 Tuesday, 6th Mar 2012 06:00 Town boss Paul Jewell has revealed that he tried to sign Southampton's 20-goal Championship top scorer Rickie Lambert during the summer. At around the same time the Blues also made attempts to land Lambert’s team-mate Billy Sharp, who joined the Saints from Doncaster in January. Jewell says he called Southampton boss Nigel Adkins, who he played alongside at Wigan, while he was away on holiday: “I spoke to the manager, Nigel, who was in the Maldives at the time and I asked about Rickie Lambert and one of their other players. “Then I got a phone call from [Southampton’s head of football development] Les Reed four or five days later saying that I’d caught them on the hop with the Rickie Lambert call and then the next thing they offered him a new contract.” He says he sees similarities with Lambert’s career progression and that of one of his own players: “He’s done really, really well for them. “You talk about Andy Drury [having spent some years out of the top divisions], but Rickie Lambert’s been at Macclesfield, Blackpool, Rochdale, Stockport and Bristol Rovers. “Everyone knew that technically he was very good, he can play in midfield at times. He scored goals in League One and then everyone asked whether he could score goals at 29 or 30 in the Championship. “I thought he could, which was why I made an offer for him. But obviously Southampton did as well. He’s very good technically, a great goalscorer, has got a good shot on him and I think he’s a terrific player. “Like Andy Drury and people like that, he’s an example that you sometimes get an opportunity late in life after maybe being at not the most glamorous clubs, and he’s certainly taken it." Asked whether his offer was seen as a bit cheeky, Jewell says it’s always worth asking the question: “I think they did, but I think you’re entitled to ring up, all they’ve got to do is say no, which they did, and that was that. “I’ll never forget, I won’t say who the manager was, I rang up and asked about a player. I said ‘How much do you want for him?’. He said he didn’t know and I said you’ve got to give me an idea otherwise I might insult you. “He said ‘Don’t worry about insulting me’. Then I read in the paper the next day that we’d made an insulting offer! “If someone rings me up and says they’ll give me £50,000 for Connor Wickham, all I’ve got to do is say no. You might think it’s a little bit of an insult or a little cheeky offer. “In the old days that was how it used to work. You used to have a little bit of banter and barter with the manager. Nowadays other people get involved.” As for his summer move for then-Doncaster frontman Sharp — the Championship table-proppers turned down a Town bid of £2.3 million — Jewell says the Blues couldn’t have done any more: “I don’t think we could have tried any harder. "Sometimes you think maybe you should have done this or that, but I don’t think we could have tried harder to get Billy. “We tried on a few occasions, met his agent on a few occasions, the owner spoke to their owner but a deal just couldn’t be done between the two clubs. “That wouldn’t have been a bad strike force, would it? Billy Sharp, Rickie Lambert and Michael Chopra!” Photo: Action Images
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