Sheffield Wednesday captain Barry Bannan has signed a new contract with the troubled Sky Bet Championship club.
The 35-year-old midfielder, whose previous deal had expired, has committed to the Owls just two days after players and staff at Hillsborough had not received their wages on time for the third successive month.
The club has not disclosed the details of Bannan’s new deal.
“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.” 💙 pic.twitter.com/NFvcRfWBkZ
— Sheffield Wednesday (@swfc) August 2, 2025
The Scot said he had received interest from other clubs and that his daughter’s reaction to the prospect of ending his decade-long stay with the Owls had helped shape his decision.
Bannan said: “This club is a big part of me and my family, who are with me here today as I’m signing.
“They will always stand by me with whatever decision I make and I’ve decided to stay.
“With the season getting closer, this last week has been tough because there was interest from elsewhere and I had a lot to think about.
Barry Bannan has extended his decade-long stay at Sky Bet Championship club Sheffield Wednesday (Barrington Coombs/PA)
“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.”
Bannan, who began his career in England with Aston Villa, joined Wednesday from Crystal Palace in 2015 and has also had loan spells at Derby, Blackpool, Leeds and Bolton.
He has made a total of 447 appearances for the Owls, placing him eighth on the club’s all-time list.
Bannan’s new deal comes two days after it was revealed players and staff had refused to take part in a scheduled behind-closed-doors friendly against Burnley on Saturday.
We are delighted to announce that Barry Bannan has put pen to paper on a new contract, confirming his commitment to Wednesday #swfc
— Sheffield Wednesday (@swfc) August 2, 2025
That game was cancelled amid an escalating financial crisis at Hillsborough under owner Dejphon Chansiri and caused growing concern within the English Football League over whether the club will be able to play their opening game of the season at Leicester on August 10.
The Owls have been placed under several EFL embargoes for breaching financial rules and have been unable to sign any players in this summer’s transfer window.
They currently have only 16 senior players contracted to the club following the departures of Djeidi Gassama, Anthony Musaba, Josh Windass and Michael Smith.
The latter two had their contracts terminated by mutual consent to allow them to join Wrexham and Preston.
The latest missed payments to players and staff in July heaped further pressure on Chansiri, who insists he is willing to sell the club for the right price.
He recently revealed he had rejected one consortium’s £40million bid, while talks with various other interested parties have stalled.