The Premier League’s television paymasters, who plough billions into football, invariably get what they want. That is surely why the decision has been taken to schedule the Wolves-Chelsea match at Molineux stadium in the Midlands tomorrow, on Christmas Eve: so that it can be shown live on Sky Sports.

The Premier League has made ‘special provisions’ to play the game at 1 p.m. – rather than the typical later kick-off time on a Sunday. Ostensibly this has been done to ease travel for supporters, in particular, Chelsea fans trying to get back to London in time for Christmas. But the bigwigs behind these decisions really don’t get it, do they?

Without the support and goodwill of fans, football is rendered dull, meaningless and ultimately worthless

Holiday transport timetables are notoriously unpredictable, with frequent train delays and cancellations at short notice. Fan groups were understandably incensed when details of the scheduling change became public in October. The Football Supporters’ Association (FSA) described it as ‘a new low point in putting the interests of football broadcasters over those of match going fans’. The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust (CST) was equally blunt, calling on the league to reverse the ‘totally unacceptable’ decision. Wolves supporters were just as swift to condemn the timing of the match. But their collective outrage has fallen on deaf ears. Is anyone surprised?

This is the first fixture staged by the Premier League on Christmas Eve since 1995, when Leeds beat Manchester United 3-1. The possibility of a game being played on 24 December was last mooted in 2017 but abandoned after a backlash from fan groups. This time, football’s TV gods were not to be put off, protests or not.

The power of sports broadcasters to pick and choose the timing of fixtures has become an integral part of the modern game. Moving a match to suit their schedules is a brute demonstration of their financial power and clout. There was a live Premier League game on 22 December, two live games today, and then three games on Boxing Day. It means that there will be just two days out of 13 without a televised game from 21 December through to 2 January. The two days when games won’t be shown are Christmas Day itself and 29 December.

Did the broadcasters really need to add one more live game on Christmas Eve, especially when it falls on a Sunday this year? They appear blind to anyone’s interests but their own, and certainly don’t seem to give a hoot about the fans or the wider good of the game.

It has come to this because televised football is now an arena in which only big money talks. The owners of the Premier League clubs must take their share of the blame for the present situation. They have allowed TV broadcasters untrammelled power over the fixtures schedule because of the astronomical sums of money they are willing to plough into the game. The club owners see only the pound signs.

It is a vicious cycle that gets worse with every new TV deal: the clubs must pay more and more in transfer fees and salaries to attract the best players. In turn, their owners become more desperate for the TV revenue that fuels this spending. At the bottom of the food chain are the long-suffering fans who pay the price in eye-watering match-day ticket prices and travel, or in higher TV subscription charges if they want to watch the games at home.

It is only going to get worse. The new Premier League TV rights deal, which takes effect from the 2025/26 season, is worth a staggering £6.7 billion, with broadcasters paying over £1.5 billion more than the previous deal. The only way to recoup that kind of outlay is to show more and more games on TV: basically, football all year round.

Are televised live matches on Christmas Day itself out of the question? No one should bet against it. The sports broadcasters want to exploit the golden goose of televised football for every ounce of commercial value because they’ve paid so much to acquire the rights. Yet they appear oblivious to the possibility that, by doing so, they may end up devaluing the product itself. Sometimes less really is more.

It is also never clever to treat football fans with such blatant contempt by scheduling matches at the worst possible time, such as Christmas Eve. The TV execs playing with fire: without the support and goodwill of fans, football is rendered dull, meaningless and ultimately worthless.