WHEN I first decided I wanted to be a football reporter, aged about eight, it was because I loved the sport.

I had already worked out I was never going to be good enough to earn a living as a player and I already loved reading newspaper match reports.

When my dream became a reality I thought it would be a case of knowing my 4-4-2 from my 3-5-2, being able to record faithfully what happened and hopefully making it all readable.

Now anyone wanting to become a football reporter would be well advised to take a degree in business and economics first.

We all know that money makes the world go round and so football has no right to expect to exist in its own vacuum but never before have clubs been so involved in financial problems.

Listen to the sports news on Radio Five Live.

I remember the good old days when the bulletins started with team news, transfer speculation, injury updates and the like.

Now it is all about going into administration, selling assets, asking players to take pay cuts and battling in courts for what is morally owed to the clubs.

Part of the reason for that is the introduction of the transfer window for the Premier League clubs which has put an end to the daily round of transfer rumours.

That means cash-strapped Nationwide League clubs are fair game and easy news with the added spicy ingredient of the threat of closure of clubs with proud traditions.

Which brings us neatly to Burnley Football Club and the new weekly sport for Clarets fans. Nowadays never a weekend goes by without a doom-and-gloom rumour appearing in the Sunday papers.

Even match reports centre around claims of demands for pay cuts for the playing staff and the manager.

Six weeks ago it was said that Burnley was just three weeks from going into administration. They haven't yet.

As the journalist who writes more words on Burnley every week than anyone else in the country, I have heard all these rumours first, second and third hand.

I am duty bound to follow them up, speak to the manager, ask questions of the chairman and try and find out the real story.

I am not a financial genius, I have enough trouble sorting out my own finances so I can get out for a few pints and a curry at the weekend.

But when I put the rumours to those in the know I have no option but to believe them as, to date, I have no evidence that anyone has led me up the garden path.

Take yesterday's story about Turf Moor being up for sale.

Barry Kilby was bemused that the story was doing the rounds but did confirm it was something the club had considered and would consider again.

As Barry Norman might say: "And why not!"

The facts have never been hidden from the fans, in fact the club has been criticised for being too negative about their position.

But given that Burnley are more than £4million down over two years, you do not have to be Einstein to work out it is a hole they have to plug.

I look at it on a personal level. If I had been promised £40,000 and budgeted for it, only to have it whisked away, I would have to cope.

The options are limited but all would need to be explored.

I could sell my car and get a cheaper one. I could take out a loan and repay over a number of years.

I might even re-mortgage my house.

But until I had decided which the best option was I would not be broadcasting what I was doing, it is just a case of finding out what suits me best.

Burnley is a proud club with a rich heritage and it is currently in the hands of people who care about it.

I have no idea how they will fill the hole but I am sure of one thing, you will get a more accurate picture in the Evening Telegraph than the Sunday papers.