Barry Bannan clarifies ‘crazy’ Sheffield Wednesday wage speculation – reveals Championship and Premier League interest

The Owls midfielder has been a key figure at the club for many years now, becoming a fan favourite and cementing his place as a modern day Wednesday legend along the way.

One big reason for his status at Hillsborough is his decision to stick around following relegation to League One, but he says that he never had any intention of leaving.

Speaking to Alan Biggs on Sheffield Live, the Scot explained, “There have been clubs higher than Sheffield Wednesday… When we got relegated I had the chance to go back to the Championship, and there was a team that just got promoted to the Premier League that I had a chance of going to.

“It was nothing concrete, but if I’d wanted to force it then it could have happened. It was there if I wanted to push it, but I was adamant that I didn’t want to leave.

“My agents were probably look at me going, ‘What you are doing?’”

So he stayed, and he says that he wanted to speak about some of the rumours doing the rounds about how much he was being paid, insisting that it’s ‘nowhere near’ what some people have said.

“A lot of people speak about the money thing,” he told Biggs. “So I can address that while we’re on here… I’ll just clear it up.

“When we got relegated, my money halved from what it was. A lot of people think mine never dropped, but I signed a contract in the January knowing that there was a chance we could go down and my money would halve, but I’m not in the game for money.

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“Obviously money is an added bonus, but I’m in the game because I loved playing here and I love playing in front of big crowds.

“But yeah - my wage halved. I could’ve got more if I left to the Championship or the Premier League.

“They were clubs that a lot of players probably would’ve went to, but people are in football for different reasons, and I’m in it for the love of playing week in/week out.”

He went on to add, “Especially in League One, the figures that were getting put around about me was just crazy really – I don’t know how some people could believe that I’d be on that in League One. It just doesn’t make any sense whatsoever…

“I just wanted to clarify that, because I had a lot of people bringing it up, and I never had the chance to speak about it. I can clarify that it’s nowhere near the figure people think I’m on.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s probably still a good, good wage for this league, but at the end of the day we are one of the top teams in this league and we’re going to have people on good money. But it’s nowhere near the figure people are making out.”

The Owls skipper has already shown his quality on numerous occasions this season, and will be hoping to turn it on again this weekend when Cheltenham Town visit S6.

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