BURNLEY chairman Barry Kilby's deal to buy Turf Moor and Gawthorpe for £3million should be sealed later this week.

The Clarets will then be 'debt free' with no outside creditors, just two years after a £600,000 loss almost dragged the club into administration.

Kilby hopes to sign the papers on the deal before next Monday's Annual General Meeting with shareholders, who first approved the deal nearly a year ago.

The terms of the agreement will then see the club's two main assets transferred to Magenta Holdings, a company set up by Kilby, fellow director John Sullivan and a third, mystery shareholder.

Burnley will then instantly lease back Turf Moor and Gawthorpe, which had been jointly valued at £1.25million, on a 99 year lease.

"I would hope the deal would be done this week," revealed Kilby, whose controversial proposal has led to objections from some supporters.

"It has taken longer than we thought, but this is a big thing for Burnley Football Club.

"It needed an independent commission without my involvement and then the windfalls from selling Robbie Blake and Richard Chaplow meant we then had a chance to reassess whether we needed to go ahead with the sale and lease back.

"But in the end we still needed that money in the club, rather than paying debts off, and it means we are debt free other than director loans.

"To have the millstone of those debts around us was crippling and this finally frees us from that."

Kilby explained that the £3 million would go towards the general running of the club and not exclusively to squad strengthening.