SATURDAY, AUGUST 15, 2009THE DAILY ECHO4
C
MYK
Saints spotlight
RICKIE Lamberthas a shot youwouldn’t want toget in the way of.
And on top of a this he hastremendous close control,plays well with the ball tohis feet, is a key man in theair in both penalty areas,scores from set pieces, canbe a target man and alsoacts well as a linkman forother players.
Oh, and he is a fantasticfinisher.
On the whole, Saints havesigned a player who hasproved he will score goalsat League One level.
With those attributes youmay well expect Lambert tohave played at the highestlevel.
In fact, the opposite istrue.
At 27 he is now cominginto his prime after trawl-ing through the lowerleagues.
As a schoolboy Lambertwas on the books at his boy-hood idols, Liverpool. Butafter being released it tookhim a while to find his feetin the professional game.
He made little impact atfirst club Blackpool, whoreleased him after histraineeship.
His star first began to risein the north-west atMacclesfield Town.
True potential
He was the Cheshireclub’s first player to score ahat-trick since theyachieved promotion to theFootball League in 1997.
After just two seasonssuch performances earnedhim a record £300,000 moveto county neighboursStockport County.
The true potential of the6ft 2in Scouser began toshow at Edgeley Park.
He finished the 2003/04campaign as both top scor-er and player of the season.
But, when Lambert fellout of favour with manag-er Chris Turner, he soonmoved to Rochdale, wherehe scored just under a goalevery other game, beforemoving south to BristolRovers in 2006.
And it is at the Gas thathe really came to the fore.
He more than justified his£200,000 price tag, improv-ing his goal tally in each ofhis three seasons at theMemorial Stadium.
Last season was the pin-nacle of his career so far,finishing joint top scorer inthe Football League, grab-bing 29 goals alongsideSwindon’s Simon Cox.
Cox completed a bigmoney move to West Bromlast month, whereasLambert started the seasonat Rovers.
But why were there nobids?
One reason: pace.“The reason he didn’t go
anywhere sooner isbecause of a perceived lackof pace,” said Chris Swift,
Rovers’ reporter for theBristol Evening Post.
“By his own admission,he is not quick, but he is agood player.
“For a big bloke he hasgot tremendous close con-trol.
“He is not your typicallump target man.”
The only enquiry madeover the summer camefrom Huddersfield Town,but it never got as far as abid – the Terriers chair-man, Dean Hoyle, claiminghe was too old and tooexpensive.
Hoyle said: “A move forLambert is a no-no. No dis-respect to a very good play-er, but it’s a simple matterof economics.
“Any deal would cost aminimum of £750,000 plusadd-ons for a player who is27 and who would want athree-year contract.
“Even if he scored 30goals a season for thosethree years, by the time thecontract is at an end, theplayer would be 30, andtherefore there would belittle or no resale value.
“That means that evenbefore meeting wagedemands, the signingwould cost £5,000 a week,and this club cannot dothat kind of business.
“If Rickie Lambert was 22or 23, it would be a differentmatter, but he’s not.”
Alan Pardew obviouslydisagrees.
Lambert will bring morethan just his football toSaints. He is fairly quietlyspoken, not a big mouth,but he leads by example.
And in a team thatshowed a chronic lack ofleadership last season,Lambert seems the perfectaddition.
ONLY two strikers have scoredmore goals in a League Twoseason in the past ten yearsthan Rickie Lambert fired lastseason.
Lambert and Simon Cox bothstruck 29 times in the league,though it was Leeds’ JermaineBeckford and Leicester’s MattFryatt (who both scored twofewer) who grabbed most ofthe headlines.
Only Robert Earnshaw andBilly Sharp have netted more ina third tier campaign since thestart of the 1999/2000 cam-paign.
Welsh international Earnshawfired 31 goals for Cardiff in2002/03, one more thanScunthorpe forward Sharpmanaged in 2006/07.
Here are the third tier’s topleague marksman for the lastdecade ...
2008/2009Rickie Lambert (B Rovers) . . . . . . . . .29Simon Cox (Swindon) . . . . . . . . . . . .29Jermaine Beckford (Leeds) . . . . . . . .27Matt Fryatt (Leicester) . . . . . . . . . . . .27Gary Hooper (Scunthorpe) . . . . . . . . .24Craig Mackail-Smith (Pboro) . . . . . . .23
2007/2008Jason Scotland (Swansea) . . . . . . . .24Jermaine Beckford (Leeds) . . . . . . . .20Nicky Forster (Brighton) . . . . . . . . . . .15Nicky Maynard (Crewe) . . . . . . . . . . .15Rickie Lambert (B Rovers) . . . . . . . . .14Joe Garner (Carlisle) . . . . . . . . . . . . .14Danny Graham (Carlisle) . . . . . . . . . .14Steven Gillespie (Cheltenham) . . . . .14Adam Boyd (Hartlepool) . . . . . . . . . . .14Simon Cox (Swindon) . . . . . . . . . . . .14
2006/2007Billy Sharp (Scunthorpe) . . . . . . . . . .30Leon Constantine (Port Vale) . . . . . . .22Chris Porter (Oldham) . . . . . . . . . . . .21Lee Trundle (Swansea) . . . . . . . . . . .19Luke Varney (Crewe) . . . . . . . . . . . . .17Chris Greenacre (Tranmere) . . . . . . .17
2005/2006Billy Sharp (Scunthorpe) . . . . . . . . . .23Freddy Eastwood (Southend) . . . . . .23James Hayter (Cherries) . . . . . . . . . .20Lee Trundle (Swansea) . . . . . . . . . . .20Luke Beckett (Oldham) . . . . . . . . . . .18
2004/2005Dean Windass (Bradford) . . . . . . . . .27Stuart Elliott (Hull) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27Pawel Abbott (Huddersfield) . . . . . . .26Leroy Lita (Bristol City) . . . . . . . . . . . .24Sam Parkin (Swindon) . . . . . . . . . . . .23Adam Boyd (Hartlepool) . . . . . . . . . . .22
Steve Brooker (Bristol City) . . . . . . . .21James Hayter (Cherries) . . . . . . . . . .19
2003/2004Leon Knight (Brighton) . . . . . . . . . . . .25Stephen McPhee (Port Vale) . . . . . . .25Paul Heffernan (Notts Co) . . . . . . . . .20Tommy Mooney (Swindon) . . . . . . . .19Sam Parkin (Swindon) . . . . . . . . . . . .19
2002/2003Robert Earnshaw (Cardiff) . . . . . . . . .31Luke Beckett (Stockport) . . . . . . . . . .27Sam Parkin (Swindon) . . . . . . . . . . . .25Mark Stallard (Notts Co) . . . . . . . . . . .24Rob Hulse (Crewe) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22Steve Howard (Luton) . . . . . . . . . . . .22Simon Haworth (Tranmere) . . . . . . . .20
2001/2002Bobby Zamora (Brighton) . . . . . . . . . .28
Lloyd Owusu (Brentford) . . . . . . . . . .20Andy Liddell (Wigan) . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
2000/2001Jamie Cureton (Reading) . . . . . . . . . .27Neil Harris (Millwall) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27Martin Butler (Reading) . . . . . . . . . . .24Mark Robins (Rotherham) . . . . . . . . .24Tony Thorpe (Bristol City) . . . . . . . . .19
1999/2000Andy Payton (Burnley) . . . . . . . . . . . .27Neil Harris (Millwall) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25Peter Thorne (Stoke) . . . . . . . . . . . . .23Jon Macken (Preston) . . . . . . . . . . . .22Jason Roberts (B Rovers) . . . . . . . . .22Jamie Cureton (B Rovers) . . . . . . . . .22Trevor Benjamin (Cambridge U) . . . .20
WELCOME: Alan Pardew greets new arrival Rickie Lambert.
How Rickie stepped onGas when in Bristol
By Simon [email protected] up-to-the-minute sport – dailyecho.co.uk
Lam up withbest of thelast decade
ROB EARNSHAW
MATT Le Tissier officiallylaunches his autobiography‘Taking Le Tiss’ at St Mary’s nextThursday.
The Daily Echo and Pink will berunning exclusive extracts fromthe eagerly-awaited book (pub-lished by HarperSport priced£18.99) towards the end of nextweek.
In the book Le Tissier talks atlength about his whole Saintscareer – on and off the pitch – aswell as revealing what he reallythinks about characters such asGlenn Hoddle and Rupert Lowe.
The book – written with thehelp of former Daily Echoreporter Graham Hiley – is
brought bang up to date with thefinal chapter detailing LeTissier’s involvement in thePinnacle takeover deal that col-lapsed prior to MarkusLiebherr’s arrival.
The Echo has teamed up withHarper to offer three lucky read-
ers a superb prize.Just by answering a simple
question, you could be amongstthe first in the queue to get yourFREE copy of ‘Taking Le Tiss’autographed by Le Tissier at theSaints Megastore at the stadium.
Question: In what year didMatt Le Tissier score thefinal league goal at TheDell?
All you have to do is email youranswer and your name, addressand daytime contact number [email protected] bymidnight on Sunday, August 16.
The book’s official launch takesplace at 12.30pm at St Mary’s nextThursday.
If you can’t get there, Le Tissierwill be at WH Smith in Above Barnext Friday (12.30pm) and also atWaterstone’s in Festival Place,Basingstoke (4.30pm) the sameday.
WIN a free copy of Matt LeTissier’s autobiography andthe chance to meet him!
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