"It's one for the chairman" - Sheffield Wednesday players are refusing to use EFL charge saga as an excuse

The club’s arbitration case against the EFL – which centres on the their insistence that they have evidence that proves the authority’s charge is ‘unlawful’ – is still ongoing, The Star understands, with no set time frame on when a decision will be reached.

The failure of that counter-claim would see the EFL’s misconduct charge against Wednesday heard by an independent disciplinary panel, with a points deduction to be expected in the event of a guilty verdict.

An injury time Scott Hogan equaliser denied the Owls only their second league win since Boxing Day at St Andrews, but midfield pair Barry Bannan and Joey Pelupessy have denied any distraction from above.

Dutchman Pelupessy, who has started five of their last six matches, said: “I don't think about it much to be honest. These are things you cannot control as a group.

“They speak a lot about the club, they write a lot about the team, on social media and so on. It's hard to control as a player or as a group, but we don't want to read too much into it, we need to focus on the pitch.

“For us it's about results, that's more important. We need to see what happens in the future but as a player you cannot concentrate on these things.”

And Bannan, who turned in a man of the match performance in the Birmingham clash, said: “Our job is to go out and play football. That [the EFL charge] is nothing to do with us.

“Obviously you see people speaking about it, but it is what it is. Teams have had it before - if it does come then it's up to us to put ourselves in a position to not be affected by it.

“We've not really spoken about it to be honest. That's for the chairman. As a team and a manager and everyone in the training ground it's not been touched on.”