Sue Harvey travelled more than 20,000 miles following Albion last season.

But the superfan from Aberdeen is just glad to see them at all after a few globetrotting years working abroad.

Sue, originally from Brighton, caught the football bug when her dad took her to the Goldstone to see Alan Mullery’s promotion chasers of the late 1970s.

She has followed their fortunes while living in Russia, Argentina and Algeria.

But her regular EasyJet flights south from her Scottish home put her top of the league when it comes to miles travelled following Chris Hughton’s high-flyers last season.

Albion sent out emails to season-ticket holders at the end of the season, thanking them for their support and telling them how far they travelled following their team.

In total, they covered 18 million miles watching the stripes in action. And Sue clocked up more miles than anyone with 20,272.

Sue said: “I’m from Brighton and my dad first took me to the Goldstone when I was 13. They are my team. I’ve been in Scotland on and off since 1988 because of my job connected to oil exploration.

“I’ve lived in Scotland and commuted to Russia at times in the past.”

That explains why being back in Aberdeen actually feels relatively local.

It leaves her within striking distance of Brighton, thanks to budget flights booked well in advance.

She said: “It’s a long way from Aberdeen but I get back to Brighton about midnight on a Friday. I’ll have breakfast at the Lawn Cafe in Hove, go to the Amex with my mum and a group of about eight of us will go to the game together in the West Upper.”

Tom Gorringe, the club’s head of marketing, said Albion were keen to thank supporters for their backing and thought telling them how many miles they had covered would show they are aware of the trouble and expense to which fans will go.

He said: “The thought process behind this email is simply to thank supporters for their incredible support.

“We all know football is not only an expensive hobby, it also requires a large time commitment and it is all the more important for us to ensure that we not only acknowledge their personal efforts but also thank them for their sacrifice.”

Albion use details on their data base to work out how far fans travel from their home address to games at the Amex at which they swiped their season cards. Ticket purchases and home addresses were used for away games.

That means even some fans who only attend home fixtures have a reading of several hundred miles.

Hughton has, on more than one occasion, referred to the fact Albion fans have to travel more miles than their counterparts around the division.

The figures on this page, provided by the Football League, underline his point. Their tally of 9,009 does not include cup and play-off trips to Hull, Sheffield, Walsall and Southend which took the total into five figures.

Albion fans travel far and wide to back their side and have done even in League Two days.

But the emails sent out by Gorringe’s department highlighted another aspect of long-distance support – those who go a long, long way to get to home matches.

He added: “We knew we had some supporters making trips from outside Sussex but from the other end of the country, or even Scotland, on a regular basis is a real testament to our incredible support.”

Next season’s longest trek in the Championship, measured stadium to stadium, will be the 690-mile round trip between the Amex and Newcastle United.

But that will be music to the ears of a group of West Lower season-ticket holders who came just below Sue in the long-distance league.

The Argus:

The Beales family - from left Brighton-based Colin and long distance fans Alex, Kevin and Joseph

Kevin Beales was told he put in 19,273 miles when he received his email from the club. He built up that total from his home in Morpeth along with sons Alex, ten, and Joseph, seven, while five-year-old Rowan is also now getting the bug. But they will have things easy for one game next term.

Kevin’s office overlooks St James’s Park, home of relegated Newcastle. He said: “I’ll look forward to that one – as long as we win.

“It will be tough if we get beaten. The boys get a lot of stick. Everyone here supports Newcastle United.

“But it was quite nice when we beat them twice in the FA Cup in recent years. It gave me a fighting chance with the boys that they would support Brighton.”

Kevin and Sue both reckon the fact they moved away from Brighton actually makes their allegiance to their hometown club stronger.

Although he left Brighton at the age of ten and grew up in Manchester, 40-year-old Kevin kept the faith and his dad still goes to away games.

Kevin moved to the North East when he signed for Sunderland – as their digital manager during the dotcom boom. His final tally last term was more like 25,000 miles when the pre-season trip to Geneva is thrown in.

The Beales meet up with Kevin’s brother Colin, a regular home and away fan, at the Amex. Colin, who lives in Brighton, would have done every game but for a delayed EasyJet flight when he was rushing back for the home game against Leeds.

By contrast, table-topping Sue has no complaints about the orange airline. Her beef is one which will have fans much closer to home nodding in agreement – the re-arrangement of matches for live coverage on TV.

She said: “I’ve missed home games which were changed by Sky.

“EasyJet are really good when you book in advance but sometimes the fixtures get moved afterwards.

“I still come down anyway to see my family but the whole point of the trip was really to get to the football.

“Ideally you have a fixture list at the start of the season and you stick to it. But I’ll definitely be travelling again next season.They are my team.”