'You try your best not to get dragged into it'

Former Everton defender Conor Coady said players will try to not let the club's 10-point deduction affect their performances on the pitch.

Coady spent last season on loan at Goodison Park and said players know it is best to focus on the football.

On whether the news was affecting players when he was at Everton, Coady told BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast: "It’s been going on for a while now.

"When the stories were coming out last year we were saying: 'I wonder what’s going to happen.' But you don’t really know the ins and outs of it as a player.

"You concentrate on your football, you concentrate on training, you concentrate on the manager. As a player, you try to just focus on what’s in front of you. There’s nothing really you can do with what goes on upstairs.

"The lads in the Everton dressing room will be the same now. They will looking at it saying: 'We’ve had a good start to the season. Whatever’s happening above our heads is happening. We can’t really affect that.'

"People upstairs at Everton will try to sort things out, but from a player point of view, you try your best not to get dragged into it as much as you can."

Hear more reaction to Everton's 10-point deduction on BBC Sounds