Ben Burgess became a fan favourite at Griffin Park during the 2001/02 campaign, netting 18 goals in 51 appearances while on loan from Blackburn Rovers. In total, Ben led the line for ten clubs during a 14-year career.

Now a teacher in Lancashire, Ben still keeps a close eye on the Bees.

In this week's column, Ben looks ahead to Saturday’s West London derby at Craven Cottage and – following Josh Dasilva’s flying start to the season – shares his own experiences of battling back from injury.

Post-match interviews

“Yeah, we played well. We never took nothing for granted. We take it one game at a time.”

I know that some footballers can be articulate and passionate with their words but all too often we are faced with the same clichés.

An awareness of the media - and the way that words can be twisted - is essential for young people thrust into the limelight, however the regurgitation of meaningless phrases in the hope of saying nothing controversial must stop.

Footballers have media training, even from a young age, yet you don’t even realise how dull most post-match interviews are until you tune into other sports.

During the Commonwealth Games, the swimmers spoke honestly, practically one minute after winning or losing. The insight into the highs and lows of a sportsperson’s life was none more evident than in the rollercoaster of emotions we endured alongside Adam Peaty. It was a privilege to see into their minds and allowed us all to understand that they’re all just human; something many of us forget about when it comes to footballers.

By far the best post-match interviews of the summer belonged to the mighty Lionesses. Ella Toone shared her excitement about going to Ibiza, while we also heard from the eloquent Leah Williamson as she discussed the legacy of winning the tournament and called for more fans to attend Women’s Super League games.

The real thing

Everybody loves derby day and there is obviously a bit of extra spice with Saturday’s game the first time Brentford have faced Fulham in the league since that Play-Off final defeat.

It was hard to put things into perspective after that game but, in retrospect, you can see that it helped the Bees far more than Fulham.

When Thomas Frank’s men finally earned promotion, the Club and the team were in a much stronger position to attack the Premier League. I talked about how pre-season results could give you a false impression of whether your team are ready for the real thing and that was demonstrated during Brentford’s demolition of the so-called ‘biggest club in world football’ last Saturday.

Manchester United fans heaped superlatives on Erik ten Hag and his players after their 4-1 demolition of Liverpool in the Bangkok Cup, yet now the actual season has begun United have made their worst-ever Premier League start. On the other hand, the Bees had an unspectacular pre-season but started off brilliantly. Let’s hope that continues at Craven Cottage.

Lazarus

If there is one thing I have great knowledge of, it’s coming back from injury.

During my career I was out injured for long periods of time. At one stage I was sidelined for 12 months, and that’s what makes me appreciate Josh Dasilva’s resurgence even more.

Josh has had to endure a frustrating time out of the team and was forced to watch from the stands as the Bees secured promotion. Being injured and watching your team celebrate success gives you a huge conflict of emotions. You are proud of your team-mates and delighted that you will be playing at a higher level, but in the back of your mind you have that nagging feeling of missing out.

For any player returning from injury, there is a period when you need to build confidence back physically and mentally. It’s also extremely challenging to get that rhythm back on the pitch and there is always a doubt about whether you will achieve your previous levels.

I nearly cried when I scored the first goal after my long-term injury and that was only in the Championship, so I’m sure Josh was delighted with his.