Sheffield Wednesday-focused journalist Dom Howson caught the attention of many Owls fans recently after he posted a tweet that included a link to an article from Yorkshire Live which shares some details regarding the EFL’s alleged plans to help clubs to “deal with contractual issues that have come about” as a result of the 2019/20 season being postponed back in March.
The EFL recently announced their plans to restart the 2019/20 season on the weekend of 20th June and now, this article from Yorkshire Live has shared that one of the ways in which the EFL intend to help clubs to deal with any potential contractual issues that may arise due to players’ contracts being set to expire prior to the season being completed, is that they will be able to offer players “a short-term extension which will run until the 2019/20 season is completed”.
According to Transfermarkt, 13 Sheffield Wednesday players are set to see their contracts expire at the end of June at present. Two players who are currently on loan at Hillsborough are also currently set to see their time with Wednesday end at the close of this month, as per Transfermarkt. With that in mind, it may not come as a surprise that plenty of Owls fans have flocked to Howson’s tweet sharing this report regarding the possibility of offering out of contract players short-term deals.
Looks like clubs in the EFL will be allowed to offer players out of contract on June 30 a new short-term deal to enable them to finish the 2019/20 campaign with their club. #SWFC https://t.co/AS1ImzCFKj
— Dom Howson (@domhowson) June 2, 2020
This report on the EFL’s alleged plans hasn’t gone down well with some Owls fans, many of whom have been sceptical about how this could work.
Can’t imagine players at championship level need to accepts a month’s work.
— Kristopher Cousins (@KristopherCous4) June 2, 2020
Why would anyone sign a short term contract at somewhere their not wanted, or have another club lined up?
— Alex Robinson (@DullOwl) June 2, 2020
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And if they reject or have committed to sign elsewhere Dom?
— Matt Scholey (@matt_scholey) June 2, 2020
Doesn’t look much of a solution to me.. why risk a long term contract of say 3-4 years for the sake of two months extra with your existing club?
— Paul Holbrook (@pholbrook87) June 2, 2020
One Wednesday fan responded to this post by questioning whether this would result in clubs breaching ‘Financial Fair Play’ rules.
Do you think that this is a good idea from the EFL?YES
NO
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Also, how many teams would have then broke FFP rules within an @EFL season? Who runs this circus? Absolute joke
— Glen SWFC B (@growlers6) June 2, 2020
Farcical now this
— David stone (@stoneyboyblue) June 2, 2020
These Wednesday supporters haven’t responded positively to this report. However, considering that the Owls are currently set to see plenty of players’ contracts expire at the end of June, it may be fair to say that the ability to offer players short-term details until the end of the 2019/20 campaign could prove to be useful for them.