Sheffield Wednesday confirm £3m wage drop in accounts release – what now with the embargo?

The Owls took advantage of a government extension for the filing of their accounts on in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, however – along with many other clubs – were hit by an embargo that limited their transfer dealings.

Now, with Wednesday having now published their latest accounts and also started settling all outstanding wage issues, Darren Moore will be pleased to see them taking a big step towards a bit of normality.

According to the documents, Wednesday lost £23m in 2019/20 after player sales, but also saw their employee costs (wages, social security, pensions) drop by almost £3m from around £36.3m to just over £33.5m on the back of a number of player exits that season.

It’s worth noting that the real drop in player wages will come in the next two lots of accounts when the exits of the last two summers will be taken into account.

The Star understands that the filing of these accounts does mean an automatic lifting of the embargo, however – as previously reported – talks are ongoing with the EFL and the latest financial developments certainly put them in a much healthier position when it comes to getting it sorted.

Moore and his recruitment team have been working hard behind the scenes so that they’re able to hit the ground running once they are given the green light to start bringing in new players again, and there are hopes that that could happen as early as this week if all things go to plan.

Wednesday are looking to bring in former Everton midfielder, Dennis Adeniran, to bolster Moore’s side for next season, while they also have Renedi Masampu on trial as he looks to try and show the Owls boss that he’s worthy of a deal at Hillsborough.

For now though, it remains to be seen exactly when SWFC’s transfer embargo will be dealt with – however settling unpaid wages and publishing today’s accounts means that they’ve taken a big step towards emerging from underneath the cloud that’s hung over them.

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