ROVERS’ wage bill would rank in the middle of the Championship, according to chief executive Steve Waggott.

The club have worked hard on reducing a wage bill which stood at around £22m in the 2016/17 season and meant a wage to turnover ratio of 147 per cent.

A number of legacy contracts - where Rovers were paying up players from previous years - have lapsed, with the club now working with a younger squad.

Rovers faced a summer balancing act of adding without stretching their wage budget so to not come close to breaking Financial Fair Play. Explaining the wage structure, which was understood to be in the region of £8m last year after players took reductions following relegation, Waggott said: “I would think we’re probably, league wise, 10th to 16th in terms of wage bills from talking to other clubs.

“The problem is that with the way the market has gone if you want to get the better players they don’t come cheap in terms of transfer fees or personal terms. That’s just the way it is.

“We are trying to look at all aspects of the business to how we balance the revenue with expenditure. We’re still a benefactor model.”

The most recent accounts for Rovers, which ran to June 2017, were the first since parachute payments from the Premier League stopped. There were high profile cases this summer of a number of teams having to balance their books amid concerns over potential sanctions.

“I don’t know the exact number but there are about eight teams with the parachute payments from the Premier League at various levels,” Waggott added.

“Those that came down last year obviously have £40m before they’ve even kicked a ball with their first year of parachute payments with two more years to come which total £110m.

“We’re coming from a different position, coming up from League One. You get an enhanced central distribution money of about £5.5m compared to the guys coming down.

“There’s loads of debate about Financial Fair Play and what is the integrity of the league?

“The £39m in terms of loss and equity over three years, the likes of West Brom and Stoke have unbelievable amounts of money. When we went to Stoke, their entire squad would be two-and-a-half, three times, our squad. It’s still a competitive squad for what we’re doing.”

Jack Rodwell, at 27, was the oldest player to arrive at Ewood this summer. The rest were all 23 and under, and Waggott added: “I think you will notice that a lot of the players we’ve brought in have been young.

“Obviously you have to have that backbone of experience with the likes of Charlie (Mulgrew) and Danny (Graham). But the Armstrong’s, the Brereton’s, Rothwell’s, all with potential to grow in to what we believe will be good players.

“It was important to reward the people that got us up but that we keep modifying and tweaking the squad to get to where we need to be.”