Shrewd Sheffield Wednesday financial decision? Player contract clauses revealed after relegation | OneFootball

Now that relegation from the Championship at the end of this season has been confirmed, attention is turning to the future of the club.

With relegation at the end of this season now confirmed, attention will now be turning to how Sheffield Wednesday move forward once the takeover of the club has been completed.

Defeat at Bramall Lane on Sunday lunchtime confirmed what had been pretty much considered inevitable for several months, that Sheffield Wednesday will be playing League One football next season.

A 2-1 defeat against bitter rivals Sheffield United pushed Wednesday over the mathematical line. With 13 games left to play, they had 39 points to play for, and the gap between themselves and 21st-placed West Bromwich Albion was 41, by this point.

As such, attention now turns to the future. The takeover of the club by a consortium fronted by the professional gambler James Bord remains stuck in the approval stage, and there remains no indication of when greater clarity will be given over this. It could take until the end of this season to get there.

And regardless of the identity of the club's next owners, relegation will come at a financial cost to the club. Broadcasting revenues will be significantly impacted, while both commercial and match-day revenues may also be affected by playing in a lower division.

Sheffield Wednesday have relegation release clauses ready to go for the start of next season

Reporting on the future of the club on the social media platform X, Rob Dorsett of Sky Sports touched on the subject of relegation release clauses at Sheffield Wednesday, saying that, "Sky Sports News has been told that automatic relegation clauses in players' contracts are ready for the start of next season."

This will be an important consideration for the new owners, once the takeover of the club has been confirmed. It has been evident all season that their threadbare squad has not been up to the rigours of Championship football, and Wednesday's performance in 2025-26 - with just one League win from 33 fixtures and the team still on a negative points tally as a result of points deductions issued by the EFL for the late payment of wages and entering into administration in the first place - it might be suggested that this group of players could struggle in League One as well.

Relegation release clauses are intended to offer security and clarity to all concerned; both players and clubs. Clubs get to know that they don't have to be stuck with players on wages appropriate to a higher division in the event of that fall in revenues, while players who are of the quality to justify staying in the division from whence they've just fallen get the security of knowing that they can leave a club and continue to play at the highest level they're able to in the even that their teams go down.

These clauses can come in several different forms. They may allow players to leave the club for a reduced transfer fee, for example, or they may permit clubs to release players that they can no longer afford in the event of relegation. The existence of the clauses may be a standard element of a player's contract, but the exact nature of those clauses will vary from player to player because they're part of their individuals contract negotiations.

To a point, in the case of Sheffield Wednesday, the relegation release clause may not be as much of an issue as at other clubs because of the slapdash manner in which their 2025-26 squad has had to be put together. According to Transfermarkt, 11 players in their current first-team squad fall out of contract at the end of this season, while on-loan goalkeeper Seny Dieng is only due to be with them until the end of February.

But Wednesday have five players who are under contract with the club until the end of the 2026-27 season and two who are contracted with them until the end of 2027-28. And one of the big questions facing the club when this season comes to an end will be whether they can afford to keep players who may be on five-figure weekly salaries.