As the old joke goes: 'I wouldn't say the gates are poor at our club, but they usually read the crowd changes to the players before the game'. Real Madrid had 11 men on the pitch for their match against Granada on Sunday and only a handful in the stands watching them.

For British football supporters the idea of possibly the biggest club in the world having such a small away following is baffling. There are explanations, and exceptions to the strange phenomenon of the lamentable La Liga away support.

Kick-off times are the first major obstacle to following your team away. Granada vs Real Madrid kicked-off at 8.30pm on Sunday night. That means the Madrid supporters wishing to go to the game would have found it almost impossible to get back to the Spanish capital. There would have been no trains or flights and a car journey would have taken four hours and left fans getting home for 2am with the prospect of work that same Monday morning.

Real Madrid had a small following in the away end to witness their 2-1 La Liga win at Granada on Sunday night

Real's small support is a prevalent theme of away fans for Spanish clubs due to various factors - i.e. distance

Luka Modric broke Granada hearts as he scored a sublime late winner for Real at the Los Carmenes stadium

The midfielder (centre) crashed home an unstoppable 25-yard strike on 85 minutes into the top corner

There is little consideration for supporters when it comes to kick-off times. Some games at the start of the season kick-off so late they actually finish on a different day of the week. Because of hot temperatures down in southern Spain a game can begin at 10.30 with the two teams finishing at 00.15 the following morning.

Kick-off schedules are also announced late and often changed at the last minute. The recent Spanish Cup semi-final draw pulled out Sevilla to play Celta Vigo last Wednesday in the first leg and this Wednesday in the return. Only for the Spanish Federation to announce half and hour later - no actually we meant Thursday not Wednesday. Spanish fans look on in envy when English football announces its fixture list at the start of the season with dates more or less set in stone.

Distance is the next big problem. A Malaga fan wanting to get to see their team away at Deportivo la Coruna would have to shell out for an expensive flight or drive 700 miles. Spain is a big country with a population density around four times less than England's.

That doesn't explain why for a Madrid derby there will often be just a 100 or so supporters from the visiting team in the Bernabeu or the Vicente Calderon. And here is where plain and simple football culture kicks in. A Spanish fan buys his 'bono' (season ticket) at the start of the season and watches all his team's home games. But the venue for away matches will be the local bar on the corner of the street or his front room in front of the pay-per-view television.

Kevin Gameiro scored twice as Sevilla defeated Celta Vigo 4-0 in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final

Michael Krohn-Dehli was also on the scoresheet - in a match that was moved from a Wednesday to a Thursday

Atletico Madrid fans watch their team on television during a clash at the Santiago Bernabeu against rivals Real

There are some exceptions. The likes of Sporting Gijon pride themselves on a healthy away following. And if their Asturian neighbours Oviedo come up to the top flight next season after an absence of 14 years then they will also fill their allocation almost everywhere they go.

Allocations are another problem – few clubs encourage followers from rival clubs and give very few tickets. With less travelling supporters they save money on security and policing.

So no one sings: 'We will follow – insert club here – over land and sea' in Spain but they do channel their passion in other ways.

Sporting Gijon pride themselves on a healthy away following wherever they travel for a Spanish encounter

They fill stadiums when new signings are announced. Over 40,000 supporters went to watch Fernando Torres show his face at the Vicente Calderon in January after resigning on loan from Milan. They gathered in the midday sun, on a Sunday, sang his name, cheered him as he walked out to the centre-circle with his two children to do a few keepy-ups before disappearing down the tunnel; and then they went home.

As Gary Neville is also finding out at Valencia, supporters are also not averse to turning up a the training ground at 2.30am to shout abuse at players and coaching staff returning from a 7-0 thumping. They will gate-crash training sessions to hang banners reading 'merceneries' and 'you don't deserve the shirt' in full view of the team as they go through their warm-down routines.

Just as British supporters wonder why the Spanish leave the away pen empty every week; the Spaniards don't understand why British supporters don't go to player unveilings and fans protests.

Fernando Torres was given a hero's welcome by fans as he returned to Atletico on loan in January 2015

Torres brought his two children along with him at his unveiling in front of over 40,000 Atletico fans

Gary Neville is under increasing pressure in Spain to improve Valencia's form under his guidance

Valencia supporters waited for the team bus to voice their disapproval of Neville as manager on Sunday