Burnley striker Vokes hails Dyche on sixth anniversary

Vokes, who signed a new three-year contract last week, had joined the club on a permanent basis in the summer of 2012, shortly before Dyche replaced Eddie Howe.

And the rest is history.

Dyche found the club 16th in the Championship, and has twice won promotion to the Premier League, the second time as champions on the back of a 23-game unbeaten run.

He has since kept the club in the Premier League and earned the club’s highest league finish in 44 years, as well as a return to European football.

Vokes has been a mainstay of the side during a period of great success, and looked back on a remarkable six years: “It’s great to have been a part of it because it’s been a great rise.

“At the start we were surviving in the Championship at the time, to see the rise up to last year and finishing seventh in the Premier League has been a huge achievement.

“We’re still on the rise and building, the Premier League is where we want to be, we’ll work hard to stay there.”

Despite finishing seventh last season, nothing can be taken for granted in the Premier League, and after two wins in the opening 10 games - the same as Saturday’s opponents West Ham - Burnley find themselves 15th, three points above Fulham in 18th.

Dyche came through a tricky spell in his first half season at the helm, and bounced back from relegation in 2016, and Vokes said: “We’ve had tougher spells than what we’re in now.

“As a group we know how to come back from this, it starts at the weekend, we have two massive games before the international break.

“We need to keep striving and moving forward and learning from days like Sunday.

“This is our third year in the Premier League now, these are still tough games for us, that’s where we need to move forward now I think.

“We took the game to Chelsea in the first half but faded after that, they’re things we need to learn on and improve on.”