For many fans the traditional Boxing Day game is the pinnacle of the football calendar – but this year the Wanderers faithful will have to find something different to do.

As announced on Tuesday afternoon, the home game against Derby County has been picked for television coverage and moved to December 27 – bumping the following games at Lincoln and Barnsley on 24 hours.

For the first time since 1999/2000, Wanderers do not have a competitive fixture on Boxing Day or New Year’s Day, which has caused a ripple of consternation among supporters who had already planned their festive schedule ahead of time.

Realistically, clubs have little say over when games are selected or moved for television coverage.

They can object on safety grounds – for example if policing were a problem, or another large local event was taking place in the vicinity – but generally speaking those factors have already been taken into account when the games are picked.

Whether it leaves a bad taste in fans’ mouths or not, clubs in the EFL signed up to a broadcasting deal at the end of 2018 worth £595million, allowing Sky to broadcast live matches, and ultimately call the shots.

While there remains firm and widespread objection within EFL clubs about the way it is distributed, it is also correct to say that money gained from broadcasting rights in the Premier League has also trickled down, in one way or another.

Bolton’s appearances on TV have been relatively infrequent in recent years, their last coming in the Carabao Cup against top-flight opposition in Aston Villa. Their next against Derby will earn them in the region of £30,000, which will offset any drop in attendance.

The years spent in the backwaters of Leagues One and Two have at least spared supporters too many fixtures being rescheduled, with Saturday at 3pm cemented into the weekend schedule. If, as the club hope to do in the future, the Whites get into the Championship and possibly beyond, such inconveniences might well become more commonplace.

It is hard not to feel sympathy for the shift-workers who may well have built their Christmas schedule around the Bolton games, or those who had celebrations planned for a particular date – but, sadly, they are the footballing times in which we live.

Wanderers are no different to the other 72 clubs in the EFL who rely on the substantial broadcasting money and, as a result, dance to their tune.