Rickie Lambert said the quiet part out loud on his Southampton career

Rickie Lambert said the quiet part out loud on his Southampton career during the 5-3 defeat to Manchester United legends at St. Mary’s.

Southampton legends played an eight goal thriller at St. Mary’s but eventually succumbed to a 5-3 defeat at the hands of Manchester United legends. Saints fans were craving for some football action for days. Safe to say, the club legends did put up on a show 50 years on from overcoming the Red Devils 1-0 at Wembley in the 1976 FA Cup final.

Talking about the game, there were many talking points starting from Southampton deploying Tommy Forecast in goal for the first time ever. He saved a Dimitar Berbatov penalty to everyone’s surprise but conceded 5 times and a further three opportunities came crashing off the post.

Then Southampton fans enjoyed Lee Barnard rolling back the years with a well taken brace. Matt Le Tissier also came on for a short cameo finally, although the St. Mary’s faithful was hoping to see him on the pitch for longer than just 10 minutes.

But the best moment from Saturday was definitely Rickie Lambert earning his England legacy cap. Let’s be real, no Saints fan saw it coming. As usual, Lambert was humble to receive it and went on to say the quiet part out loud on his Southampton career.

Rickie Lambert’s Southampton career

During his playing days, Rickie Lambert always outperformed expectations at Southampton. He was initially brought from Bristol Rovers with the sole purpose of helping the Saints gain promotion from League One to the Championship.

He scored 30 league games in his debut season, and then 21 more in the following campaign to guide Southampton through to the Championship. At this stage, the club may have had their doubts over Rickie Lambert scoring goals in the second-tier but the Englishman put paid to those thoughts right away.

Lambert scored a further 27 goals in the Championship to drag Southampton to the Premier League. Lambert didn’t stop there and kept scoring goals for fun in the English top-flight for two more seasons before swapping St. Mary’s for Liverpool in 2014.

Rickie Lambert said the quiet part on his Southampton career

This shows how lucky Southampton were to have signed Rickie Lambert in the first place. Well, Lambert also reciprocates the same feelings for the club as without it, he might not have been a household Premier League name and an England international down the line.

In his own words, the Daily Echo quoted Rickie Lambert adding: “I wouldn’t have got anywhere close to playing for England if it wasn’t for Southampton. I probably wouldn’t have got near the Premier League. I’ve made it clear, and I will make it clear again, I owe everything to this club.”

Fair enough. Rickie Lambert is a class act for these Southampton comments. For years, Southampton fans held this belief that what would have happened had the club not agreed a deal to sign Rickie Lambert.

Perhaps, the Saints might be languishing in League One even today. Or in the Championship, along with a few yo-yo seasons in the Premier League. But one thing is for sure, Rickie Lambert might not have had his Three Lions moment fulfilled at the age of 31 had he ignored Southampton’s League One approaches four years before.