The Bucks Free Press has teamed up with Sky Bet to speak to Wycombe Wanderers forward Sam Vokes about his time at the club so far.

The Welshman joined the Chairboys in the summer of 2021 and has played a huge role in the club’s recent successes.

This includes scoring 17 occasions in his debut season as the Adams Park side reached the 2022 League One play-off final.

We asked him the following five questions:

How did your move to Wycombe in 2021 come about? 

“I was at Stoke at the time and it was a time when I wasn’t playing as much as I wanted.

“I remember that pre-season I was on the bike in the gym and Gareth Ainsworth popped up on my phone explaining that he knew I was looking for a move and that he wanted to sign me.  

 “That got the ball rolling, and it escalated from there, and within a couple weeks, I was down at Wycombe training with the team.

“It was good to come and join the club at that time.” 

You came into the Wycombe team and performed brilliantly in your first season - was that the release you needed to start enjoying football again?

“Joining Wycombe when I did was that opportunity to get back to enjoying football again.

“At the time, I was getting frustrated at Stoke with my lack of playing time, so for me, it was a good chance to rest.

“I came in, joined a great dressing room and I loved it in my first season.

“Baring that last game of the season in the play-off game against Sunderland, which was a tough one to take, we were close to promotion that year.  

 “I joined a great group of lads, and it was good to be involved that season.” 

What have been the highlights of your time at Wycombe so far?

“One of the highlights of my time at Wycombe is from my first season in the two play-off semi-finals.

“The first leg was against MK Dons at home, and I managed to score the second goal, then we went to their place and did a job there, so those two semi-finals were great moments.  

 “The final was a great event, but losing is never nice and it was a tough one to take.” 

 How different are Gareth Ainsworth and Matt Bloomfield's styles when it comes to tactics, and when the latter took over, how did you find the adjustments?

 “Losing Gareth Ainsworth and gaining Matt Bloomfield was quite a smooth transition.

“The manager now had played under Ainsworth for several years, so he knew the club inside out.  

“I think slowly, over the last year, he’s implemented his own ideas on the team, dictating how we want to look and how we want to play, so I think that’s started to come out.

“Also, we’ve moved training grounds in that time, so that transition is slowly happening more and more and it’s probably a different club to the one I joined a few years ago in terms of ownership and facilities.

“The club is going to make a lot of changes in the next couple of years so it’s an exciting time.” 

 You played with Adebayo Akinfenwa during his last season at Adams Park before he retired. How was it playing with him, and what advice did he give you to help you succeed at Wycombe?

 “Adebayo Akinfenwa was great at Wycombe.

“I bumped into him the other night at the Aston Villa game because he came down to watch us.  

 “Bayo was a huge presence in the dressing room, within the squad and with the role played, so it was great to have him in and around the team.

£We didn’t get to share the pitch too many times together, it was one or the other with us. 

 “We did have one game together, away at Fleetwood, and I remember where somehow I was playing off the left and he was playing off the right, so we had a strong frontline that day.  

 “Bayo was great and embedded what Wycombe was about at the time and the success the club had over the years are down to people like him.” 

For more information, go to  https://m.skybet.com/football/sky-bet-league-one/10005381.