- Birthdate: 16 February 1982
- Birthplace: Kirkby, Liverpool, England
- Other clubs: Liverpool (1992-97 [youth]), Blackpool (1998-2000), Macclesfield Town (2001-02), Stockport County (2002-05), Rochdale (2005-06), Bristol Rovers (2006-09), Southampton (2009-14), West Bromwich Albion (2015-16), Cardiff City (2016-17)
- Signed from: Southampton
- Signed for LFC: £4.5m, 02.06.1014
- International debut: 14.08.2013 vs Scotland
- International caps: 11/3 (7/1 at LFC) - 18.11.2014
- Liverpool debut: 17.08.2014
- Last appearance: 24.05.2015
- Debut goal: 23.11.2014
- Last goal: 17.01.2015
- Contract expiry: 31.07.2015
- Win ratio: 38.89% W:14 D:9 L:13
- Games/assists ratio: 18
- Total games/goals opposite LFC: 5 / 1
- League games / goals / assists: 25 / 2 / 2
- Total games / goals / assists: 36 / 3 / 2
Player Profile
Liverpool let Lambert go when he was fifteen years old in 1997. In that respect comparisons can be drawn with another teenager Liverpool released, Ted MacDougall, who scored over two hundred and fifty Football League goals for other clubs after Liverpool let him go. MacDougall never got the chance to return to Liverpool except as a visiting player. But probably the three goals he scored against Liverpool gave him more satisfaction than most players would have felt. Lambert has also played and scored against Liverpool but now he had an opportunity to really prove his worth. Finally getting the chance to play for the club he supported as a child and represented as a youth.
A brief spell at Blackpool did not work out for the striker after he left Liverpool. When Blackpool manager and former Liverpool player Steve McMahon released him from his contract, he joined Macclesfield Town, who were still in the fourth tier of the English pyramid system following their promotion as Conference champions in 1997. He became a regular in his first full season with the Cheshire club, 2001/02, but there was nothing to really indicate that he would become the truly great goalscorer he evolved into. The forward left Macclesfield and moved the short distance to Stockport County where he played in the division above the one he had just left. Although County finished comfortably in mid-table at the end of his first season with them, they only escaped relegation by two points in the next season and were relegated after finishing bottom of the table in 2004/05 a massive thirteen points below the second-from-bottom club. As his twenty-third birthday approached, it was time for the player to re-assess his options if he did not want to again be playing at the lowest level of the Football League. The day after that birthday he decided to stay in the north-west and move on to Rochdale, even though the Dale were playing in the same division that Stockport were about to drop into. At Stockport, as at Macclesfield, his goals-per-game figures were decent but nothing exceptional. His reputation, however, was growing and although Rickie only stayed at Rochdale for one full season it was a time when he really took off as a striker and came to the attention of bigger clubs. He played in all forty-six league matches in 2005/06 and scored twenty-two times.
Moving to Bristol Rovers in 2006 might not initially have been seen as a wise career-move. Few could argue successfully that Rovers was a significantly bigger club than Rochdale. Both clubs were playing in the bottom division of the English league system after all. But Rickie thrived immediately in a big-city environment and he would certainly have enjoyed returning to Spotland with his new club and scoring the only goal of the game. Lambert scored 8 times in the regular season as the Pirates finished in 6th position to qualify for the end-of-season play-offs. After a narrow 2-1 home victory in the home leg of the semi-final against Lincoln City, Lambert scored one of Rovers’ five goals as they demolished the Imps 5-3 at Sincil Bank to qualify for the Wembley final. Although Lambert did not score in the final, Rovers won 3-1 at the national stadium to move into what was then called Football League One (just League One today). The north-west club the striker had left behind finished in 9th position, 5 points off the play-off places.
Lambert’s two full seasons in Bristol were very productive: 19 goals from 57 matches in 2007/08 followed by 29 from 48 a year later. Inevitably bigger clubs were looking carefully at a prolific striker who was now twenty-seven years old. After just a single league match for Rovers early in the 2009/10 season, Southampton made their move. Even though the Saints were in the same division as Rovers, Lambert immediately saw that they had more potential and agreed to make the move. His new club finished just outside the play-off places but Rickie scored 30 goals in 45 league matches; 35% of the team’s entire total for the season. Promotion was only a year away. Twenty-one more Lambert goals helped the Saints back into the second tier in second place behind their south coast neighbours Brighton & Hove Albion. Southampton reached the Promised Land of the Premier League in 2012 as Lambert scored 31 times in 48 competitive matches, including hat-tricks against Nottingham Forest, Brighton, Watford and Millwall. The Saints were back in the top division after an absence of seven years.
Nobody was surprised that a confident striker with years of experience behind him in the lower leagues adapted immediately to life in the Premier League. Lambert scored almost immediately after coming on as a substitute at Manchester City in the opening match of the season and added another 14 league goals in 2012/13 followed by 13 in 2013/14. He had now scored over a hundred league goals for Southampton in a fraction under 5 full seasons and had also reached a total of 200 league goals with the five different English clubs for whom he had hit the net.
Off the radar for international recognition while he was with lower-league clubs, things changed quickly for the Kirkby-born striker once he was playing regularly in the top division. At the age of thirty-one, when he possibly thought that the opportunity had passed him by, Lambert was called up to the full England squad for a Wembley friendly against Scotland. Wembley was not new to him. He had played (and scored) there when Southampton beat Carlisle United to win the Football League Trophy final in March, 2010. On that occasion he had played from the start. Against Scotland he had to sit on the bench until the 67th minute before replacing Wayne Rooney. The score at the time he came on was 2-2. Within three minutes he had soared to meet a corner from Leighton Baines and thunder a header past Allan McGregor. It was his first touch in international football! He was back at Wembley a month later to score against Moldova in a World Cup Qualifying match. This time he played from the start but was taken off after 70 minutes, by which time his team held a comfortable 4-0 lead. England won Group H by a point from Ukraine and Rickie Lee Lambert was unsurprisingly named as a member of Roy Hodgson’s 23-man squad for the World Cup finals in Brazil, joining fellow-striker and new club team-mate Daniel Sturridge as well as four other men he would soon be training with on a regular basis at club level … Glen Johnson, Steven Gerrard, Jordan Henderson and Raheem Sterling.
World Cup 2014: Lambert's only taste of action was to come on as a very late substitute for his club colleague Jordan Henderson just after Luis Suarez had put Uruguay ahead for a second time in England's second group match. Manager Roy Hodgson made several changes for the final group match against Costa Rica and Rickie was an unused substitute, just as he had been in the opening match against Italy.
Lambert's Liverpool dream move turned into something of a nightmare as he only made twelve starts during the 2014/15 season with a further twenty-four appearances as a substitute confirming that he was just a squad player rather than someone pressing for a regular first-team place. He scored in successive matches against Crystal Palace and Ludogerets in November but there was only one more goal after that, the strike that clinched a 2-0 win at Aston Villa in January. Lambert left Liverpool for WBA at the end of July 2015 but his hope of getting more minutes on the pitch didn't come off. He started only five league games and was substituted in three of those. After Christmas he was on the pitch for a total of just 94 minutes in the Premiership. His one league goal all season came from the penalty spot. After coming on as a substitute in just one of West Brom's three opening Premier League fixtures in 2016-17 he joined Championship side Cardiff City on transfer deadline day. His first two goals came on 24th September as he helped his new club to come from behind to beat Rotherham. It would be a difficult season though plagued by injury and after new manager Neil Warnock said he wasn't in his plans his contract was terminated by mutual consent in July 2017. After failing to find a club in the transfer window, he announced his retirement from playing at the beginning of October. He now lives in Formby and told the Bristol Post in December 2018 that he was happy taking time out but had a coaching licence and wouldnt rule out a return to the game at some point.
Appearances per season
Season |
League |
FA |
LC |
Europe |
Other |
Total |
Totals |
25 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
0 |
36 |
2014-2015 |
25 |
4 |
3 |
4 |
0 |
36 |
A more detailed look at the player's appearances
Apps |
Minutes |
Opponent |
3 |
127 |
Crystal Palace |
3 |
93 |
Chelsea |
3 |
38 |
Aston Villa |
2 |
111 |
Stoke City |
2 |
95 |
Leicester City |
2 |
55 |
Basel |
2 |
54 |
Hull City |
2 |
17 |
Burnley |
2 |
11 |
Newcastle United |
2 |
10 |
Everton |
1 |
90 |
Sunderland |
1 |
90 |
Ludogorets |
1 |
90 |
QPR |
1 |
79 |
AFC Wimbledon |
1 |
79 |
Swansea City |
1 |
74 |
Middlesbrough |
1 |
64 |
WBA |
1 |
15 |
West Ham United |
1 |
14 |
Southampton |
1 |
14 |
Besiktas |
1 |
11 |
Manchester City |
1 |
9 |
Arsenal |
1 |
5 |
Blackburn Rovers |
Total |
Started/substitutions |
12 |
Started |
19 |
On the bench |
24 |
Substitute |
6 |
Substituted |
Total |
Venue |
19 |
Away |
17 |
Home |
Goals per season
Season |
League |
FA |
LC |
Europe |
Other |
Total |
Totals |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
2014-2015 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
A more detailed look at the player's goalscoring
Assists per season
Season |
League |
FA |
LC |
Europe |
Other |
Total |
Totals |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2014-2015 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
A more detailed look at the player's assists
Milestone Appearances
# |
Date |
Against |
Stadium |
Competition |
1 |
17.08.2014 |
Southampton |
Anfield |
League |
Milestone Goals
# |
Minute |
Date |
Against |
Stadium |
Competition |
1 |
2 |
23.11.2014 |
Crystal Palace |
Selhurst Park |
League |
Related Articles
If Liverpool Football Club had made a move to sign Rickie Lambert five years ago, nobody would have shown the slightest surprise.
Other Clubs
Club |
Season |
Club rank |
League apps |
League goals |
Total apps |
Total goals |
Blackpool |
1998-1999 |
Second Division |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Blackpool |
1999-2000 |
Second Division |
3 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
Blackpool |
2000-2001 |
Third Division |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Macclesfield Town |
2000-2001 |
Third Division |
9 |
0 |
9 |
0 |
Macclesfield Town |
2001-2002 |
Third Division |
35 |
8 |
40 |
10 |
Stockport County |
2002-2003 |
Second Division |
29 |
2 |
32 |
2 |
Stockport County |
2003-2004 |
Second Division |
40 |
12 |
45 |
13 |
Stockport County |
2004-2005 |
Second Division |
29 |
4 |
33 |
4 |
Rochdale |
2004-2005 |
League Two |
15 |
6 |
15 |
6 |
Rochdale |
2005-2006 |
League Two |
46 |
22 |
50 |
22 |
Rochdale |
2006-2007 |
League Two |
3 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
Bristol Rovers |
2006-2007 |
League Two |
36 |
8 |
49 |
10 |
Bristol Rovers |
2007-2008 |
League One |
46 |
13 |
57 |
19 |
Bristol Rovers |
2008-2009 |
League One |
45 |
29 |
48 |
29 |
Bristol Rovers |
2009-2010 |
League One |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
Southampton |
2009-2010 |
League One |
45 |
30 |
58 |
36 |
Southampton |
2010-2011 |
League One |
45 |
21 |
52 |
21 |
Southampton |
2011-2012 |
Championship |
42 |
27 |
48 |
31 |
Southampton |
2012-2013 |
Premier League |
38 |
15 |
38 |
15 |
Southampton |
2013-2014 |
Premier League |
37 |
13 |
39 |
14 |
WBA |
2015-2016 |
Premier League |
19 |
1 |
23 |
1 |
WBA |
2016-2017 |
Premier League |
2 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
Cardiff City |
2016-2017 |
Championship |
18 |
4 |
20 |
4 |
Total |
583 |
216 |
666 |
238 |