Barry Bannan has questioned Sheffield Wednesday’s stance on their worrying contract situation.
Sheffield Wednesday‘s main focus right now is staying in the Championship – with only six games to go and two points to make up if they are to climb to safety.
The Owls have been in a ‘relegation battle’ for most of the campaign though and are yet to have a good go at making their way up the table.
With the club’s minds occupied with the mission ahead of them, this has left many player’s futures at the club in huge doubt.
There are currently eleven players whose contracts are set to expire at the end of the season, but Danny Rohl has already made it clear that he wants his team to focus on their football rather than discussing new deals.
Earlier this week, the German coach said: ““There are two things. Behind the scenes we are looking and considering what we can do. The key point at the moment, we are not in the situation where we know exactly where we will be next season. This makes things difficult.
“It means we prepare two shadow squads. We have one for ‘this’ and one for ‘this’. This is our job and we must do this. Hopefully we can come over the line as soon as possible and then we can make contracts and get them done immediately. This is the challenge. We have something in our mind, I always speak with Kevin (Beadell, head of recruitment). We will have some big meetings in the following weeks and we will look at what we can do.”
The contract situation is ‘difficult’ for Sheffield Wednesday
This has left some key players’ futures completely up in the air, and Barry Bannan has now questioned the negative effect that can have on the team’s performance.
Speaking in his press conference today (as per The Star), the Owls captain said: “Listen, we’re humans. People are different. It [relegation] will probably be playing a part. So as we go forward as a club we need to make sure this situation doesn’t come around again.
“It’s about having a bit of clarity for players going forward. I don’t think at a club this should happen. It’s not a great situation. If people’s futures were clearer then it’s a lot easier for them, but like I said, you’ve got to put the club first at this period of time. The club is paying your wages so you need to go out and fight until your contract is over and what will be will be.”
“It puts me in a position and that’s why I’m saying we need to address the situation because it was the same last year with so many out-of-contract players. We dipped off at the end of last season as well. For me to then go screaming and shouting, it’s hard. People deal with things differently. I can only speak on it from my own point of view.
“But every individual is different. It’s difficult to start demanding because you don’t know how people are dealing with it. It’s stress and it’s unneeded stress for those individuals.
“It’s hard. I’m in that situation, but me as an individual might be completely different to how the other people in the changing room are acting with it. I can only speak on me personally. I’m the captain of this club and it puts me in a position. If I’m trying to scream and shout and ask things of these individuals, I don’t know what they’re thinking inside. It’s hard for me because I can only go off me.
“I’m coming towards the end of my career, so what will be will be for me now. I’m just fighting to keep this club in the league now. But there are young people in there that have got a good few years left and they’re not knowing where they’re going to be, they’ve got families, kids at school. It’s hard for them.”
Has Danny Rohl handled the situation well?
Sheffield Wednesday have some really important players out of contract this summer, with the likes of Di’Shon Bernard and Will Vaulks potentially on their way out.
It is a tricky dilemma for both Danny Rohl and the players, because while the Owls could offer some of their players contracts, those players might not want to put pen to paper when they could still end up in League One anyway.
However, the club should really have these discussions about what they want, what their plans are for relegation and so on, so these players aren’t completely out of the loop as to whether they will be playing League One football next term.
Leaving contracts till the last minute could come back to bite them as well, as some of their biggest stars could end up being tempted by a move elsewhere, by which point all they can do is send them on their way on a free transfer.