George Byers says Sheffield Wednesday focused on football despite off-field distractions

It started with a transfer embargo enforced on Friday because the Championship club had not paid their HMRC bill on time.

That was followed by Sunday's hugely positive performance which brought the Owls their first win of the season – a 2-0 victory over Rotherham United which midfielder Byers played an important part in.

In an interview published on Tuesday morning, chairman/owner Dejphon Chansiri appealed for supporters to club together loan him £2m, saying that without it, cashflow problems meant he could not pay HMRC or the players' wages later that day.

Despite no formal mechanism for collecting donations, Chansiri was in a position to pay all players and staff in full and on time by the end of the working day.

And on Wednesday, Chansiri said the HMRC debt had been cleared too, although as of Thursday morning they were still listed as being under being embargo.

The excuses about distractions are all there for players who need to build on Sunday's victory as they remain bottom of the table but coud move up two places this weekend depending on results.

Midfielder Byers says their professionalism means they have not been sidetracked from the job in hand.

“To be honest, as players we’ve got our responsibilities to concentrate on what happens on the pitch and what we can control - and that’s what we’ve done this week," he said. "There have been no distractions in that sense, especially with the weekend’s win and the positive vibes in the changing room. We’ve been focusing on the build-up to this weekend’s game, which is another important one for us.

“We’re professionals and things like this happen, and sometimes it gets out. But as I said, we’re solely focused on what we can control, and that’s the day to day on the training pitch. So leading up to this game, that’s all we’ve been focused on.”