Manchester City and Plymouth Argyle the biggest spending fans over the festive period

Plymouth fans will spend a total of 26 hours travelling to and from games

Wednesday 20 December 2017 14:01 GMT
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Plymouth fans will pay more and travel for longer than 24 hours to follow their side over the Christmas period than supporters of any other league team, according to a new survey.

Argyle supporters will have to fork out a total of £468.43 to follow their team in the League One fixtures at MK Dons on Boxing Day and Blackpool on December 30 – a total of 26 hours travel time – research carried out by the Football Supporters' Federation (FSF) in association with Virgin Media has revealed.

The analysis includes the costs of tickets, travel and food incurred by fans for the games played over the nine days between Boxing Day and January 4.

Pilgrims fans will also travel further than any other, covering 1,096 miles to attend the two away matches.

Manchester City fans will have to spend the most of any supporters of Premier League clubs, with £383.63 the cost of attending their matches at Newcastle and Crystal Palace.

The average cost for a Premier League fan will be £182.08, with Chelsea fans having to hand over the least money - £54.63 to watch their team at Arsenal on January 3.

Supporters across the leagues will have to fork out an average of £171.37.

Morecambe fans have got the best financial deal of all 92 clubs over the festive period, with £42.89 the cost of going to their League Two game at Accrington. Chelsea fans will have the least furthest to travel of all 92 league clubs - 20 miles.

The average Premier League fan will travel 372.06 miles, with Brighton supporters having to go further than any other top-flight team, 816 miles to Chelsea and Newcastle.

In terms of the cost of tickets themselves, Nottingham Forest fans will be the hardest hit, with the price of their tickets for the Championship match at Leeds £42. League One Rochdale fans will get the best deal, with their tickets at Doncaster costing £10.

Kevin Miles, chief executive of the FSF, said: "Despite money being tight around this time of year, supporters will be travelling up and down the country over Christmas and new year to back their teams in remarkable numbers once again.

"Away fans are a huge part of our match-going tradition and that shouldn't be taken for granted, so clubs and sponsors can and should do more in making football as affordable as possible."

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