Sheffield Wednesday must solve one prominent issue as well as provide clarity over Danny Rohl’s future.
Sheffield Wednesday finished in a respectable 12th place in the 2024/25 Championship season, but that performance has since been overtaken by a number of off-field troubles for the Owls.
Sheffield Wednesday manager Danny Rohl has an unclear future at the club, which is expected given the instability he has had to deal with behind the scenes, including the fact that players and a few staff members were paid late in March.
Rohl has returned to Germany following the season’s completion at Watford, where he has conducted interviews about his future at Sheffield Wednesday and what lies ahead for him as a coach. While the uncertainty surrounding the Owls’ coach’s future is a major concern, it has incorrectly led to the possibility of overlooking another issue.
Owls must solve Barry Bannan future concerns this summer
According to The Star, a number of Sheffield Wednesday players, including Barry Bannan, Josh Windass, Stuart Armstrong, Michael Smith, Michael Ihiekwe, Callum Paterson, Marvin Johnson, Akin Famewo, and Pol Valentin, are expected to have their contracts expire.
This might be a seismic issue for the Owls, especially if they are unable to reach an agreement with Bannan, a player who has still demonstrated his ability to play at Championship level and, above all, brings much more to the club than his 90 minutes on the pitch.
This season, Bannan made 41 games as captain, an incredible number for a 35-year-old at this level. The Scotsman’s ability to keep Sheffield Wednesday ticking over with his long-and-short passing has always been crucial throughout his decade with the club, and his skills would be extremely tough to reproduce by anybody else.
Sheffield Wednesday must search for Shea Charles 2.0 to help unlock Barry Bannan’s best
In the 2024/25 Championship season, we saw Bannan deliver multiple game-changing performances, thanks in large part to the freedom of the midfield he was afforded at times, but also to the role that Shea Charles played flawlessly.
Charles entered this season on loan from Southampton and quickly became one of Rohl’s first names on the teamsheet due to his disciplined defensive skills, which liberated Bannan to some extent, allowing the Scot to move farther forward at times.
If Sheffield Wednesday are to maintain Bannan, he must be replaced by a Shea Charles 2.0, someone who can regularly provide defensive trust in the heart of the pitch.
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