PFA 'will not tolerate' Sheffield Wednesday mess - 'other considerations' to walkout

Some Wednesday players have gone two months without pay as the club continues to fail to meet its basic financial obligations, with The Star having revealed that some players have this week tendered a notice period that could in theory see them walk away from the Hillsborough debacle as free agents.

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A wide range of employees in other departments have also not been paid, with some receiving just £700 of their salaries after their expected payday. Some staff have been warned that an ‘emergency fund’ set up to ease individual hardship may not cover every request they receive.

In a statement released last month, the PFA described the club’s failure to pay its players their May wages as ‘unacceptable’ and put pressure on Wednesday to rectify the situation as quickly as possible. Some players did receive their May wages late, some are still waiting. The Star is not aware of any first team players having been paid their June wages as of yet.

As has been reported by The Star, the process going forward for those who have handed in their notice is not cut-and-dried. The situation is not new to the club, with Owls players having chosen to do so during the financial difficulties of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021.

Now, PFA chief executive Maheta Molango has told PA in light of news of players having handed in their notice: “We’ve been in touch with the players.

“Our role is not to tell them what they need to do, (it is) to give them the tools and say, ‘this is what you could do if those criteria are met’. Then it is for them to assess what they want to do, because I wouldn’t take it for granted that just because certain criteria are met, automatically someone just terminates their contract. There are other considerations.”

Wednesday owner Dejphon Chansiri is the subject of appealed-against EFL charges for failures to meet financial obligations and in a long statement centrally focussing on other matters last week apologised for the ongoing debacle at the club. It’s a failure the PFA say they will not tolerate.

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Molango continued: “We are in touch with them, it’s not an easy situation as you can imagine, because ultimately, you know, people need to be paid. Particularly for me it’s a bit shocking because normally this is stuff you see in other countries I have played in, but not in England.

“So we really want to be strong on that, and this is something that we will not tolerate and we will be very much on top of it. It’s not a good situation but we hope that somehow there could be a positive resolution to it.”

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