Sheffield Wednesday among the early season bad boys in League One fair play table

After eight matches in the very early stages of this campaign, the Owls sit second bottom of the third tier fair play table with only Cheltenham Town beneath them, having racked up two red cards and 15 yellow cards in their eight league matches.

Lee Gregory was sent off for two bookable offences on the first day of the season draw at home to Portsmouth, while Reece James’ mistimed tackle in the defeat at Peterborough United saw him shown a straight red card.

The fair play table is made up of a running score depending on how many cards a side picks up across the course of a season. A yellow card tallies one point, a red card by virtue of two yellows earns three points and a straight red card five points.

Last season Wednesday finished 10th in the fair play table. They tallied a total of 87 penalty points, courtesy of 82 yellow cards and a single red card – a straight red awarded to Massimo Luongo in a goalless draw at Portsmouth many believed to be harsh.

In line with a PGMOL policy shift to reduce the stop-start nature of matches, the stringency of refereeing this season has dropped at a remarkable rate, with 334 cards having been dished out across League One so far this season, including 15 reds.

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As per renowned football statistics website Transfermarkt, League One referees are handing out cards at a rate of 0.64 per match, compared with 2.72 per match last time out.