Many Irish people who moved to Britain to find work in the second half of the last century became enthusiastic followers of their 'local' clubs.

The success of Irish players generated additional interest. During the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s in particular there was great pride in the exploits of top players such as John Giles, Liam Brady, David O'Leary, Mark Lawrenson, Frank Stapleton, Kevin Moran and Ronnie Whelan.

Indeed, at one time there was a strong core of Irish players at most of the top teams, with clubs such as Arsenal and Liverpool regularly fielding several Irish internationals. The glory days of Giles, Brady, Whelan and Roy Keane may be over, but a crop of young talents in the shape of Kevin Doyle, Steven Hunt and Robbie Keane are wowing a new generation.

As John Downey of Celtic Horizon Tours explained, people travel to games for a wider variety of reasons.

"We see a lot of parents bringing their kids over, perhaps as a birthday or Christmas present. Most kids are football-mad and they may have been asking their parents to take them to a game for some time, so it is unusual for us to run a trip where there are no kids."

"There are girlfriends/wives who buy packages as a gift to their boyfriends/husbands. Then you have fans who have supported a particular team for years but have never seen them play before, while others are more interested in the whole experience and don't mind which team they see. It is not unusual for the really committed fans to go over several times a year."

The most popular destinations are pretty predictable . . . Manchester and Liverpool . . . but Celtic Horizon Tours offers packages to see the leading London teams (Arsenal and Chelsea) and regularly brings fans over to a host of other clubs.

Trips to Barcelona and Madrid are also available and the company is in the process of expanding its offering to include the German and Italian leagues.

"We have been running Spanish weekends for about four years now and they are very much in demand because people can visit the city, take in the sights and combine this with a match."

However, the less exotic destination of Sunderland will be the focus of many Irish travelers this year.

With the club under Irish ownership and run by an Irish chairman in the shape of Niall Quinn, the presence of midfield legend Roy Keane as manager is just one of the reasons why so many Irish people will be spending their Saturday nights wondering around the north east of England next season.

John Downey confirmed that he had received many enquiries about Sunderland and the fact that the company was involved with the clubs tour of Ireland has just added to the interest levels.

"Even some of Sunderland's away games have generated a lot of interest already."

There is enthusiasm for formerly successful clubs who have fallen on hard times, such as Leeds United, which he puts down to the loyalty of the Irish football follower. "Irish football fans are not a fickle bunch and the team is always more important than the player . . . for example, if Wayne Rooney left United people would still want to go to Old Trafford. And they are often interested in visiting the club's trophy room and finding out a bit more about its history, so we make sure they have time to do all this before the game starts."

Naturally, fans from this part of the world want to see their fellow Irishmen doing well, although with the influx of high profile overseas players to the Premiership there is a lot of interest in names such as Drogba, Ronaldo, Berbatov and Torres.

"There was a lot of publicity around Reading last season because of the Irish lads in the team" John added.

"There is a tradition of following clubs with Irish players, but now the hype around the best foreign players is a major attraction in itself."

Celtic Horizon Tours also brings school parties and youth teams to England, where they can combine a match with a trip to a major attraction such as Alton Towers. Some youth teams in Ireland also have various exciting opportunities to use the academy facilities of the professional clubs.