JAMIE Vardy has been hailed as a “total one-off” by his former non-league chairman after firing his way into the Premier League’s 100-goal club.

Leicester striker Vardy reached another milestone of a remarkable career with the first of his two strikes (which he is pictured celebrating) during Saturday’s 3-0 win over Crystal Palace.

The 33-year-old, who started out at lowly Stocksbridge Park Steels after being released by boyhood club Sheffield Wednesday, became only the 29th player to achieve the feat, doing so in 206 top-flight appearances.

Allen Bethel was Stocksbridge chairman for 38 years before retirement in 2019 and, along with his wife Janet, avidly follows the fortunes of a player he sold to Halifax for an initial £15,000 a decade ago.

“My wife screams when Vardy scores – and my wife hates football,” 78-year-old Bethel told the PA news agency. “We always watch Vardy matches.

“There hasn’t been anyone like him who has come from nowhere, come from non-league into a position like he is now. He’s a total one-off.

“I feel very proud of his achievements. I am a Vardy fan, I always have been.

“All right, there’s some criticism about him but nobody’s perfect.

“He’s moved from stage to stage, he’s taken it in his stride. He’s taken a lot of kickings in his life, people do kick centre-forwards.

“He was a phenomenal player who could stand being kicked and get up.

“I am very pleased – on behalf of all at the club I now represent indirectly – that he is still at his best.”

Stocksbridge are currently a member of the Northern Premier League Division One South East, the eighth tier of English football.

After leaving Bracken Moor – the South Yorkshire club’s stadium which now has a stand named in his honour – in 2010, Vardy continued his red-hot form at Halifax.

He became the first £1million signing from a non-league club when he moved to the King Power Stadium from Fleetwood in the summer of 2012, lifting the Premier League title with the Foxes just four years later.