Burnley's behind-closed-doors friendly against Sheffield Wednesday cancelled as Owls go on strike

While the Clarets’ main friendly this weekend comes away to Stoke City, the club had also arranged a Saturday morning outing against the Owls to be held at their Gawthorpe training base.

Given the size of Burnley’s bloated squad, this was arranged with the intention of handing out much-needed minutes to players who won’t be featuring at Stoke.

The game was initially thrown into doubt midway through the week when it emerged Sheffield Wednesday’s players had threatened to go on strike after being informed they weren’t going to be paid their July wages on time. This is the fourth time in five months this has occurred.

The Burnley Express understands the Clarets had offered to fund the Owls’ hotel stay on Friday night to facilitate a Saturday morning kick-off.

But our sister paper, the Sheffield Star, is now reporting the game has been scrapped entirely, with the players following through on their threat to protest.

It remains to be seen if Burnley will look to arrange another game. The club has been contacted for comment.

It follows a turbulent summer at Hillsborough, which has also seen manager Danny Rohl depart by mutual consent while a number of players have also opted to move on. Henrik Pedersen, a member of Rohl’s backroom staff, has since taken over.

According to the Sheffield Star, the remaining players are said to be considering refusing to play in forthcoming games or even train.

It’s also claimed the players are considering funding a hotel stay out of their own pocket for Wednesday’s season opener at Leicester City on Sunday, August 10 in just 10 days’ time.

The club have been placed under numerous embargoes because of financial issues. Earlier this week the North Stand at Hillsborough was also closed by Sheffield Council over safety fears.

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