When Colchester United pulled off the Great Escape in League One with a last day home victory over Preston at the end of the 2014-15 season, the majority of Gillingham fans breathed a collective sigh of relief.
We would have at least two local games to look forward to next season, in a division already stacked to the brim with clubs from the North. Millwall’s relegation from the Championship a week earlier had confirmed we would have at least one.
During the 2014-15 campaign, League One wasn’t exactly blessed with Southern-based clubs, but the loss of promoted Bristol City and relegated Yeovil Town from the South-West (not exactly that close to Kent either, I know) and relegated Leyton Orient and Crawley Town didn’t help matters.
They’ve been replaced by Wigan Athletic, Blackpool (dropped out of the Championship), Burton Albion, Shrewsbury Town and Bury (promoted from League Two) respectively and suddenly the distances we would have to travel throughout the 2015-16 season had mounted up considerably.
Southend United’s dramatic League Two play-off final penalty shoot-out victory against Wycombe and Swindon Town’s mauling at the hands of Preston in the League One play-off final were also celebrated by the Gills support, but that still leaves the third tier with 19 Northern- based clubs and 5 from the South.
Trips to Fleetwood Town, Wigan Athletic, Blackpool, Bury, Rochdale and Oldham Athletic will see us clock up just short of 3,200 miles, with visits to Crewe, Port Vale, Bradford City, Sheffield United, Doncaster Rovers, Barnsley and Scunthorpe United adding another 2,900 miles to that total.
1,780 miles will also be covered when we visit Shrewsbury Town, Chesterfield, Burton Albion, Walsall and Coventry City; five more clubs where a 300-mile round trip from Gillingham is required. 
The 224-mile round trip to Peterborough suddenly seems fairly close after all that lot!
When all the total mileage is added up, if a Gillingham fan attends all 23 away games and lives in Gillingham, they will travel just short of 8,700 miles over the course of the league season. That’s the equivalent of a round trip from Gillingham to… Qatar.
Good preparation for any one of us mad enough to consider a trip to the World Cup in 2022 at the very least I suppose.
Now that the days of Division Three North and South are consigned to the history books, the geographical make up of any division can be made up of any number of clubs from any particular region. League One just happens to be stacked full of Northern- based clubs right now.
When the Gills were promoted from League Two in May 2009, we had it good in League One with 16 (including us) out of 24 clubs plying their trade the following season being south of the Midlands.
However, given that we went that whole League One campaign without winning on the road and went straight back down the following May, maybe we should thank our lucky stars all the Southern-based clubs are playing their football elsewhere next season.
The 2015-16 season is certainly going to test the stamina and loyalty of our hardcore support, especially those long midweek fixtures. But as our away day song goes, “From Carlisle to Lille, we’re going to follow the Gills, we’ll follow wherever you go”, you can be assured we will living up to our travelling folk nickname.
by Daniel Storey
Daniel Storey is editor of Gills Fansonline (http://fansonline.net/gillingham/index.php)
