Henrik Pedersen on Sheffield Wednesday player sale hope as recruitment headaches worsen
Henrik Pedersen made clear he hopes Sheffield Wednesday are not forced to sell players in order to strengthen their threadbare squad, with financial problems at the club currently preventing them from doing so.
Wednesday are operating under the terms of a ‘fee restriction’ that insists the club must prove to the EFL’s Club Financial Reporting Unit (CFRU) that they are able to meet financial obligations before they can go ahead with the signing of free agents or non-fee loanees.
Since two EFL registration embargoes were lifted earlier this month talks have been had with prospective signings, though it’s understood that the cashflow forecast Wednesday have been able to provide to the authority has left them all but unable to bring new players in. The club has had to delay payments to its workforce in the last months and has failed to meet other basic financial obligations.
The independent CFRU is believed to be in near-daily dialogue with senior figures at the club, though any imminent reversal of its position on ratifying new Wednesday signings is not thought to be likely. Owls boss Henrik Pedersen spoke last week about the difficult nature of the club’s current squad size in taking on a 46-game Championship season and had hoped to bring in new faces ahead of this weekend’s home clash with Stoke City.
Speaking ahead of that game, he said: “We are working really, really hard in the background to prepare everything and I know the club are working in the same way to get the right fundamentals to sign players. I hope we can sign some players, but I also know there are some challenges around it right now.”
What those fundamentals are remain to be seen. Pedersen said he was doing what he could to focus only on what he could control and suggested he had not been told a great deal about what the club could be working on in terms of improving their financial position to the extent the CRFU are able to ratify incoming business.
Wednesday had to sell key players in order to pay debts earlier this summer and with known interest in talented young goalkeeper Pierce Charles, fears are rising that another playing asset may have to be sold in order to strengthen their financial position and bolster a squad of only nine fit players over the age of 21. It’s an outcome Pedersen hopes is not necessary.
“I really, really hope that we can keep the players we have right now,” he said. “We of course have lost a lot of players, so of course I hope that the strong group we have together now, it’s a small group but it’s a strong group and of course I hope we can keep them all.”
The situation comes to light at a time the club’s on-field efforts in their two opening matches of the campaign have received praise and the visit of Stoke this weekend presents an opportunity to grab points in front of a crowd that has shown great support. The last months at S6 have been a whirlwind of chaos and the Owls boss maintained the camp’s focus on the job at hand.
Pedersen said: “At the moment there is a big clarity that we are using all our focus on the game tomorrow. We had a very busy week, first Leicester away where the boys did very, very well, then a midweek game in the club where the boys again did very well. Now we use all the energy we have to prepare for the Stoke game tomorrow.
“This is where our clarity is right now. We have focus and energy on what we can control, this is where my focus and energy is going and where the player’s energy is going.”