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FLW's Southampton fan pundit only had positive things to say about Rickie Lambert

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

There are plenty of players who are lauded as heroes at Southampton due to the part they played in their back-to-back promotions from League One to the Premier League in the early 2010s, but none more so than Rickie Lambert.

The striker signed for the Saints in 2009 at the age of 27, and was a proven goal machine in the lower leagues, netting 20+ goal seasons in League Two with Rochdale and then the previous campaign in League One with Bristol Rovers.

Therefore, his 30 and 21-goal tallies in the third tier with the Saints in the two years he spent in the division weren't a surprise, but his sheer dominance in both the Championship and then the Premier League, were.

Not many Southampton fans, nor Lambert would have predicted the journey they were about to embark on. The frontman would end up playing multiple times for England and Liverpool, whilst Southampton were able to go on some European adventures due to the foundations laid by Lambert and co.

Therefore, it's not a surprise that their former striker is still well-respected at St Mary's, and FLW's Southampton fan pundit, Martin Sanders, couldn't run out of superlatives to describe him.

Southampton fan pundit reflects on "bargain" £1 million Rickie Lambert deal

Lambert only cost Southampton £1 million in the summer of 2009 when he made the move from Bristol Rovers. It's safe to say that he paid that back, and some.

"He's the best bargain ever," Sanders told Football League World. "He's the best number seven we've had since Mat le Tissier. He was brilliant.

"They still sing songs about Rickie to this day because he was brilliant...what we could do with someone like him now..."

Lambert scored 117 goals at St Mary's, including 28 in the Premier League, of which he made his debut in his thirties. He earned a move to his boyhood club, Liverpool, for £4 million whilst he was part of England's 2014 World Cup squad, in which he came off the bench against Uruguay.

Losing their talisman would have been a blow at the time, but Southampton fans looked back on Lambert's time at the club very fondly, and looked on with pride as he made his dream move.

"His goals got us out of League One, and then out of the Championship into the Premier League," Sanders reflected.

"Top, top guy, love him to bits, and he's probably my favourite Saints player of all time, and the favourite of many others, too."

Rickie Lambert helped propel Southampton to European nights

Despite it being another couple of years after Lambert left before Southampton would play in the Europa League, there's no denying that his influence helped the Saints get to that point.

After a lengthy 27-year run in the top flight from the late 1970s all the way to the early 2000s, the Saints were in free fall, having struggled through the vast majority of their four-year spell in the Championship before their relegation to League One in 2009.

The club needed a new injection of goals, and turned to Lambert to help them get back to the Championship as soon as possible. It may have taken them two years to do so, but their one-year stint back in the second tier made up for it.

That momentum helped Southampton establish themselves for a few years as one of the best of the rest outside the traditional big six sides. And whilst Lambert's goals may not have directly contributed to that, they put them in the position to attract big names to do so.

Now with the club back in the Championship, they'd love to find the next Rickie Lambert to help propel them back up to the top flight's top half.