Barry Bannan says Sheffield Wednesday players feel closer to fans during Dejphon Chansiri-led financial crisis

The Owls captain says the return of competitive football has been a bit of a distraction from a summer of turmoil for the players, and allowed them to feel the love of their fans.

They have played four matches so far this season, just one of them at Hillsborough. There have been two losses and two draws, knocking Bolton Wanderers out of the League Cup on penalties.

But there has also been a huge amount of spirit on show from a squad ravaged by departures amid unpaid wages and fire sales as chairman/owner Dejphon Chansiri clings to power against the wishes of the club's fans, as well as injuries.

They took the lead against all odds at Leicester City, and were only beaten in the final minutes after Bannan had been sent off. Three times they took the lead at Bolton, only to be pegged back.

And at Wrexham on Saturday they came from 2-0 down at half-time to claim their first point of the season. Bannan, who scored their first goal in north Wales, thinks those in the away end played an important part in that.

"Especially the away games have been unbelievable," Bannan told TalkSport. "We've really felt their support.

"Probably last season if we'd gone 2-0 down away it wouldn't have been applause we were getting, I'm sure it would have been different.

"This season is going a bit different and when we walked off at half-time they were still right behind us and trying to galvanise us. We're very thankful and very aware of that.

"If it has done something good, it has brought us and the fans closer together."

With the Sheffield Wednesday Supporters Trust encouraging a boycott of Tuesday's League Cup second-round game at home to Leeds United, a strange atmosphere could be in prospect, but Bannan says another high-profile match to look forward to is helping the group mentally.

"In pre-season it was hard with everything that was going on," admitted Bannan, who took a big pay cut to sign a new contract in August after his previous deal expired at the end of June. "We didn't have many friendlies.

"As soon as that season starts you know the buzz you get from proper fixtures. It kind of takes all the noise away and you can concentrate on playing football again and being a footballer.

"I'm just glad the season has started, as are the rest of the lads.

"You hear a lot of noise going around on social media but that's all as players we have seen - what everybody else is seeing. We're just going in and doing our job, which is to try and get results for the football club."