Albion will have to go the extra mile to be promoted from the Championship next season.

Or, to be precise, another 122 miles.

And almost twice as far as newcomers Aston Villa.

Chris Hughton's Seagulls will again have to cope with a significant geographical disadvantage compared to their 23 rivals.

The club reduced travel fatigue for the players this season by chartering a plane for long journeys.

They spent most of the campaign in the sky in the unforgiving second tier.

Next season Burnley, Middlesbrough, Hull, Bolton, MK Dons and Charlton are replaced by Norwich, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Burton, Wigan and Barnsley.

That equates to an additional 122 miles, promoted Barnsley's play-off final victory over Millwall wrecking a degree of respite.

Albion, in total, will have to travel nearly 9,000 miles, the average round-trip for away journeys amounting to almost 390 miles.

The shortest is Fulham (120), the longest Newcastle (692), with lots of treks in-between to the Midlands, Yorkshire and Lancashire.

It would have been much less exhausting for the Seagulls in the Premier League.

Four fewer away games and the multitude of top flight clubs in and around London would have resulted in an aggregate travel cut of over 1,600 miles.

Making sure his players are not drained just getting to and from matches, yet alone playing in the high-octane Championship, will be far less of a concern for new Villa manager Roberto Di Matteo (below) than it is for Hughton.

The Argus: Roberto di MatteoVilla, from their central base in Birmingham, will be travelling just over 4,750 miles, an average hop of around 100 miles each way.

They only face two journeys of more than 300 miles, Newcastle (410) and the Amex (354).

Albion's Championship Trips Table (Miles)

Newcastle: 692

Blackburn: 568

Preston: 562

Huddersfield: 550

Leeds: 528

Wigan: 526

Barnsley: 478

Sheffield Wednesday: 462

Rotherham: 452

Cardiff: 400

Burton: 390

Wolves: 386

Derby: 380

Nottingham Forest: 378

Aston Villa: 350

Bristol City: 340

Birmingham: 336

Norwich: 336

Ipswich: 252

Reading: 180

QPR: 125

Brentford: 125

Fulham: 120

Total: 8,916 * Source Google Maps