The volume of a teams away following is often used as measure for the “size” of a club and is heavily debated amongst football fans. But their are many factors that influence this, not least their proximity to other clubs.

With the Football league last week releasing statistics showing the average away attendance for each team playing in the championship (shown below), I looked at whether this was effected by the clubs accessibility to other clubs and how long fans were spending travelling.

Team Away Attendance Leeds 2807 Middlesbrough 2515 Sheffield Wednesday 2510 Derby 2125 Burnley 1911 Birmingham 1779 Brighton 1658 Preston 1506 Wolves 1470 Nottingham Forest 1443 Hull 1393 Ipswich 1383 Bristol City 1263 QPR 1204 Huddersfield 1128 Blackburn 1106 Brentford 1073 Rotherham 1041 Reading 1040 Fulham 988 Bolton 911 Cardiff 748 Charlton 637 MK Dons 636

With Leeds being located in within fairly close proximity to a number of the northern teams, and Leeds railway station being well connected I wanted to look at the whether this contributed to their loyal away following.

So I used the Google Travel API to look at the total time a football fan would spend travelling if they went on public transport to every away game. The results are below.

Team Time Spent Travelling Cardiff City 6 Days 3 Hours 44 Minutes 14 Seconds Brighton and Hove Albion 6 Days 1 Hours 23 Minutes 36 Seconds Ipswich Town 5 Days 23 Hours 17 Minutes 34 Seconds Middlesbrough 5 Days 21 Hours 25 Minutes 26 Seconds Charlton Athletic 5 Days 11 Hours 18 Minutes 10 Seconds Bristol City 5 Days 10 Hours 22 Minutes 50 Seconds Hull City 5 Days 2 Hours 57 Minutes 20 Seconds Fulham 4 Days 22 Hours 6 Minutes 38 Seconds Burnley 4 Days 20 Hours 5 Minutes 32 Seconds Reading 4 Days 19 Hours 58 Minutes 32 Seconds Preston North End 4 Days 19 Hours 52 Minutes 22 Seconds Queens Park Rangers 4 Days 18 Hours 44 Minutes 38 Seconds Brentford 4 Days 18 Hours 13 Minutes 12 Seconds Blackburn Rovers 4 Days 17 Hours 38 Minutes 16 Seconds Huddersfield Town 4 Days 11 Hours 55 Minutes 58 Seconds Bolton Wanderers 4 Days 11 Hours 17 Minutes 36 Seconds Leeds United 4 Days 7 Hours 2 Minutes 12 Seconds MK Dons 4 Days 5 Hours 1 Minutes 4 Seconds Sheffield Wednesday 4 Days 4 Hours 30 Minutes 54 Seconds Wolverhampton Wanderers 4 Days 0 Hours 30 Minutes 48 Seconds Rotherham United 3 Days 23 Hours 23 Minutes 6 Seconds Birmingham City 3 Days 19 Hours 59 Minutes 4 Seconds Nottingham Forest 3 Days 18 Hours 12 Minutes 6 Seconds Derby County 3 Days 17 Hours 41 Minutes 6 Seconds

From this it appears that there is very little correlation between the average away attendance and time spent travelling especially with Middlesbrough’s travel time and attendance being so high.

As a final thought I looked at using the travel times for ranking the teams be the number of “fan hours” spent travelling.

Team Fan Hours Middlesbrough 40 Years 31 Weeks 3 Days 1 Hours 4 Minutes 50 Seconds Leeds United 33 Years 0 Weeks 5 Days 23 Hours 55 Minutes 24 Seconds Sheffield Wednesday 28 Years 41 Weeks 5 Days 4 Hours 39 Minutes 0 Seconds Brighton and Hove Albion 27 Years 27 Weeks 0 Days 6 Hours 8 Minutes 48 Seconds Burnley 25 Years 16 Weeks 6 Days 20 Hours 14 Minutes 12 Seconds Ipswich Town 22 Years 32 Weeks 3 Days 5 Hours 54 Minutes 42 Seconds Derby County 21 Years 39 Weeks 2 Days 20 Hours 37 Minutes 30 Seconds Preston North End 19 Years 48 Weeks 0 Days 0 Hours 24 Minutes 12 Seconds Hull City 19 Years 28 Weeks 5 Days 13 Hours 5 Minutes 20 Seconds Bristol City 18 Years 41 Weeks 4 Days 6 Hours 38 Minutes 30 Seconds Birmingham City 18 Years 35 Weeks 3 Days 8 Hours 19 Minutes 36 Seconds Wolverhampton Wanderers 16 Years 10 Weeks 1 Days 10 Hours 36 Minutes 0 Seconds Queens Park Rangers 15 Years 40 Weeks 1 Days 7 Hours 38 Minutes 32 Seconds Nottingham Forest 14 Years 44 Weeks 5 Days 9 Hours 0 Minutes 18 Seconds Blackburn Rovers 14 Years 18 Weeks 0 Days 19 Hours 22 Minutes 56 Seconds Brentford 13 Years 51 Weeks 4 Days 14 Hours 3 Minutes 36 Seconds Huddersfield Town 13 Years 46 Weeks 5 Days 20 Hours 10 Minutes 24 Seconds Reading 13 Years 40 Weeks 0 Days 14 Hours 34 Minutes 40 Seconds Fulham 13 Years 16 Weeks 5 Days 5 Hours 13 Minutes 44 Seconds Cardiff City 12 Years 32 Weeks 0 Days 11 Hours 26 Minutes 32 Seconds Rotherham United 11 Years 17 Weeks 3 Days 7 Hours 47 Minutes 6 Seconds Bolton Wanderers 11 Years 8 Weeks 1 Days 16 Hours 13 Minutes 36 Seconds Charlton Athletic 9 Years 28 Weeks 3 Days 23 Hours 52 Minutes 10 Seconds MK Dons 7 Years 17 Weeks 2 Days 23 Hours 18 Minutes 24 Seconds