HE will forever be a Saints legend.

Forever remembered, and loved, for his role in the club’s remarkable return from the brink of oblivion.

Rickie Lambert arrived at St Mary’s in August 2009 with Saints bottom of the third division thanks to their 10-point post-administration deduction.

He left just under five years later with over a century of goals and a place in the hearts of Saints fans.

In that time he was top scorer at Saints for four of his five seasons, and also won senior England international caps and went to a World Cup finals.

During his phenomenal time with Saints, Lambert blasted 106 league goals in 207 appearances, and netted a further 11 in 28 cup ties.

But he returns to St Mary’s with West Bromwich Albion this afternoon having virtually forgotten what it’s like to score since leaving Saints.

Lambert’s emotional return to his native Merseyside in the summer of May 2014 was to turn sour.

Despite the Reds selling Luis Suarez to Barcelona within months of his arrival, and despite Daniel Sturridge missing a large chunk of 2014/’15 through injury, Lambert struggled for regular game time at Anfield.

He was mainly restricted to substitute appearances, and ended the season with a paltry three goals in 40 league and cup appearances.

It was no surprise when Lambert was allowed to leave Liverpool 12 months after arriving.

West Bromwich Albion snapped him up for £3m, but he has failed to win a regular starting place at The Hawthorns either.

He has been restricted to just five Premier League starts, with another 13 appearances off the bench.

He has just one goal to his name in 21 league and cup games for Albion – and that was a penalty in a 3-2 home loss to Leicester at the end of October.

In all, Lambert – who turns 34 at the beginning of next month - has scored just once in his last 34 league and cup games for Liverpool and West Brom.

Since leaving St Mary’s, he has four goals in 61 appearances – 37 of which have come off the bench.

That is all a far cry from his days in the sunshine at Saints.

Here, the Daily Echo looks back at his remarkable record on the south coast.

2009/10: Lambert was signed by Alan Pardew two days into the new season.

He promptly scored on his debut, in a League Cup tie against Northampton. He scored again on his league debut for Saints, in a 3-1 loss at Huddersfield.

Lambert was an instant hit at St Mary’s, and ended the season with a stunning 36-goal haul in 58 league and cup games.

No Saints striker had scored as many in a season since Ron Davies in 1966/67.

Of those, exactly 30 were netted in 45 League 1 matches.

Lambert also scored three times as Saints won the JPT, including a penalty in the 4-1 Wembley final win against Carlisle.

2010/11: Lambert was Saints’ top scorer with 21 goals in 45 starts as the club won promotion from the third tier.

2011/12: Having never played outside the bottom two divisions before, there were cynics who doubted whether Lambert could score at Championship level.

Those doubts were blown away in amazing fashion, as he hammered 27 goals to finish as the second tier’s leading marksman.

2012/13: Again, there were those who doubted Lambert’s ability to score in the Premier League.

He answered his critics again by netting 15 goals in 35 starts, plus three off the bench, to again finish as Saints’ top scorer.

2013/14: The season started with Lambert winning a shock senior England call-up – and the fairytale continued when he scored the winner on his debut against Scotland at Wembley.

A few days later, on the opening day of the league season, Lambert netted again – a last minute penalty winner as Saints triumphed at his current club, West Brom.

Lambert was to end his second season in the top flight with 13 goals from 31 starts, plus six off the bench.

For the first time in his Saints career, though, he wasn’t the top league marksman. That honour went to 15-goal Jay Rodriguez.