The readership of this newspaper has changed in the digital age. No longer confined to the Mancunian buying a paper or receiving one delivered by a younger version of myself.

Every other house in Urmston seemed to order a copy on my MEN paper round in the later 80s – readers now access it online from across the globe.

There are Mancunian expats in Perth and Pretoria, football fans in Faisalabad and Freetown.

When it comes to match-going football supporters, few make the journey of the Plymouth Reds on such a regular basis.

Football fans travel from far and wide, but rare are the fans who come to almost every game in England from such a distance.

On Saturday, I woke up in Plymouth at 5am and waited in the dark for a coach to pick me up. Lorries drove past that had been on one of the final cross channel ferries into Plymouth for the year.

It was over an hour before dawn broke, but the Plymouth Reds, who’ve been running coaches to Old Trafford since 1996, need to start early if they’re to make kick-off. A mini-bus full of City fans also makes the same journey to Manchester.

Many of the regulars have been fans for a long time and they all have their stories to tell. Like John, who was in charge of the coach on Saturday.

He became entranced by United reading reports about the Busby Babes as a Devon schoolboy in the 50s. Or Aaron, a deputy headmaster and father of three in his 30s who idolised David Beckham.

Or Colin, from Truro, who was taken by the Doc’s Red Army and their propensity to make themselves known around the grounds of second division teams in 1974-75.

Colin has a two-hour drive before he meets the coach near Exeter Services. He has a season ticket and goes to as many away games as he can get tickets for. Sunderland away in August was a 23-hour, 900-mile round trip. That’s like driving from Manchester to Turin. Wouldn’t it just be easier to move to Manchester?

“As a proud Cornishman I couldn’t do that,” he says. Rivalries between Devonian and Cornish Reds on the bus prevail – and they have plenty of time to do so on the 14-hour round trip for each game.

United also have well organised supporters clubs in Torbay and Bridgewater who have members at every game.

Members are a mix of ages and backgrounds. There are Mancunians who’ve moved south to work for the Navy or study, or locals who started supporting United after a famous 1977 UEFA Cup tie against St Etienne which was moved to Plymouth’s Home Park because of crowd trouble in France.

Plymouth Argyle fans, who call them glory hunters who should support their local team, are reminded that many of the fans have been following United long before the glory days. They also put in thousands of miles.

When United drew Exeter in the FA Cup in 2005, 10,000 Exeter fans made the journey north to see them achieve an incredible draw. For many it was their first ever away game with Exeter. The Plymouth Reds make a longer journey every week – sometimes twice a week – with coach prices of £39.

They were at Old Trafford on Saturday and several of the members will be there tonight against Stoke. If you’re a local Red getting home before 11pm, spare a thought for those Reds travelling back to the South West with a 282-mile journey back to Plymouth. Or, in the case of Colin, 328 miles back to Truro. He expects to get home to his long-suffering partner and kids at 5am.

At least the Plymouth Reds have an early Christmas bonus.

Next Monday night’s game at Southampton has caused consternation among many in United’s hardcore for it will require time off work and an early morning arrival back in Manchester.

For Plymouth fans it will be the shortest away game of the season, a mere three hour 20 minutes drive from the city of 260,000 which they call home.