SAM Vokes is close to getting back to full fitness after all the hard work he has put in over the last six months.

I personally know what it is like to be out with a serious injury and not be able to contribute to any games.

MORE TOP STORIES:

I got a leg broken playing at Everton and will never forget it.

I thought it was going to be the end of my football career but the support I got from the whole playing staff carried me through just like they have done with Sam Vokes.

I had to go in for treatment every day for months even in the close season, and at that stage I was saying my thanks to a lad called Len Kinsella who trained with me every single day.

He played in the A team and he really didn’t need to train with me, but he was a tremendous help.

During the close season everyone was away on holiday and Len, a young lad at the time, gave up all his time to help me through the day with the physios, running around the track and up and down the terracing. To have somebody with you doing that is great.

Like I said last week this international break could not have come at a better time, it means our depleted squad has had the time to get themselves fit again for the huge challenge of our first Premier League win.

I also cannot wait to see Danny Ings play alongside the Juke.

I have the feeling this partnership will get together like the pairing of Vokes and Ings.

The squad need this win to boost their confidence and I feel against West Ham the three points are there for the taking, although Big Sam will do his best to make sure it won’t be easy.

I watched the European Championship qualifiers on TV and the Northern Ireland game in particular.

Former Burnley striker Kyle Lafferty scored a great goal and he could have had a hat-trick.

But the Burnley-born Oliver Norwood, who is now playing for Reading, was superb in everything he did.

He was man of the match.

England also did well and kept another clean sheet, but too many chances were missed. I still think this England team is very poor and my personal view is that the Premier League has too many foreign players who are limiting the chances of the Scottish, Welsh, English and Northern Irish lads getting into first XI of the clubs they are signed to represent.

In my day we had an all-British XI turning out week in week out and had as many as 10 internationals on the books, and they had all come through the ranks of Burnley Football Club.

The scouts came from all around Britain, which led to Burnley FC getting christened the Football Academy, because we never bought anyone, we signed them for free.