Sheffield Wednesday offered simple Barry Bannan advice from Hillsborough icon | OneFootball

Sheffield Wednesday icon John Sheridan has sent a message to the club to get Barry Bannan's contract situation sorted, as the final game of this season is currently set to be his last for the Owls.

The Scottish midfielder has played his home games at Hillsborough for the majority of the last decade. He's been through high times and low times with the club, both throughout the whole tenure and this season.

For someone like Bannan, who had stayed with the club during their League One days, their start to the campaign would have felt like a real body blow. But, Danny Röhl came in, and that's when things started to change.

It took time to fully get going, but the Wednesday survival train is well up and running.

Managing to escape the quick sand that they found themselves in will be mightily impressive, if they secure their league status with a point or more against Sunderland.

But attention will quickly turn to the future, and who will be a part of it.

The club's captain is one of the many Owls players that are set to leave the club when the 23/24 campaign concludes, but Sheridan believes that the club need to take action to stop this from happening.

John Sheridan's Barry Bannan contract message

The ex-midfielder has urged his former club to make sure that the 34-year-old is with the club for at least next season.

He said, at The Star Sports Awards: "Oh I'd keep him. Every game I've been to he's been the best player. He just makes the game so easy and he's got something about him.

"He's tenacious, he gets about the pitch and it's not just about his passing and getting it off, he's brave. He's not bothered if he makes a mistake, he keeps going and he is a quality player.

"I was watching the other day and look he's getting on now, but he's a great little footballer. I think he would probably have fitted in nicely in the team we played in. He just reads things and makes this look simple.

"He's 34, so he's got years left in him. The way he plays and goes about it, it rubs off on the others."

Sheffield Wednesday fans have been for a wild ride over the past two seasons

The start of the 23/24 campaign suggested that all the hard work that Wednesday had done in the 22/23 League One play-offs was for nothing.

They pulled off one of the greatest play-off comebacks of all time, won the final at Wembley in the last minute thanks to a header from Josh Windass - who is also set to leave the club - and then this season started and they were totally off it.

Even before their dismal showing to start this season, and in the first leg of their play-off semi-final against Peterborough United, the club had gone through pain and suffering.

Wednesday should have won automatic promotion from the third tier in 2023, but the first half of their final dozen games saw them go on a barren run that gave a rampant Ipswich Town the advantage.

Their two-season-long rollercoaster started with an automatic promotion push, that dipped to a play-off spot, and then got even lower as it looked like they were going to crash out of that and miss out on promotion entirely.

Then came their comeback against the Posh, and Windass' heroics at Wembley; a peak that was then succeeded by Xisco Munoz's brief tenure.

Röhl eventually got them climbing upwards again, but it has been some journey to get to this point. The Wednesday fans will just be hoping that the ride doesn't end in a deep descent below ground.