Sheffield Wednesday's big problem if three-window transfer fee ban kicks in - what it means

The latest round of unpaid wages at Hillsborough means that the Owls are dangerously close to being put under embargo by the English Football League due to being in default of payments for over 30 days over the last 12 months, therefore breaching the ‘30-day rule’. While an official deadline is proving hard to come by, it is known that it’s not far away.

Players, coaching staff and non-footballing staff at the club are either unpaid or haven’t been paid in full at the time of writing, and unless all of those amounts are settled soon then Wednesday will be banned from registering players this summer and for the 12 months afterwards.

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With that in mind, the clock is ticking for Dejphon Chansiri, who has been trying to raise the funds required, but if he is unsuccessful and Wednesday do end up under embargo, what does it mean for their recruitment?

What rule are Wednesday in danger of breaking?

They’re in danger of breaking the EFL’s 30-day rule, which punishes clubs who have accrued 30 days of late payments for HMRC bills and player wages across a 12-month period stretching from July 1 to June 30 each year.

The Owls fell foul of a HMRC tax payment deadline last October and were late in paying their player wages for March. The latest defeault is the one that could tip them over the edge.

Can Wednesday sign players at all under embargo?

Yes, but under very strict rules - and only if there is no transfer or loan fee. It would mean Wednesday would be limited to signing free agent players or players available for loan without any fee - and even then only if they had less than 23 players in total; a practice described by the EFL as ‘staffing up’ and designed to ensure a degree of competitiveness for embargoed clubs. Clubs cannot offer to pay players additional wages on top of the wages already paid by a parent club.

Under these circumstances, players can only be signed until the end of the season and loan players can only be signed for half a season. All deals must be ratified by the EFL and budget restrictions apply dependent upon the divisional status of the Club under embargo. The number ‘23’ is important in this case, though...

What are players of ‘professional standing’?

As mentioned above, the squad total of 23 players consists of ‘players of a professional standing’. In theory, clubs placed under a registration embargo are able to register academy players and scholars to play in senior football and those players can be upgraded to professional contracts without becoming a ‘player of professional standing’, but only ‘depending on the circumstances of the club’, with those decisions ratified by the EFL.

Wednesday’s problem, however, would be that they already have 21 players of ‘professional standing’ on their books at present, and should Barry Bannan, Callum Paterson and Akin Famewo extend their deals then it would effectively mean that they cannot sign anyone at all.

The EFL’s regulations say that ‘clubs under Embargo with 23 or more players of Professional Standing cannot register players’, but explain that ‘should the club sell a player/players or terminate existing contracts, then they would be able to ‘staff up’ to ensure they have 23 players of Professional Standing within their squad’. Sending players out on loan doesn’t count, so if the Owls do end up under embargo then it could be a very quiet summer.

‘Professional Standing’ is ‘any player who has made one first team appearance (including as a sub) for any Club in any first team competition (EFL Trophy appearances do not count)’.

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Could they offer new contracts to existing players?

In a word, yes. But it’s a little unclear in that, again, any new contract offers lodged with existing players would have to be ratified by the EFL and would be considered alongside the circumstances of the club in question. It’s also unknown what happens if new contracts aren’t signed before current deals expire at the end of June.

So if the 30-day rule is broken, could Wednesday appeal?

Potentially. At the same time the HMRC payments were added as part of the 30-day ruling, an attached amendment to the EFL rulebook also made clear clubs could seek to appeal the decision. The likely strength of any Wednesday appeal in that case is not known. There’s also no mention of what would happen regarding any embargo if a takeover were to happen, however the suggestion is that the punishment is with the club regardless of whether it changes hands or not.

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