THE move for Jelle Vossen has been timed well – not just to get the striker on the books early but also so that he can take part in the club’s pre-season tour.

These are important events for the club, for existing players, but especially for new ones so that they can get to know their team-mates well and make new friends.

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I’ll never forget going to Switzerland with Burnley in the early 60s. We played a couple of games out there but it was the team bonding that will always stick in my mind.

We went out on Lake Geneva in a boat. Myself and a few of the players went out for a swim, Andy Lochhead had stayed on the boat and shouted “There’s a fin!”.

I broke the world record for front crawl to get back to the boat!

George Bray was a coach at the time and he had been charged with keeping an eye on the players.

He was sitting in the corner trying not to be seen, pretending to read at French newspaper. But unfortunately for George it was upside down!

It was the best pre-season we had.

There were plenty of laughs on that trip, and at the end of that season we finished third in the old First Division.

Hopefully this will be a good opportunity for Vossen to bed in and set his stall out for the rest of the season.

I’m looking forward to seeing him in action and might even make the trip to the friendly at Accrington Stanley on Saturday to get a first glimpse.

He has big shoes to fill with Danny Ings’ departure, so it’s important we don’t put too much pressure on him, especially with the £2.5 million pricetag he will feel he has to live up to.

But he is an international footballer and I’m sure it will be water off a duck’s back.

It is a wise investment for Burnley as reinforcements in the strikers’ department are essential.

There have also been links to Nottingham Forest’s Jamie Paterson and Wigan Athletic’s Emyr Huws. As for existing players, I’m really pleased Michael Duff has signed that new deal.

He has been tremendous for us since coming to the club from Cheltenham Town 11 years ago for £30,000. And while he has been at Burnley he has been capped numerous times for Northern Ireland. I am very proud of that as the wee country means a lot to me.

Now all we need is to make sure Jason Shackell stays.

It’s a case of so far so good, with Derby County having a £2 million bid for our skipper turned down and the manager saying it will be him who decides if anyone goes.

But I feel the new head coach at Derby, Paul Clement, is very persistent. We surely can’t let Shackell go though. He is the backbone of our defence and would be a great loss to the first XI.