AS IF Burnley needed a stark reminder of the hard slog of the Championship, it jumped out of the fixture list like a frog high on adrenaline.

August 18, 2015. Ipswich away. Tuesday night, 7.45pm.

A 10-hour round trip of 508 miles (or 540 depending on which route you take) – door to door – makes up more than a quarter of the total distance the Clarets will travel this season in midweek.

With games at Nottingham Forest, Middlesbrough, MK Dons and Fulham also earmarked for Tuesday nights Burnley will be clocking up about 1,850 miles, and that is before you take into account the Capital One Cup first round trip to Port Vale, or any changes which might be made to the original schedule due to broadcasting purposes.

Burnley are not on their own in clocking up the mileage. Cardiff, with six midweek away games all in excess of a 300-mile round trip, will go the furthest distance, closely followed by Brighton. Burnley fall almost midway down the order.

In a division with clubs located in most English counties only Midlands clubs Birmingham and Wolverhampton Wanderers get off relatively lightly.

Staffordshire-based Super-fan Dave Burnley, who changed his name by deed poll and has missed just one competitive Clarets game in more than 46 years, says it is not just the players who will be putting in the hard yards. He admits it does take its toll, both physically and financially, for supporters too.

“To be honest, the Premier League was probably the easiest season I’ve had for travelling and even for cost because tickets are subsidised to a large degree and there were only three night matches all season and six breaks for internationals,” he said.

“But now we are back to reality, with eight additional fixtures.

“Playing fewer games saved me about £500 last year. But at least the first round of the Capital One Cup is like a home game for me, at Port Vale.

“Ipswich will be a two-day stay though, while it looks like I’ll be spending Christmas in Hull because there won’t be any public transport.

“It is a tricky set of fixtures to negotiate.”

Alan Beacroft of Colne Clarets isaid he was disappointed with the amount of midweek travelling.

“It never used to be this bad,” he said.

“I half expected Ipswich away to be midweek, but with all the teams in the north of England it just shouldn’t happen.

“It’s not rocket science."