International pre-season tours are not really about preparing the side for the season ahead. Indeed, all the travelling may fatigue the team and being in different climates may not help that much either.
It’s really about marketing, increasing the global profile of the team and creating new opportunities to sell merchandise.
Which team is going to rack up the most air miles this summer? The magazine Four Four Two has provided the answers. Manchester City are way ahead by 39,223 miles on a trip that takes them to Toronto, Houston and Melbourne.
International pre-season tours are not really about preparing the side for the season ahead. Indeed, all the travelling may fatigue the team and being in different climates may not help that much either.
It’s really about marketing, increasing the global profile of the team and creating new opportunities to sell merchandise.
Which team is going to rack up the most air miles this summer? The magazine Four Four Two has provided the answers. Manchester City are way ahead by 39,223 miles on a trip that takes them to Toronto, Houston and Melbourne.
Going down under is clearly the key to success in this particular competition with Spurs coming second with 28,997. Their tour takes in Sydney. Chelsea also make it there as well as to Thailand and the States, but only rack up 28,196 miles in third place. Then come Liverpool who visit Brisbane as well as a number of Asian destinations.
At the other end of the spectrum, West Ham United travel 284 miles on the team bus, their furthest destination being Norwich. One imagines that once they move into the Olympic Stadium, they will be more ambitious.
Norwich visit some of the least exotic destinations in Gorleston, Hitchin, Cambridge and Lincoln, Newcastle United book end a trip to the States with visits to Gateshead and York. Walsall entertain both Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion. Southampton are the only club to undertake a tour purely on the near continent which enables them to play five clubs while travelling just 1,626 miles.