Which was Southampton’s best Rickie Lambert?

To peek behind the curtain for a bit, the first draft of this piece saw The Athletic try to find the best Southampton signings since 2000.

We soon shelved that idea because after a bit of research one clear winner emerged.

Rickie Lambert. Pretty much zero chance we’re a Premier League club right now without that signing.

— Steve Grant (@SteveGrant1983) May 19, 2020

While Jose Fonte, Morgan Schneiderlin, Virgil van Dijk and others got passing mentions (and a number of them will fight it out for the prestigious “Foreign Signing” category at some point), Rickie Lambert was the near-unanimous fan choice for the Southampton’s greatest signing of the century.

One only needs a quick look at the numbers to understand the fondness for Lambert, who scored 117 goals across five seasons for Southampton before departing for Liverpool. Across a three-division journey with the club, the forward was the club’s top scorer in four out of five seasons (Jay Rodriguez edged him out 17 to 15 in 2013-14) and picked up two divisional player-of-the-season awards. If there was a Hall of Fame for Southampton, he would be a top-five pick.

Lambert is unquestionably a Southampton great… but in which season was Lambert at his greatest for Southampton?

Allow The Athletic to present a thought experiment.

Rickie Lambert — 2012-13

Division: Premier League

Games: 38

Goals: 15

Assists: 7

Before we start — Rickie Lambert never had a “bad” season for Southampton. He never even had an average one, the striker playing football in a way that was larger than life but small enough to touch.

Despite his bulky 6ft 3in frame, Lambert was blessed with grace on the ball that made a mockery of the backhanded “good touch for a big man” compliments. He wasn’t the quickest footballer, but years of toil in the lower levels of the football pyramid honed a streetwise edge to his game. Glance over Lambert highlights and you might think there was nothing particularly special to his play, but look closer and you realise he could constantly do the right thing at the right time to score.

He proved that in the 2012-13 season, Southampton’s first in the Premier League since 2005. At this point, Lambert was a proven Football League star, but there were questions whether he could cut it at the highest level of the game.

Lambert scored on opening day. Against Manchester City no less.

He would go on to score 14 more goals, the joint-highest tally for an Englishman that season, and put all doubts about his quality to rest with seven assists. He was more than a target man, more than a late bloomer, more than a low-level footballer come good. He was the real McCoy — a modern, versatile goalscorer and creator.

Rickie Lambert — 2009-10

Division: League One

Games: 53

Goals: 34

Assists: 17

You’re not supposed to score 30 league goals in a single season. Even in League One, with its 24 teams and the possibility of play-offs, 30 league goals is supposed to be unfeasible. Impractical. Some might even describe it as gauche.

But when Lambert joined Southampton on August 2009, he spent his first season turning the impractical into the unbelievable. Scoring on his debut (against Northampton Town), getting a goal against Portsmouth (in a frantic 4-1 loss in the FA Cup) and racking up all manner of strikes, including a penalty in Southampton’s victory in the EFL Trophy. Unbelievably, Lambert scored 34 out of 34 penalties at Southampton.

Lambert was a proven goalscorer in League One, netting 29 goals for Bristol Rovers the previous season, but at Southampton and under manager Alan Pardew, he improved his fitness levels and took steps to become the all-round threat that would eventually earn him England caps.

“It was about a month into the season. I was the leading goalscorer, but Pardew called me in,” Lambert said in a 2018 interview.

“I was literally in the gym the next morning. Within two weeks, I could feel the difference. It became like a drug. I couldn’t get enough of the work. I started eating right, stopped the drinking and the fat just fell off. Before, after 70 minutes, I would start blowing. I would struggle to get to a ball in the channels and rarely make runs behind. I became more of an all-round player and could match people for fitness. I found my game so, so easy after that.”

Lambert finished the season the highest goalscorer across England’s four leagues and picked up Southampton Player of the Season and League One PFA Fans’ Player of the Year awards as his Southampton side finished in seventh.

Lambert has played better football at a higher level for Southampton, but he was never more fun than in his first season.

Rickie Lambert — 2010-11

Division: League One

Games: 52

Goals: 21

Assists: 13

You’re not supposed to score 30 league goals in a single campaign, so in his second season, Lambert behaved himself and “only” scored 21.

At the age of 28 and in his third season in League One, Lambert knew the division and knew all the ways to score a goal in it. Skills he had learned under former Southampton manager Alan Pardew were honed here by new manager Nigel Adkins.

Lambert was still capable of doing things you’re not supposed to do in a league campaign, such as getting back to back braces in February, and there was a keen focus to his game. Southampton wanted promotion to the Championship, so Lambert powered them to automatic promotion.

Years later, Lambert would describe 2010-11 as a straightforward one: “I learnt my trade at Bristol Rovers as a striker. The first season was just about getting goals, the second season went a little bit better and then the third season was when I knew I was the best striker in League One by some distance, and knew I was the best player in League One at that time.”

Rickie Lambert — 2013-14

Division: Premier League

Games: 39

Goals: 14

Assists: 11

Lambert’s final season at Southampton saw his lowest goal tally, but perhaps his greatest overall production. Rickie Lambert became a footballing genius disguised as an everyman.

Relentlessly trained by manager Mauricio Pochettino (the striker tells a story of how the Argentine broke him with a double horseshoe run exercise one Monday training session), this Lambert was physically fit and crafty in front of goal (Pochettino also helped him develop his left foot), but also selfless, willing to run the channels, chase second balls and get flick-ons for team-mates.

Also, Lambert won his first England cap that season, in which he scored with his first touch in a friendly against Scotland. The England manager at the time, Roy Hodgson, had first noticed Lambert in a 2007 FA Cup game when the striker was at Bristol Rovers. Apparently, the striker had considered bringing Lambert to Fulham at the time but thought “the obvious question was how can a player in League One become a success in the Premier League?”

Lambert would finish 2013-14 being selected by Hodgson for England’s World Cup 2014 squad.

It’s no wonder Liverpool came calling that summer, Brendan Rodgers looking for smart strikers as he retooled his attack after Luis Suarez’ departure. Lambert described the £4 million transfer as a dream come true, before penning an open letter to Southampton fans that lives on the club website to this very day.

“When I grew up there was only one club I loved. I can honestly say now I have two clubs which will always be in my heart and that is thanks to the Saints fans.”

No one begrudged Lambert for leaving Southampton that summer, his final season at the club was one par excellence.

Rickie Lambert — 2011-12

Division: Championship

Games: 48

Goals: 31

Assists: 14

When a 29-year-old Lambert reached the Championship, some wondered whether the forward, who was never the fastest, would be able to cut it in the second tier.

He finished the season with 27 league goals, marrying the delirious, feel-good goalscoring from the 2009-10 season with the top-level football IQ that would go on to define his Premier League years.

Lambert cites the 5-2 victory over Ipswich in the third game of the season as a lightbulb moment for Southampton in the Championship. “We were unbelievable (Lambert scored a brace and got an assist in the away win), and that made us believe we were going to get promoted. It was only two or three games into the season, but that was when we realised how good we were.”

This Lambert was sensational, finishing the season with four hat-tricks, putting Nottingham Forest, Brighton, Watford and Millwall to the sword in a series of emphatic performances. The final league game against Coventry at St Mary’s saw Lambert get an assist in a 4-0 win and become the centrepiece of one of the most famous photos in the club’s history — the striker held aloft by fans who had invaded the pitch, celebrating a win that capped off an incredible promotion season back to Premier League.

This season capped off an incredible three-year spell for the striker and Southampton at large. Lambert picked up his second Southampton player of the season award for his efforts and was his typical humble self upon winning Championship Player of the Year. The best player in League One in 2010 was the best Championship player in 2012.

“I am happy at Southampton. My family are happy and I am in a great team as well,” said the striker upon receiving the award.

“This award has surprised me a little bit as I thought my team-mate Ads (Adam Lallana) was going to get it. I am surprised but delighted. I did not think I was going to be so nervous walking to collect the award, but it was so long and my mouth dried up.”

Six years later, a newly retired Lambert was presented with another honour — the Sir Tom Finney Lifetime Award acknowledging his contributions to the Football League at all levels.

Lambert was one of the greatest to ever play in the Football League, and one of Southampton’s greatest players. And 2011-12 was the greatest Lambert that’s ever been.

(Photo: Christopher Lee via Getty Images)