Oldham Athletic are preparing to go the distance, in more ways than one.

Latics are looking to win promotion back to the Football League at the third attempt in the 2024/25 campaign. And they will clock up the miles in the process.

Of their 24 away games, there are 11 round trips that will be in excess of 400 miles, door to door, with Aldershot, Barnet, Braintree and Ebbsfleet among them.

Latics' furthest journey will be to Southend United, some 246 miles away.

It is where Oldham started the last campaign, but that was an August afternoon to forget as they were thrashed 4-0 by the Shrimpers and effectively set the tone for the rest of the season.

The shortest journey made from Boundary Park will be the six-mile hop to Rochdale's Crown Oil Arena. Altrincham and Halifax are the joint second nearest opponents - both just 23 miles away, albeit in different directions.

In total, Latics will travel 7,170 miles in the new National League season.

As well as checking the map for directions, the make-up of the league has been mapped out as well, with Sutton United returning to the fifth tier three years after winning promotion to the Football League for the first time in the club's history.

It was during that 2021/22 that the two teams first met, with Latics winning the August fixture at Sutton's Borough Sports Ground, 2-1, before losing the return fixture the following March.

It will be a first for the club when they face both newly promoted Braintree and Tamworth, as Latics have never played against either club before.

Fellow National League newcomers Boston are another team that Oldham have never faced in the league, however, there was a FA Cup meeting between the teams in November 1952, with Latics recording a 2-1 away win.

Micky Mellon's men will be hoping for a club first from their games against Forest Green Rovers, who were relegated from League Two last season with - like Sutton - 42 points from their 46 games.

For while there have been eight league meetings between them and the Gloucestershire club, Latics have never beaten the Green Devils, with four defeats and four draws, the last of which was a 10-goal thriller at Boundary Park in December 2021.

Forest Green are back in the National League for the first time since beating Tranmere Rovers, then managed by Mellon, in the 2017 play-off final at Wembley to earn a place in the Football League.

They went on to be crowned League Two champions on the final day of the 2021/22 season.

Despite getting off to a winning start in League One, 2-1 away to Bristol Rovers, they only managed another five league wins and lasted just one season at that level.

And the downward spiral continued as they suffered back to back relegations. Former Burnley, Portsmouth and Shrewsbury boss Steve Cotterill rallied the troops after his appointment in late January, on the back of an ill-fated month-long spell in charge for ex-Watford striker Troy Deeney, but the damage had been done in the first half of the season.

Latics will also have a reunion with Yeovil next season after they bounced back at the first attempt following relegation to National League South.

They did the double over the Glovers during the 2022/23 season, winning 2-0 at Boundary Park in October and 3-0 at Huish Park the following April, after Yeovil's relegation had been confirmed a game earlier with a 3-0 defeat at Wrexham.

Oldham Athletic will next month find out where they are going and when during the 2024/25 season.

July 10 is the date set for the National League fixtures being released.

Festive fixtures will take place on Saturday 21 December, with Boxing Day fixtures being played as normal.

Fixtures will also be scheduled on New Year’s Day, which falls on a Wednesday, with clubs able to switch to New Year’s Eve if both clubs reach an agreement to do so.

Traditionally, clubs have faced the same opposition in Christmas and New Year games. However, after a survey of member clubs, the National League board has agreed that this process will now be changed, with the Boxing Day and Good Friday games becoming reverse fixtures, along with New Year's Day and Easter Monday games, to avoid teams playing the same opponents so close together.