Sheffield Steelers: Brandon Whistle draws attention to the plight of players at former club

The Great Britain international tweeted a post after one of his old clubs, Leeds Knights, confirmed that import forward Bailey Conger had left the squad.

Conger told the Banners on The Wall website that, after five NIHL matches, he was returning to his home in America.

"Unfortunately I also remain currently unpaid for my time with the Knights. I would like to thank the Knights fans for the tons of messages that I have received" claimed the forward who had chalked up six goals and as many assists in nine games for the West Yorkshire side.

The 26-year-old ex-Kansas City Mavericks star had only arrived in the UK in mid-November to replace another import.

The Banners on The Wall platform claimed they had seen evidence to support a lack of payment to the skater and that they had been told by the club there would be no specific comment at this time.

Their post was read more than 62,000 times.

Sheffield's Whistle, who played 29 games for Leeds before moving to the EIHL neighbours in the 2021-22 campaign posted: "Unfortunately not the first time something like this has happened" in response to the situation.

The Star has also reached out to Knights for a comment.

Their only public statement so far, on X (formerly Twitter), read: "We can confirm that Bailey Conger has made the decision to leave the team with immediate effect after notifying the club yesterday morning via text."

Another former Steeler Anthony DeLuca recently made claims on a podcast that he had not been paid up completely after his time with Manchester Storm, but that was comprehensively denied by its management.

Meanwhile, champions Belfast Giants' hopes of retaining the Elite League title stalled on Thursday when they were shut out 0-1 at home to Glasgow Clan in front of a sell-out 7,274 crowd

They are in third place, eight points behind Steelers, who have three games in hand over them. Second-place Cardiff Devils are four points adrift of Sheffield, having played two more games.

Meanwhile Sheffield Steeldogs, now owned by Steelers, say Jason Hewitt has stepped down as head coach of the iceSheffield organisation due to "personal circumstances".

Barnsley born Stevie Weeks will take over coaching until the end of the season.Hewitt is third in all-time appearances for Steelers, with 698 outings.