ally McCoist to sign a young Jamie Vardy before the striker’s sensational rise to fame at Leicester City.
In an interview, Brown explained he was sent to scout Vardy at Fleetwood in 2011 after a tip-off from an agent.
The 63-year-old, who watched him on several occasions, was so impressed he believed he could be the “difference” for Rangers.
Brown told the Let Me Be Frank podcast: “What I saw from him in the first game, I phoned Ally McCoist and said, ‘I’m not putting the report in, in case somebody leaks it.’
“I’m not joking, he’s as close to [Liverpool great] Ian Rush. He harasses defenders, he runs the channels. I was looking at the Celtic defence at the time and I said, ‘If you get this Vardy, that’s the difference.’”
Brown claims he spoke to the Fleetwood chairman, who said the club would accept a transfer fee of £750,000 if they were promoted or £250,000 if they weren’t.
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At the time, Rangers were in the midst of the turbulent Craig Whyte era, which would ultimately lead to the club’s administration and liquidation in 2012.
He added: “Coisty went to speak to Whyte and nothing happened.
“I said to [chief scout] Neil [Murray] what’s the point in doing this, we’re not going to put in offers for anybody and it just snowballed from there.
“If there’s one player that were never got in the door that would have made such a difference it would have been him.
“And it took 18 months before he signed for Leicester City.”
Vardy was released by Sheffield Wednesday as a teenager before then going on to sign for non-league side Stocksbridge Park Steels in 2006.
His impressive form saw him rapidly climb the football pyramid: going from Stocksbridge to Halifax in 2010 and then to Fleetwood in 2011.
He was top scorer for Fleetwood in the 2011-2012 season, which attracted the attention of Leicester.
Vardy would have a glittering career at the Foxes, scoring 200 goals in 500 games and winning the Premier League and FA Cup.
The veteran striker is now in Italy with Serie A new boys Cremonese having been linked with a move to both halves of the Old Firm this summer.
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