" Cardiff City fans have got the worst deal "

Cardiff City fans have got the worst deal in the Championship when it comes to travelling to midweek away matches

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By Steve Tucker

Bluebirds fans will have to clock up the miles more than any other set of Championship fans with gruelling midweek schedule

Cardiff City fans wanting their midweek fix of football next season will have to travel further than any other set of supporters in the Championship, it has emerged.

A table has revealed that to watch Cardiff in the six Tuesday night matches in 2015-16 fans will have to cover an amazing 1,347 miles in total. That’s an average of 225 miles per trip.

Indeed the fixture list released on Wednesday morning has drawn up a sequence of midweek away Championship games next term seemingly designed to test the endurance of even the most hardened Cardiff supporter.

Epic travel odyssey
Russell Slade’s men have been handed midweek trips to Blackburn (August 18), Leeds (November 3), Hull (January 12), , Middlesbrough (February 23), Burnley (April 5) and finally what appears a short hop in comparison to west London to play Brentford at Griffin Park on Tuesday April 19.

The only other side close to matching the Bluebirds’ epic midweek travel odyssey will be Leeds, who have the second furthest amount of miles to cover. Their fans will cover a total of 976 miles for five matches, at an average of 195 miles per trip.

Reading come third in the table, followed by Hull and then Brighton.

In contrast Birmingham City supporters will have the least distance to go to see of their side’s midweek games away. Blues fans will travel just 99 miles on average for their the five encounters, a distance in total of just 495 miles.

Vince Alm, spokesman for the Cardiff City Supporters Club, said the midweek fixture schedule was far from ideal and would hit the Bluebirds’ hard-core supporters.

'Seemingly ludicrous'
However, he argued there was Football League rationale behind the seemingly ludicrous amount of miles Cardiff supporters are being forced to travel.

“The ones really affected are those who go to every game in a season,” said Alm. “They find themselves in midweek travelling six hours to the game and six hours back in a day if they can’t have an overnight stop or get the time off from work. It is crazy, certainly not ideal.

“But the Football League have worked with the clubs on it. For the team itself, of course, it’s fine, they travel in plenty of time and have an overnight stop.

“When it comes to the supporters, if Cardiff were to play at Boro at 3pm on a Saturday rather than on a Tuesday, the amount of travelling fans is perhaps only 50 or 60 because certain sections of support will not travel to the furthest games whenever they might be played.

Fixtures 'penalise most loyal fans'
“But, for example, if Cardiff played at Reading on a Tuesday night that would also stop many youngsters going to it. On the other hand if Cardiff play Reading away at 3pm on a Saturday they will go to that game and the numbers next to the hard-core support can be massive.

“But in the end these mid-week trips do penalise the most loyal of fans in many ways.”

This is down to officials/police and even pathetic Leeds United.

Football Supporters, still treated badly in this day & age.

This is down to officials/police and even pathetic Leeds United.

Football Supporters, still treated badly in this day & age.

You can't make it up annis they must look at us and think give them fixtures in midweek against the likes of leeds so we don't take a good following to these places on a Saturday afternoon pathetic

What's new?

We always seem to have the long trips on Tuesday nights. Oh well, I won't be the one travelling.

Who in their right mind would go to Middlesborough midweek?

Who in their right mind would go to Middlesborough midweek?

Annis apparently fair play though to the fans that do travel, I couldn't think of anything worse personally unless I was spending the weekend up there

Amazed nobody has blamed tan ,Annis was right fans are treated badly because the authorities have long memories and remember the fans behaviour back in old days and in their minds it's their robust handling of fans is what has lead to the down turn in match violence.And I believe there are some around who would love to go back to those days if the could get away with it.

Being out on a limb you would expect to travel further than other clubs. Does not make sense trying to compare the distance Brimingham and Cardiff fans have to travel as Birmingham is in the middle of England and Cardiff is in Wales. The permier league fixtures are sorted out first then the Football league are arranged so games do not clash.

Bloody Tan again.

Tan out.

Who in their right mind would go to Middlesborough midweek?

I was going to say i have but it was sunderland

Had to take 2 days off mind.

Now I don't have to get up for work I wouldn't mind traveling away midweek but not being a driver getting from west Cardiff to East is the big problem taxi are to expensive

Why would the organisers make Welsh clubs a special case?

Cardiff and Swansea fans will travel further because of where they are. The mid-week thing is a fair point, but they don't take it into consideration. Let's face it, a lot of English fans don't even want Welsh clubs in the league!!!