Ian Evatt will ensure his players and staff are given an opportunity to watch Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral on Monday.

The Wanderers boss is looking to reschedule training times on the Bank Holiday to ensure it does not clash with the service, which is expected to start at 11am.

Evatt admits he would have liked to see football continue at the weekend, with the whole league schedule, including Bolton’s game at Cheltenham Town, postponed as a mark of respect.

Black armbands will be worn and a silence observed before Tuesday night’s game at MK Dons, which was given the official go-ahead by the EFL earlier today.

Evatt feels it only right that everyone at the club is given time on Monday.

“Everything I am hearing is that Saturday’s game will go ahead, and we will prepare as normal,” he said. “But we are already thinking about how we structure training on Monday because I do think it is important that we all watch that funeral and pay our respects.

“Whether you like the monarchy or not, you cannot help but respect what service she gave to this country and the Commonwealth in general.

“Anyone who has watched The Crown will know that however wealthy these people are, and there are lots of bonuses, there is a huge sacrifice as well.

“To do what she did, she is owed a lot of respect.”

Evatt had expected postponements at the weekend but felt the impact of the FA, Premier League and EFL halting the whole football fixture list was negated when other sports had opted to continue, and pay their own form of tribute before events.

“Immediately my first thought was off the back of how sad it all is, was that I thought it would be postponed so we prepared for that. I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer and I think it was a really difficult decision for the authorities,” he said.

“What I would have liked to have probably happened is either all sports are in or they’re not and either way, I think with the cricket and the Formula 1 over the weekend, it was a brilliant opportunity to pay their respects to the Queen and what she did for this country.

“I’m not upset with the decision at all. In my opinion, it’s probably the right one, but it would have also been nice to publicly everybody show their appreciation for someone that served our country so well.”

The prospect of a rescheduled midweek game at Cheltenham further down the line is not a major concern for the Bolton boss, who has seen his fair share of disruptions during two years at the club.

“It is par for the course and we all know it will happen at some stage of the season,” he said.

“We had a pandemic, we have lost a Queen, things happen in life that cause disruption. It is about how you adapt and overcome.

“It gave us an opportunity to bed down some work on the training ground and hopefully that will come to fruition on Tuesday night now.”