Devoted Norwich City supporters will spend a total of £1.7m and rack up more than 6.7 million miles between them supporting Peter Grant's men on their travels this season.

Devoted Norwich City supporters will spend a total of £1.7m and rack up more than 6.7 million miles between them supporting Peter Grant's men on their travels this season.

The new boss might like the Proclaimers' tune I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles), but die-hard Canaries fans will each have travelled 3,865 miles getting to all 23 away games this season - the fifth longest combined trek in the Championship.

An impressive average of 1,742 supporters have made their way to away matches so far this season, one of the highest tallies in the division, journeying to far-flung destinations including Plymouth, Preston and Cardiff.

And if you calculate that tickets cost about £30, fans spend £3 on a programme and £10 on refreshments at the match, then those supporters splash out more than £1.7 million to follow their team.

Only fans of Plymouth (6,056 miles), Sunderland (5,114 miles), Cardiff (4,272 miles) and Southampton (3,865 miles) will have travelled further to back their team by the time the season comes to a close in May.

Followers of City's arch-rivals Ipswich will travel 3,728 miles, but with an average of just 884 miles their spending comes to less than £1.4 million.

Supporters of Birmingham have to travel the shortest distance - a mere 2,406 miles, followed by Coventry (2,436), Leicester (2,438) and Derby (2,526).

A spokesman for Norwich City said: “Our away support has rightly earned a reputation as being among the best in the country. When coupled with the long distances our fans have to travel, it makes our numbers at away grounds even more impressive. We know such support is hugely valued by the players and staff at Norwich City and we hope we can give them plenty of good results to cheer on the road this season.”

But those fans have some way to go to beat the distance covered by perhaps Norwich City's most unusual fan.

Hong Kong-based David Lee regularly travels 12,000 miles to watch his heroes play.

The 30-year-old City fanatic, who has followed the Canaries since he was seven, is back in England for a fortnight and went to the match against Cardiff last weekend.

Mr Lee became a Norwich fan because the club's canary badge reminded him of two lovebirds he had when he was young. He also took a fancy to the team's green and yellow colours.

His first match at Carrow Road was in 2003 when City lost 3-2 to Sheffield United and his favourite players since then have included Daryl Sutch, Gary Holt and current left back Adam Drury.

Earlier this week police praised Canaries fans for being among the best behaved in the country according to the number of arrests at Championship games involving the club.

You can read David Lee's Hong Kong Footy blog via the Pink 'Un website at www.pinkun.com

Have you got a quirky football story? Telephone Evening News reporter Dan Grimmer on 01603 772375 or e-mail dan.grimmer@archant.co.uk