David Foot: Loss of Lambert at Bristol Rovers is a sign of the times

It is understandably hard to placate fans when their idol and leading scorer ups and leaves.

They just did not think it would happen, despite the recurrent rumours and fears for months that Rickie Lambert's imposing statistics would inevitably end in his transfer.

There is a blind, misplaced optimism, especially so in east Bristol, based on that devalued quality of loyalty, that the best players – like Lambert – will stay around for ever

The Memorial Stadium is at the moment numbed by the recent and wholly unscheduled announcement that he has gone to Southampton and wasted no time in scoring his first goal for them.

In the often glib world of professional football, particularly in the pragmatic lower divisions, Rovers are now in a state of shock.

The anger, at least in some quarters, is vying with the tears. But it is wrong to blame the club or the player. To do so is simply naïve.

These days there is precious little that is fair about trying to operate a club at Rovers' level as a sustainable business entity. The nature of the game, below that of the Premier League bolstered bv the largesse from the TV companies, means that realistic offers can't be ignored. And players like Lambert understandably don't want there to be, either.

He has unmistakably valued merits as a striker, even if some of his early matches after coming from Rochdale didn't too readily confirm that. He wasn't the fastest player on Rovers' books. Yet last season he scored 29 goals – and the partisans took to him. He was the encouraging metaphor for the club's immediate future.

They paid him well and what they could afford but now with the Saints, who have been experiencing their own fiscal and administrative problems, he is going to pocket twice as much.

Lambert's career as a player will not be a long one and his first responsibility must be to himself. It's a reluctant point of view I didn't think I would find myself expressing in this column.

It's a repetitive, frustrating matter running what is in effect a nursery for bigger clubs. Frequently finding raw and cheap talent and then selling it on – or, as in the case of Lambert, not being in a position to keep him.

In 1969 Rovers had a sturdy, highly promising defender, Larry Lloyd. The supporters saw him as the long term barrier alongside Stuart Taylor for years to come. Suddenly he was whisked away to Liverpool. Rovers were in no position to resist, and the £50,000 cheque was invaluable. It was more than the club had ever received for a player

There was much shaking of heads on the terraces similarly when first Paul Randall (£180,000 from Stoke) and then fellow striker, Steve White (just under £200,00 from Luton), two resourceful West Country boys, decided such transfer overtures were not to be refused. They both had loyal fan bases at Eastville. This was shown, in fact, by the way the hat was passed round to find cash to bring them back to Rovers later.

Both departures brought stunned responses and similar confusion and misery followed when perky Cornishman Nigel Martyn left to become the first £1million goalkeeper. And many supporters were equally bemused – and in some cases bitterly critical – over the sales of Rovers favourites like Marcus Stewart, Jason Roberts and Nathan Ellington.

As we have sadly commented before, football is no longer a chummy, sentimental affair, not even at Rovers with its traditional "family feeling".

It is absurd to point out that once upon a time, Harry Bamford would have played for peanuts, sufficiently rewarded by his inclusion in the team.

Nowadays the fans simply don't understand how the game and its book-keeping, increasingly geared to the demands of the players' representatives, have changed. Rovers' board knew how unpopular the sale of Lambert would be. Yet who could blame them – or the striker himself?

Disgruntled spectators say they don't know what is happening at the club, where there is to them a psychological emptiness now that the star forward has gone and where, in another surprise development, Steve Phillips has been checking on the Turkish exchange rate.

They should take heart. In Rovers' undulating history they have deftly escaped the bailiffs, fog, floods and flames. By comparison, now it is only a matter of re-jigging the personnel and the tactics... and forgetting all about Ricky Lambert.