BURNLEY have got themselves closer to getting back in the black, just months after posting an annual loss of £7.6million.

The financial year end did not take into account the sale of Charlie Austin, and at the start of the campaign co-chairman Mike Garlick revealed the club had been in debt to the tune of £8million – but that it was on course to break even.

But at a question and answer forum hosted by the club last night Garlick announced that they were on course to go one better, with a recent half-year audit set to reveal a small profit.

“The figures for last year weren’t too impressive. We declared a loss of £8million,” said Garlick.

“We are in the process of doing a half-year audit, which you have to do for the Football League.

“The results show we will just about scrape a very small profit.

“I emphasise the word very, very small.”

Joint chairman John Banaszkiewicz added: “It’s amazing when you look at some of our rivals – Blackburn Rovers £35m loss, Bolton Wanderers £50m loss, QPR £65.7m loss. We are running this club in a proper way, not just on the pitch but off the pitch.

“If you haven’t got all that much money you have to be careful with it.”

The club is thought to have reduced its debt to around £1m.

Increasing attendances are helping to boost the club coffers, with Banaszkiewicz revealing the average gate is up on the 2008/09 Championship play-off winning season.

“We’ve been getting very good crowds for the last couple of home games,” he said.

“The average home attendance this year is 13,5000, which is more than it was when we went up in 09.

“I’m thinking the next couple of games we will have 16,000-plus.

“We are trying to encourage everyone to come along – family, friends, supporters, potential supporters.

“Everyone needs to come to support us and get there.”

Meanwhile, the board said they would consider re-opening the David Fishwick Cricket Field Stand to home supporters should they achieve promotion, just as they did in their last Premier League season of 2009/10.

Meanwhile, the club confirmed that 9,000 season tickets have been sold for next season ahead of the early-bird deadline on Monday.

That is 600 more than the total season ticket sales figure for this season.