Sheffield Wednesday News 24/7Writer: Nick 
Date:Wednesday May 14 2008
Time: 9:24AM
UK time is: 01:28:47
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Owls' Unlucky 7 Released
Wednesday boss Brian Laws has revealed the seven players whose contracts won't be renewed at Hillsborough next season - with Burton O'Brien leading the departing pack.
The season may only be just over a week old, but Laws has acted quickly in releasing players to enable them to find new clubs and to release some extra cash to bolster his squad for the 2008-09 campaign.
Burton O'Brien, Ronnie Wallwork, Rob Burch, Lee Bullen, Dave McClements, James Kay and Jason Bradley have all been told they can leave S6 this summer.
'I'd have loved to have kept Rob Burch; he's been an influence in keeping Lee Grant on his toes, and we wanted two good keepers pushing each other. But Rob has progressed so well that he wants first-team football as well, and we have Richard O'Donnell coming through,' Laws told the Sheffield Star.
'We've also had to make decisions of people like Burton O'Brien and Rob to release some money to strengthen in other ways.
'The board have made money available for wages for two or three players; I also have to help by allowing one or two players out.'
But youngster Sean McAllister has been offered a new contract, as have fellow youngsters Liam McMenamin and Luke Boden, the latter having already been involved in first team matters.
And Academy scholars Sam Liversidge and Aaron Jameson have been invited to join the Owls' professional ranks from next season.
Laws also revealed that money at S6 will still be tight as things stand, but he hopes the return of a couple of injured players, including Francis Jeffers, will act as 'new players' for the new season.
He continued: 'Money is still very tight. We all know we have to work within the current parameters until things change.
'In the meantime, we have to work with what we have.
'With the players who will be coming back from injuries, it will be like having several new signings.'
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Your Comments
Shame about BOB - I always liked him but Wallwork is right decision! Great news about Macca getting new deal - let's hope it's a long one to keep him with us for a good while. Anyone know how promising McMenamin or Boden are? What positions?
SuperOwls
Agreed on BoB. He's a good player. I'm guessing he's on a decent wage and is really only a bit part player so can see Laws' justification. My only issue with the others listed is that KENNY LUNT does not feature. What a joke. I know Boden is well rated. It is vital that Macca re-signs.
S6Apple
Think BOB did well under Laws towards the latter half of last season so a bit disappointed to see him go, but if it means bringing someone better in then so be it
welshyowl
Unfortunately Lunt has got another year left on his contract with us, so we can't release him till summer 2009 :(
johnnywalker69
get lunt out on loan for the season then!!
swfcjambo
i dont think theres anyone there that were gonna really miss, just a shame lunt aint on there, cant we offload him on crewe
Barton6435
Laws is basically saying that there is no money whatsoever and the board will only allow him wages for free transfers. Where is the money we were receiving in stages for Brunt and Bougherra? Where is the £500,000 bonus from Brunt after WBA's promotion? What about the 5-6 million that will be raised from season ticket sales? Where the **** does it all go?
onedeaddj
good that mcallister has been offered a new deal. get shut of gilbert and lunt now.
songo'o and bolder would be good signings.
aball2112
doesnt all the money go to your massive debt!?
mattyg
cost of running a football club is not free you know onedeaddj.
bladesforlife1889
Yep, get rid of Giblert an all
S6Apple
Glad to see Macca given a new deal, Superowls, Boden is a young striker and McMenamin is a right back, and a northern irish youth international. Both very promising players. Disappointed to see Bob go but let's hope we find someone who can improve our team. We HAVE to get rid of Lunt...even if its on a free.
McQuaid-Owls
Thanks McQuaid. Be nice to see them getting some time on the pitch next season. Can't believe we still got Lenny - GET RID!!! Yep and Gilbert can go too. I'd sign Slusarski first then maybe look at Songo'o and Bolder if we have the money. Bolder or Kav?
SuperOwls
DONT DISAGREE with any of them but why oh oh why no lunt or gilbert on there. get shut of the dead wood
mick66owl
bloody hell i actually agree with bladesforlife!! wat about D D D D Deon Burton??? thought he was out of contract too??
FUTURES BLUE N WHITE
keep taking the tablets futures blue n white. you will have relapses but you will come through the agony of agreeing with pigforlife. it will be ok mate
mick66owl
burton has 2 yeaers left yet..bolder is crap..not good enough..we need to sign better quality than that if we are going to be a mid table team at least!
WORKSOP..OWL
do you guys think you are going to be able to keep the likes of wood, beevers and spurr?
bladesforlife1889
cause we are pigforlife, we have players that want first team football and they are all wednesday fans so if we are giving them what they want why would they want to leave. Board has already said we dont need to sell them.
Not sure why the hell BoB is going, sell Lunt to free up some cash!!!!!!
gudetehowl
there under contact..anyway one things for sure..if they did go your not getting you stinky trotters on them little piggy!
WORKSOP..OWL
DONT WORRY WORKSOP THEY CARNT AFFORD THEM NOW THEY ARE AN ESTABLISHED AVERAGE CHAMPIONSHIP SIDE
mick66owl
OFF TOPIC: I think you guys are giving bladesforlife1889 a lot of attention, this is after all the only reason why he comes and posts comments on our website because there's nobody who gives a flying **** about football on the Sheff U website. If you search the Leicester site you can find him saying stuff like " Beat the scum and send them down" and stuff like that prior to the vital game we had with them.
So the guy is just a hypocrite. Sometimes he'll try to be nice just to keep it going. Ignore him, he will leave eventually.
ON TOPIC: I think we are in a desperate need of good central midfield players. If all these leave, we practically have only 1 (ONE!) central midfielder in our team. Sean McAllister played magnificently but is still young and unexperienced after all and managed to got injured on top of that. So he may be injury prone also, hope not... So signing at least two quality central midfielders should be Brian Laws' main priority this summer.
RatherRandomOwl
we took 4 points from 6 out of your shower of 5hit piggy!! ha ha!
WORKSOP..OWL
Agreed RatherRandomOwl. As for Macca being injury prone I think that's a fairly premature assumption - it was a calf strain wasn't it? Had it been a joint problem I would have been more worried. I'm no physio and would stand corrected by someone more knowledgeable but most footballers get some knocks and strains in the season don't they...or do I just think this is normal cos I've watched Owls for too long. I completely agree with central midfield being our top priority though, without a doubt!
SuperOwls
now now micky=piggy language, you dont want to get grounded by mummy pig!!
bladesforlife1889
I was a bit surprised to see O'Brien go to be honest, but the others don't surprise me so much. Like somebody said above Gilbert & Lunt are deadwood and i thought they would have gone. I saw GIlbert play for your reserves against Rotherham and he didn't look good enough for that even. I've heard a lot of people slating Wallwork and i personally don't rate him but when you played us at Hillsborough he was unreal! (then again, unfortunately for us, so were the other 10)
shepsblade
NICE TO HEAR AN HONEST VIEW shep instead of that irritant pigforlife. wall work had 1 good game unfortunatley for you it was against blades. gilbert and lunt must be sold asap
mick66owl
yes i aggree..shepsblade is a commonsense football fan unlike the pigforlife who talks 5hit all the time!
WORKSOP..OWL
Cheers lads, i just have an interest in football, it just so happens i was 'lucky' enough to be born a blade. Who do you think you'll be bringing in, realistically? With money short, will it all be loans again or will there be enough money for a couple of actual buys. Yeats from Colchester would do a jo for your lads, although Johnson plays on the same wing, and i'm sure there could be potential of a couple of bargains/freebies from Leicester??
shepsblade
every one as a cross to bear shep yours is being a blade but we won't hold that against you.
yeats would do a good job its a center of midfielder we need but there like good strikers they are over priced
mick66owl
Wonder if somebody like Lansbury would be interested in a season long loan from Arsenal, good young player although experience would perhaps be required. What kind of central midfielder is it you're looking for, defensive? creative? attacking? Or just someone who will run around like an idiot and have no actual ability a la Nick Montgomery?
shepsblade
if truth be known shep we need a complete midfield thats been our weakness since selling brunt and whelan. we got plenty of them headless chickens so no need for montgomery
mick66owl
i meant someone in the mould of montgomery but bloody hell someone must want him! Any chance of you taking on any of the loan signings permanent? ie, Songo'o/ Bolder. Bolder didn't impress me all that much, saw him a couple of times in reserves & also when he got two against us (like i need reminding of that) so i think you can do better than him. Clemence at Leicester is handy and may not fancy League 1.Johnnie Jackson at Colchester has a decent left foot on him too, he can contribute a few goals per season.
shepsblade
For me Macca will do a Whelan-like job in there - gets about a bit and isn't afraid to get stuck in where it hurts, gets forward too. Think we need at least a couple of middfielders though - a holding midfielder who can sit and spray the ball about would be nice. Bolder not good enough I don't think and am unsure about Kav. Don't really know who else is out there but we GOT to get someone in
SuperOwls
jesus your website is clutching at straws abit aint it? selling blades Memorabilia, must be a first - mind you, until january you hadn't beaten us in what 7 years. ha ha
bladesforlife1889
we got bigger fish to fry pigforlife!
johnnywalker69
Great fun on here, best of luck shep (he, mattyg and myself are on the same course at uni) you'll need it with farmlife like bladesforlife.
I like the look of Perkins at Rochdale, but he's a little small, like Mcallister, so I want a gangly nasty piece of work, surely there are some abroad? The macedonian Carlton Palmer perhaps!?
Shame the released youngsters didn't get a chance and for the record McMenamin is a very talented (but small) centre back.
aball2112
Bally, see you're looking at players from the mighty "Dale". First of all, HANDS OFF!! secondly, it's not very ambitious now is it? I suppose it worked for Kightly at Wolves, he went from non-league.
shepsblade
can you really include unlucky and owls in the same sentence?
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