Sheffield United's Chris Wilder says players who will not extend contracts for resumption not wanted

The lack of matchday revenue is causing severe financial difficulty in the lower leagues, and even many Premier League clubs have asked their players to defer or cut their wages. Wilder and his Sheffield United squad have agreed a six-month partial deferral.

Playing contracts typically expire on June 30, and that is being considered in the decisions over how long the game can wait to complete the 2019-20 season.

“I don’t see it as a huge problem,” said Wilder. “I’m sure any of our out-of-contract players will extend if we ask them to and if they don't, they’re not part of us going forward, it's a pretty straight-forward decision.

“I hear about other players at other clubs that might walk away. Let them walk away. If they don't want to be part of the football club, see you later, bye, bye, we'll get on with what we've got to get on with..

“People want to see everybody putting everything into the football club.

“If people are looking at this from an individual point of view and worried about their careers, and want to go down that road, I'd let them do it.

“If I spoke to Phil Jagielka (who is out of contract in June) in 20 minutes' time and said, 'Listen, Jags, we're going to extend your contract by a month, it's up to you,' I know 100 per cent what his decision would be. That’s the whole point of having good people at clubs.

“We’ve got two or three players that might be out of contract out of a group of 25. We've still got enough to stick a team out, so no issues with me.”

Wilder finished his playing career in non-league football and started out in management there too, working up through the levels and seeing the money problems that exist. Unsurprisingly, he wants solutions to the current cashflow problems that look after the whole English game.

“In this region we’re blessed that we have outstanding football clubs that mean a lot to every community, from Rotherham to Barnsley to Doncaster to Chesterfield and right the way through, people have a huge pride and love for their own football clubs,” he said.

“I do fear clubs will go selfish and insular and look after themselves, which impacts on the smaller clubs. People at the top want their team to go well and usually, behind going well is chucking a lot of money at it. As we’ve seen before sometimes that’s not the right thing to do.

“The game has a lot of thinking to do when we come out of this because I fear and unfortunately I think, there might be a few clubs that don’t manage to survive.”

It has been suggested the Football League could be regionalised to ease the financial pressure on clubs, and Wilder is a long-term advocate.

“We have full-time teams in the Conference, Barrow v Eastbourne Borough on a Tuesday night, what's all that about?” he said. “Even in the Football League it’s the same.

“The cost of football, the cost of the travel for supporters... having more derbies and little initiatives like that have surely got to be looked at through this period, to make it easier and financially better for clubs.

“English football is unique with the pyramid system and it's important we look after that. A lot of focus will always be on the Premier League teams but as I’ve experienced through my career, a lot of brilliant people are involved and a lot of great work goes on at these small clubs and it’s important things like regionalised football is looked at.

“Hopefully we can come out of it in a better way.”

That goes for the way clubs spend money too.

“I suppose it is a difficult conversation to have because if people have it, there’ll always be the question why not do what they want to with their own money?” acknowledged Wilder. “But surely there’s got to be a process and a structure that doesn’t put clubs at risk of going to the wall.

“We've already had Bury and some clubs that have come so close, bigger ones as well.

“Supporters have to take responsibility too. They’re always shouting we need to spend this and that, and why don't we sign this player and give him that amount of money but you look at Portsmouth and that was a great example. The supporters got to go to Wembley two or three times but I think everybody in football knew there’d be a fall-out from that and unfortunately it happened. In a heartbeat they found themselves in the bottom division of English football five years after winning FA Cups and playing in Europe.

“There's always got to be a short-, medium- and long-term view of how we run football clubs, and a structure.

“At Sheffield United it’s important that I take a responsible role in that and make sure the club’s here for a long time when I’ve gone, when the players have gone, when the owners have gone, Sheffield United have to be still playing at Bramall Lane and a healthy football club.”

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