Sean Dyche has revealed Everton still hope to hear the result of their points deduction appeal before the end of February.
An independent commission imposed a 10-point penalty on the club in November for breaching the Premier League’s financial regulations.
Goodison Park chiefs appealed the ruling, which has kept them in this season’s relegation battle, ahead of an expected outcome in mid-February.
Dyche admitted on Thursday that timeline has slightly shifted but the Blues are still working on the understanding of receiving a response this month.
He said: “The guidelines that [the media] suggest, and we suggest, have been around the end of the month.
“It’s in the hands of the powers that be and it’s an ongoing process as far as I know.
“We don’t know if that 10 points is fact still. It would be helpful to know sooner rather than later.
“I don’t know the legal process, the timescales and why it takes so long, so we just have to wait and see.”
Everton currently sit 17th in the table, a place ahead of Luton on goal difference, but would be in 12th position if the full deduction was overturned.
And Dyche conceded that the original punishment and prolonged wait to hear about their appeal is having a detrimental effect on his first-team players.
“They take those 10 points off immediately, so you keep looking at that table and you keep getting asked about being in the bottom three, four, five,” he added.
“They don’t leave you up there, so how do we know how that affects the psychology?
“It changes the perception, it changes the feel, it changes the fan base, it changes the feel of performances. That’s just a fact.
“We all measure it differently when the team are there, top, middle or bottom.
“Does that affect the team whilst the process is going? At first everyone says obviously not because you win four.
“But you could argue there is a delayed effect.”