England and Leicester striker Jamie Vardy has revealed he has received death threats and his family have been targeted following Claudio Ranieri’s Foxes sacking.
The forward fears for his wife Rebekah’s safety after saying she had been cut up while driving with their children in the aftermath of ex-boss Ranieri’s exit.
Vardy had been named as one of the players who allegedly met with the club’s owners before Ranieri was sacked by the Premier League champions last month.
The striker, Marc Albrighton, Kasper Schmeichel and Wes Morgan all denied the claims they spoke to the Thai owners following their 2-1 Champions League defeat in Seville.
Ranieri, who guided Leicester to a shock title last season, was dismissed 24 hours later.
But Vardy – who has linked up with the England squad for games against Germany and Lithuania this week – conceded his denials have not stopped some fans targeting him and his family.
He said: “I read one story that said it (the meeting) was straight after the Sevilla game. It said I was personally involved in a meeting when I was actually sat in anti-doping for three hours. A few of you (media) waited around for an interview after.
“Then of course the story is out there and people pick it up and jump on it and you’re getting death threats about your family, kids, everything.
“On social media, you name it – walking down the street. To be honest I get them every week.
“Football fans don’t seem to like me. I just get on with it but when people are trying to cut your missus up while she’s driving along, with the kids in the back of the car, it’s not the best. It’s happened plenty of times.
“It is terrifying. All that can happen is they get banned on Twitter. People get cut up but if there’s no cameras you’re screwed.”
But when it comes to him personally, Vardy tries to ignore the abuse he gets from fans.
“I just get abuse at every stadium that I turn up at. To be honest, you are always going to get stick from fans. It is part and parcel of football,” he said.
“I’m one that carries on and winds them up a bit. Do I enjoy it? Yeah, it’s just me.
“I couldn’t tell you why I get it, but it’s part of the game. I am not really fussed about it. It’s fine by me.”
The 30-year-old reiterated there was no problem with Ranieri and he was upset by the stories suggesting he played a part in his downfall.
He said: “Basically if there was an issue you went and did it in the gaffer’s office, man to man. Or you went and did it on the tactics board, because he was happy for you to come in and put your opinion across.
“The stories were quite hurtful to be honest with you, a lot of false accusations were being thrown out there and there’s nothing us, as players, could do about it.
“As soon as they were in the papers they were out there. We just had to put it to the back of our minds and concentrate on the football.”
Vardy could start up front for England’s friendly against Germany in Dortmund with Harry Kane out with an ankle injury, and he wants to gain momentum ahead of Sunday’s World Cup qualifier against Lithuania at Wembley.
He added: “You have always got to go out there to try to win games. The more you keep winning, the better you will be as a team and more settled.
“So we are definitely going to go for a win, hopefully we will get it and hopefully it will be a good performance and then move forward from that to win again.”
