Sheffield Wednesday players release statement amid club’s financial turmoil

Sheffield Wednesday players have issued a statement saying that they are “extremely concerned” at the lack of clarity around the club’s financial situation.

Players and staff at the Championship club have had to deal with late wage payments for three months in a row as a consequence of the club’s financial issues, with the players deciding to withdraw from a planned friendly against Burnley last week.

Wednesday have previously been placed under transfer embargo for payments owed to HMRC, while the EFL imposed “a three-window fee restriction after exceeding 30 days of late payments between 1 July 2024 and 30 June 2025”.

And the statement from the members of the squad highlighted how “players and staff are now feeling real, practical impacts in their professional and personal lives”, adding that they want to make sure that “decisions taken like the one not to play at Burnley are avoided in the future”.

“As has been well publicised, players, coaching and club staff groups at the club have all been impacted by delayed and overdue payment of salaries,” began the statement.

“This has been a worrying time for us as players, but whilst we are often the ones in the spotlight, we are not the only ones involved. We stand together in support with all our colleagues employed by the club who have been affected.

“The decision taken by the players to withdraw from the planned friendly with Burnley was not taken lightly or without consideration. We are fully aware of the added concern this will have caused supporters but trust there is a real understanding of the difficult position we have been put in,” it added.

The decision not to play the match against Burnley has led to concerns as to what action the players could take as the league season gets underway, with the Owls set to face Leicester City in their first match of the new Championship season.

But the players explained that they “want to reassure fans that there has not been, and will not be, any ‘downing of tools’ by any of us on the training ground, and we are all working as hard as we can”.

“However, we, like you, want our focus to be fully on what happens on the pitch and the new season ahead. This is proving to be really challenging and we have made it clear to the club that we want this situation to be addressed as soon as possible so decisions taken like the one not to play at Burnley are avoided in the future. We can then all move forward together as a club,” it added.

The Owls’s pre-season preparations have been thrown into chaos with the transfer embargo, the departure of Danny Rohl and the closure of the North Stand at Hillsborough, and there are doubts over whether they will be able to fulfil their first game of the season.

That match comes against Leicester on Sunday, 10 August, with fans planning a protest against owner Dejphon Chansiri, who is under mounting pressure to sell the club.