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Southampton: A tribute to the retiring Rickie Lambert

By Marc Walker

SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND - MARCH 29: Ricky Lambert of Southampton celebrates after scoring his team's second goal of the game during the Barclays Premier League match between Southampton and Newcastle United at St Mary's Stadium on March 29, 2014 in Southampton, England. (Photo by Ben Hoskins/Getty Images)
SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND - MARCH 29: Ricky Lambert of Southampton celebrates after scoring his team's second goal of the game during the Barclays Premier League match between Southampton and Newcastle United at St Mary's Stadium on March 29, 2014 in Southampton, England. (Photo by Ben Hoskins/Getty Images) /
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Saints legend Rickie Lambert has announced his retirement from football at the age of 35 after a 19-year-long career in which he enjoyed his most successful spell on the south coast.

The Beginning of Rickie at Saints

Well, where do we start?

I’m not sure many of us Saints fans at St Mary’s on 11th August 2009 knew just how much was still to come when our new striker Rickie stooped to nod the ball home on his debut against Northampton Town. The signs were promising, but would this £1 million man be worth it? And would he be the man to fire us out of League 1 and back to where our club belonged?

As the season gathered momentum, and Saints worked off their starting figure of minus 10 points, the Lambert screamers, headers and penalties stacked up as he became a vital cog in the team.

He would eventually finish with a staggering 36 goals for the season, with highlights including a 40-yard volleyed lob against MK Dons and a nerveless penalty at Wembley in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final. 40,000 Saints fans took over the national stadium that day, and this was the first real indication that our club, with Lambert at the heart, were on the up.

A video of Lambert’s 117 Saints goals from Southampton FC’s official YouTube channel:

Next: Le Tissier talks to Saints Marching

Promotions and the Premier League

Back-to-back promotions under Nigel Adkins followed, including successive 20-plus goal tallies for the latest great Southampton number seven. He was now not just a lethal goalscorer but had developed hold-up play key to the team’s style, as well as an eye for a killer pass. He had found the club perfect for him, and he was perfect for the club.

These adaptations would be key to Rickie proving a success in the Premier League too. He could still bully defenders at this level and his goals would be huge in keeping Saints away from relegation, but his creation for other players such as Adam Lallana, Jason Puncheon and Jay Rodriguez would also be vital.

As he later left for the lure of hometown club Liverpool, nobody could begrudge him the move. The disappointment for the Saints faithful is perhaps more that fans on Merseyside, and later clubs West Brom and Cardiff, didn’t get to the witness the true ability we all knew he had.

The 117 goals in 235 appearances that Lambert plundered took Saints back up the Football League and into the top flight, and are key to where the club is today; challenging in the top half of the division with a desire for European qualification. He quite rightly will retain club legend status for years to come.

LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 14: Rickie Lambert of England (C) celebrates with team-mates Gary Cahill of England (L) and Danny Welbeck of England (R) after scoring a goal during the International Friendly match between England and Scotland at Wembley Stadium on August 14, 2013 in London, England. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 14: Rickie Lambert of England (C) celebrates with team-mates Gary Cahill of England (L) and Danny Welbeck of England (R) after scoring a goal during the International Friendly match between England and Scotland at Wembley Stadium on August 14, 2013 in London, England. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images) /

Club Legend

Whether it was one of his towering back-post headers, a pile-driving free-kick or a long-range rocket, we all have our favourite Rickie moments from his time at Saints.

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Who can forget the scenes after his typically brutal finish on our Premier League return against Manchester City, and pure delight he displayed when scoring on his England debut. You could see what it meant, and that he felt he had finally reached the top.

His enjoyment and love for scoring goals in a Saints shirt is even more potent now with the club’s current battling to keep high-profile players wanting to play, let alone giving 100% for the badge. He played under three managers and  stayed key to the way that all of them played, forming many partnerships with his striker partners and attacking players that fans could be excited by.

An unfashionable player for some people looking in from outside, but Rickie sure did earn the respect of many others as he battled his way to the top. We’ve all heard the stories about his previous job in a beetroot factory to get by as his early footballing career stalled, so the fact that he reached the levels that he did has to be applauded.

In his gracious retirement statement, he thanked everyone involved at Southampton including the fans and looked forward to life after football. It reads:

"“I will be taking a break for a while to spend some quality time with my family just being a husband and father. In the future I hope to give back as best I can to the game that has given me so much.” – Lambert"

Rickie would be welcomed back to St Mary’s in a coaching role with open arms and he surely has the capabilities to be a quality coach having played at all levels of the football. For now though I join with other football fans in wishing him all the best in retirement, because he certainly deserves it.

If Lambert’s future after football isn’t so clear just yet, one thing is: that £1 million looks like the bargain of the century.