SAINTS fans will enjoy seeing Henri Camara's contribution to their club's relegation battle.

That's the verdict of Southampton-based Celtic fan Ritchie Martin, a founder member of the Scottish giants' fan club based on the south coast.

"I reckon he will be a great signing for Saints," said Martin. "He will do a fantastic job.

"When Celtic first signed him I thought he would be a great signing - after all, Martin O'Neill does not buy bad players.

"And £1.5m is a lot for Celtic to spend on a single player - we hadn't spent that much on someone for ages. Henrik Larsson only cost us £750,000.

"Camara started the season well, he showed a lot of promise.

"He's very quick and some of the things he could do on the ball were outstanding.

"But he just went off the boil.

"I don't think the Scottish League suited him - you don't get any time on the ball and you're kicked to bits.

"It was the same story for Juninho. We never saw him produce what he did for Middlesbrough because he was getting clattered all the time.

"Camara will have a lot more time on the ball in England - he likes to turn and take defenders on.

"He probably just lost a bit of confidence in Scotland, but he's got bags and bags and bags of ability and pace."

Martin's fans group, the Chris Sutton Celtic Supporters Club to give them their full title, is based at The Cricketers pub in Fair Oak.

Anyone wanting further information on the group can visit www.southamptoncfc.co.uk

Camara, meanwhile, is still an unpopular figure with the fans of his parent club Wolves, who cannot forget the manner in which he left them last summer.

Refusing to play for the club in the Championship, he eventually joined Celtic on loan.

Charles Ross, who edits the Wolves fanzine A Load of Bull, said his memories of Camara will forever be tainted by the way he treated the Midlands club.

"Will Camara flatter to deceive, or will he just flatter?" Ross asked.

"He could be a very exciting player, no doubt about that - when he got the ball we didn't know what he was going to do with it, I don't think he did half the time.

"He's got skill, he's got raw pace.

"What I do know is that he's not going to be given eight or nine games to get it right at Southampton.

"The position they are in is similar to the position we were in last season.

"And it took Camara 27 games to get it right last season."

The Senegal international only managed one league goal until late March last season, after which he struck six times in the last nine games.

"The fans stuck by him even when he missed some absolute rickets," recalled Ross. "He missed two one-on-ones at Old Trafford when he lost 1-0 - in the Premiership you have to take those sort of opportunities.

"You can possibly get away with it in the Championship, but not at the top level."