The Sheffield Wednesday captain, Barry Bannan, has signed a new contract with the crisis-hit Championship club. The 35-year-old midfielder has been at Wednesday since 2015 and despite the expiration of his previous contract in June has been training with the first-team squad during pre-season.
Wednesday are under a transfer embargo and subject to EFL fee restrictions until the end of the summer window after a failure to pay transfer fees on time. There is concern whether they will be able to fulfil their opening fixture of the at Leicester next Sunday. A pre-season friendly against Burnley, scheduled to take place behind closed doors on Saturday, was cancelled after Wednesday players reportedly refused to play.
Wednesday did not say how long Bannan’s new contract was for. The club, who finished 12th last season, are mired in financial difficulties and are under transfer restrictions imposed by the Football League after failures to pay the wages of their players and staff.
In the past few days, Wednesday’s manager, Danny Röhl, has left the club and the North Stand of Hillsborough closed due to safety concerns. The owner, the Thai businessman Dejphon Chansiri, is being urged to sell the club to preserve its future.
“This club is a big part of me and my family, who are with me here today as I’m signing,” Bannan told the Sheffield Wednesday website. “They will always stand by me with whatever decision I make and I’ve decided to stay.
“We had a lot of conversations as a family and when I told my daughter Elsie that I might be leaving she started crying. Then last night when I told her I was staying she started crying again. I asked her why and she said they are just happy tears.”
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The Scot has been at Hillsborough for a decade, joining from Crystal Palace in 2015 and playing in the Championship playoff final loss to Hull in his first season. He was handed the captain’s armband as Wednesday were relegated to League One. Promotion back to the Championship came when Bannan lifted the League One playoff trophy at Wembley in 2023. He has made 447 appearances.
