Chansiri’s contract conundrum: Why Sheffield Wednesday are in a tough position as key players head into the final year of their Owls deals – Joe Crann’s column
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You see, everything’s up in the air at the minute, isn’t it? We don’t know when football fans will be allowed back, we don’t know when revenue will start up again, and the Owls have the small matter of overturning a points deduction before knowing what division they’re going to be in next season.
With that in mind, you have to wonder how far in advance the club – and their counterparts in the various leagues – can actually plan.
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Hide AdWednesday have some big players such as Barry Bannan, Adam Reach and Tom Lees thought to be coming out of contract at the end of the 2020/21 season, while a number of Owls academy graduates such as Liam Palmer, Matt Penney and Alex Hunt find themselves in a similar position.
Take Bannan, for example. He’s just been made captain, regularly plays 40+ games in a season and is one of the first names on the teamsheet for Garry Monk, but can Wednesday afford to get into a long-term deal with their skipper – and would he even want to – before their Championship status for next season is at least a bit more clear?
That’s why Chansiri, his recruitment team and his manager will almost certainly be crossing many bridges only when they come to them, and the bridge they’re crossing right now is the more immediate problem of bulking up the side in order to try and make sure relegation is less of a worry come the end of 2020.
Wednesday have just over a week (the window closes at 5pm on October 16th) to finalise their squad for the rest of the year, aside from any potential free agents, and that will be taking priority over conversations surrounding the status of players already in and up for the fight – regardless of their contract situation.
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Hide AdFans will be concerned, no doubt, that so many players (upwards of 10, it’s believed) will be out of contract at the end of the current campaign, but these are unprecedented times – both for Sheffield Wednesday, and for football as a whole.
In an ideal world, players like Bannan probably wouldn’t be nearing his final six months without a new deal being sorted out, but – for all parties, I feel – it just seems like right now there are other fish to fry.
It’s a difficult position they find themselves in, but not a completely unique one. Clubs across the country, the world even, will be toying with the same predicament as we approach the end of what has been an incredibly tough year for everybody.
What is for sure is that, contracts expiring or not, this group of Wednesday players seem to be up for the scrap this season, and right now that’s more important than anything else.