SAINTS legend Matt Le Tissier thinks no fan will hold Rickie Lambert’s dream move to Liverpool against him.

“He’s been fantastic for us for five years. He dragged us up from League One to the Premier League, said Le Tiss. “The first thing I want to say is that I’d think no Saints fan can begrudge Rickie Lambert that move.

“Now he’s going to play for his boyhood club in the Premier League and Champions League.”

Le Tissier, couldn’t have been more full of praise for what Lambert did at Saints during his time at St Mary’s. The success that Lambert helped bring to the club however, means it’s easy to get carried away when thinking about what might have been for Southampton, says the former England international.

He said: “Last season, eighth is the best we could ever have hoped for. I really couldn’t see us improving on that even if they kept the squad together. “There were seven teams above them and they finished a good distance above them in all honesty, so I think it would be very difficult to move on much more. “Talk of challenging for Europe and moving on is overambitious and the people talking about that were getting ahead of themselves. “We have to keep our feet on the ground. It might sound harsh but that’s the reality of the situation.”

Le Tiss said he enjoyed dreaming of what Saints could achieve, but the reality of football means the club may have hit a glass ceiling.

“You’re not going to bring Champions League football here without spending an awful lot of money. It’s great to dream and for some of the season we did, when we were in the top four, but in reality eighth was the best we were ever going to get.

“As a Saints fan, if we were to stay in the top half of the Premier League year after year, I’d be over the moon. You can’t forget that five years ago we were in League One on minus ten points and now we’re eighth in the Premier League.”

As reported by the Daily Echo, the man voted Saints’ greatest ever player believes that once a new manager is appointed, Saints fans will begin to feel a lot more relaxed about what is going on at their club.

“A new manager can come in and start looking at bringing players in and that will allay people’s fears,” he said.