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Thursday, November 20, 2008, 07:00
Someone in that fortunate position is Mark Sullivan, who has worked for Manchester United's own television channel, MUTV, for the past six years.
Sullivan, 32, is a reporter/presenter for MUTV and carries out a variety of roles for the station.
He gets to spend his time working for one of the biggest football clubs in the world.
Not bad for someone who was born and brought up in Plymouth, and whose passion for football was developed by being taken to see Argyle play at Home Park when he was young.
Sullivan told The Herald: "I have had six really good years at MUTV.
"I started as a broadcast reporter, mainly covering the youth team, before I was let loose to interview the first team.
"It was a gradual progression, as in any career and as in any job. Since then, it has become a presenter/reporter role.
"I present my own show between 10am-11am every Saturday morning.
"It's like 'Soccer AM' for Manchester United fans.
"Probably every other week, I do a betting show, giving all the odds for the weekend sport, particularly the United game.
"I also fill in doing presenting jobs around our schedule, get to do interviews with the first teamers and, occasionally, travel to European away ties.
"And for most home games, but not all of them, I will be working in some capacity.
"So I have a lot of different roles really, which keeps it interesting. And I'm working in football, which is my passion, so a lot of the time it's not like work to me."
Sullivan was brought up in Plympton and attended Woodford Junior School and Hele's School either side of a couple of years when he lived in Torquay.
He went to the University of Plymouth, based in Exeter, where he did an English and media degree.
And that was followed by a post-graduate journalism course at Cornwall College.
"The first 22 or 23 years of my life were all based in the South West and I absolutely loved the place," said Sullivan.
"I have still got a lot of friends around here, so it's always nice to come back and catch up."
Sullivan started being taken to Home Park by his father in the era of Tommy Tynan and two members of the current Argyle coaching staff – Geoff Crudgington and Kevin Summerfield.
"It was a good time to be a Plymouth fan, but I wasn't old enough in 1984 to really remember the FA Cup semi-final," he said.
"It was around about 1986 when I really started having a passion for football, and I used to watch Argyle as often as possible."
Even then, though, he also supported Manchester United and former England midfielder Bryan Robson was his hero.
Sullivan said: "I was a Manchester United fan and a Plymouth Argyle fan at the same time.
"Some people say you shouldn't have two clubs, but why not? I love both clubs. It's good to have two clubs in my opinion."
At first, Sullivan had plans on a career in newspaper journalism, and had a work experience spell with The Herald, among others.
After his post-graduate course, he was offered a job on one local newspaper but was made redundant seven months later.
Sullivan then turned to television, first with Taunton TV in Somerset and then got his big break with MUTV.
He said: "I thought it sounded like the dream job so I applied, they invited me up for an interview and, luckily, I was selected."
Now, he gets a close-up insight into United and the star names such as Rooney, Ronaldo and Berbatov.
There must be many football fans who would swap places with Sullivan.
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