When Sheffield Wednesday will hear Marvin Johnson fate after ban appeal – and how long he could miss if guilty

The wide man bagged yet another assist in the match to take his tally of goal contributions this season to 10 – three goals and seven assists – across all competitions. Barry Bannan is the only Wednesday player to have done that in the last two campaigns.

It came at the end of a week in which it was confirmed by way of FA statement that he had effectively been ‘cited’ for an incident during the Owls’ 2-2 draw at Ipswich Town.

So what happened and how come the FA have come back to this retrospectively?

The ‘improper and/or violent conduct’ charge claims Johnson elbowed Tractor Boys winger Wes Burns – an incident that saw the officials award Ipswich a first half penalty but left Johnson unpunished live, with Wednesday forward Josh Windass later claiming the officials had said they had seen the incident but couldn’t confirm which Wednesday player was involved.

As per the FA website: “In order for The FA to take retrospective action it must first establish from the match officials whether the incident was ‘not seen’. If they confirm they did see it then in almost all cases no further action is taken.”

Vitally though, it also says retrospective action “can be applied if an act of violent conduct or serious foul play occurred secondary to the challenge or if the match officials’ view of the specific misconduct was unclear.”

When will they find out whether Johnson has been found guilty – and which matches will he miss if so?

Wednesday swiftly appealed the ban and await Johnson’s fate – it is understood the club expect a verdict early this week.

Should Johnson be found guilty the length of any potential ban is up to the FA within reason, though there is a pretty clear precedent set on elbowing incidents, with Bolton Wanderers’ Dapo Afolayan and Lincoln City’s Lewis Montsma both having faced three-match bans for similarly-described incidents in recent weeks.

If found guilty, the ban would likely come into action immediately and Johnson would miss Saturday’s trip to Charlton Athletic. In the event of a three-match ban, he would also miss matches against play-off outliers Peterborough United (home) and Portsmouth (away).

What’s been said?

An FA statement circulated on Thursday read: “Sheffield Wednesday’s Marvin Johnson has been charged following an incident in their EFL League One game against Ipswich Town on Saturday 11 February.

“It’s alleged that the forward’s conduct during the 16th minute was improper and/or violent, and he has until Monday 20 February to provide a response.”

Aside from confirming that the charge has been appealed, Wednesday have effectively chosen not to comment on the matter while proceedings are in action.

“My take at the moment is to not really give any comment,” Owls boss Darren Moore told The Star on Friday ahead of the MK Dons game.

“We as a football club are dealing with it internally and until that investigation is submitted and has come through I can't really comment more on it.

“At the moment though I'm going to stay tight-lipped and offer no comment until the investigation has been done with.”

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