How long will Sheffield Wednesday fans spend on the road in one of the BIGGEST League One seasons ever?
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And after Morecambe won out in the League Two playoff final against Lincoln on Sunday, the make-up of League One is settled.
Wednesday were relegated from the Championship with Wycombe Wanderers and Rotherham United, while Cheltenham Town, Cambridge United and Bolton Wanderers were promoted from the second tier with the Shrimps.
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Hide AdFans are due to be allowed back into stadiums in time for the start of the season if the Government stick to their road map out of coronavirus restrictions. There will be 518 days between the first match of the league campaign and the last time that was the case – a harrowing 5-0 defeat on the road at Brentford.
The return of away days across the course of the League One season will bring some heavy travelling for Wednesdayites.
Those living in Sheffield committing to every away match will rack up a combined 5,772 road miles in return journeys – just shy of the distance between Sheffield and Tokyo, or – as per Google Maps – over 102 hours of travel at an average just shy of two and-a-half hours per one-way journey.
The longest journey will be their trip to Plymouth Argyle, which is 295 miles from Hillsborough and takes just shy of five hours on the road. The shortest, of course, is the trip to Rotherham United, which together with Doncaster Rovers is one of two trips less than an hour’s drive from HQ.
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Hide AdThere has been much made of the idea that this year’s third tier includes a number of so-called ‘big clubs’.
Including Wednesday there are seven clubs that have previously played in the Premier League – the others being Sunderland, Ipswich, Charlton, Bolton, Portsmouth and Wigan – a figure that has been bettered only twice in League One’s 17-year history. There were eight former Premier League sides in the 2015/16 season and last time out.
Despite the Owls’ off-field struggles of late, the bookies have them as 8/1 second favourites behind Sunderland to win the division, while you can get 8/11 on Wednesday making the playoffs.