NO EASY ANSWER TO THESE LONG MIDWEEK TRIPS

CALL me an old football romantic, but there’s something about the sight of football fans at motorway service stations that warms my soul.

At midnight on Tuesday, I queued for a coffee among Norwich City fans at Leicester Forest East on the M1.

I was heading home from Grimsby while they were embarking on the return journey from a 1-0 defeat at Forest.

I often scour Clapham Junction Station on match days picking out replica shirts and wondering where they’re all heading.

In the last two weeks, I’ve seen Portsmouth fans shivering on the seafront in Blackpool and Swindon supporters sheltering in the chippies of Cleethorpes.

In the lead-up to his fixture at Grimsby, Swindon boss David Flitcroft had questioned the logic behind his side’s midweek trip to Lincolnshire.

He pointed to the extra cost of travel, hotels and, of course, the added tiredness his team would encounter as a result.

I'm sure he was extending his sympathies to the travelling supporters when he made his way over to the away end prior to kick-off.

Having experienced many of these away days as a player, it can have a negative effect on the following performances.

If the team is returning home at 3am, the following day is a write-off. Thursday will be a recovery day, Friday a tactical session and, before you know it, the referee’s whistle is being blown again on Saturday.

If it's problematic for clubs and arduous for supporters then surely there’s a solution.

EFL chief executive Shaun Harvey explained recently the need to schedule local games for Saturday afternoons to encourage bigger attendances and, therefore, greater income.

I can see the difficulty in keeping everyone happy. After discussing it with my travel companion on Tuesday, how about the furthest away tripsbeing played in August or at the tail end of the season?

There’d be a better chance of a stick of rock in the sunshine.

To help teams prepare better, how about a pot of money to help pay for overnight stays if a long midweek jaunt is unavoidable? I'm not sure there’s an answer and I don’t think you'll ever please everyone, but one thing’s certain: you’ll never see a Saturday when there’s not hordes of journeying football fans at motorway services.