The Championship transfer window is yet to catch fire heading in to the final week of pre-season.

Rovers are one of four sides to have made one signing, while this weekend’s opponents Bournemouth, and Preston, are yet to bring any new faces through the door.

The busiest sides in the window have been recently-relegated Norwich, and newly-promoted pair Rotherham United and Coventry City, which is largely unsurprising.

The reasons for each club’s stance on transfers will be unique, but the one shared issue has been the short space of time between the end of last season (July 22) and the start of this (September 12) as well as the window staying open until October 15.

QPR relied on the sale of star man Eberechi Eze to help make what look some shrewd signings on paper in the form of Luke Amos, Lyndon Dykes and Rob Dickie.

Brentford will likely have spent money on Ivan Toney and Charlie Goode, with others to follow, in anticipation of losing star men Ollie Watkins and Said Benrahma after failing to secure promotion.

Others will be counting the cost of having had no revenue from supporters attending games in more than six months and be tightening the purse strings, with the loan window likely to prove vital for many.

For Rovers, they fall somewhere in between, with a transfer kitty available to spend six-figure fees on positions where strengthening is imperative, as seen by their one recruit so far, goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski from Gent.

They hope to follow that with permanent additions in central defence and left back, with the prospect of their loan deals coming in central midfield and right back, should the finance and opportunity allow.

But already spending a large percentage of their income on wages, that structure can be prohibitive when players have more than one option, pushing up salaries, meaning deals have been hard to close, missing out on Cedric Kipre as well as another central defensive target,

Rovers relied heavily on loans to strengthen last year, with goalkeeper Christian Walton, central defender Tosin Adarabioyo and left back Greg Cunningham all brought in on temporary deals, and with Stewart Downing unlikely to return after seeing his one year deal expire, and five other players leave at the end of their contracts, it has left them with work to do in the market.

They look set to start the season with only goalkeeper Kaminski being the only new signing in the side, though Tyrhys Dolan’s impression in pre-season after his switch from Preston North End could see him take a place on the bench.

This won’t be the first time that Rovers have signed players on the eve of, or after, the season has started.

They waited late in the window to finally secure Tosin Adarabioyo who joined three days prior to last season starting. Greg Cunningham didn’t arrive until a week in to the season, while Lewis Holtby was recruited six weeks in to the campaign.

They failed to make any signings in January, while in 2018, business went down to the wire.

Kasey Palmer was brought in on the eve of the 2018/19 season, with Adam Armstrong (August 6), Jack Rodwell (August 23), Harrison Reed (August 27) and Ben Brereton (August 28) all arriving after the season was underway.

In 2017 it was four players, with Marcus Antonsson’s August 11 arrival followed by three late in the day on August 31 as Sam Hart and Paul Downing joined on permanent deals and Rekeem Harper on loan.

In an ideal world, managers would want all business wrapped up by the first day of pre-season training so to integrate them fully in to the squad. That was a pipe dream this time around given the short break.

The next best thing would be for all players to be in situe by the start of the season, but Rovers won’t be alone in still needing to add to their squad by the time the first whistle is blown at Bournemouth.

Fortunately, it isn’t quite the frantic start we’re used to with a season, given the Carabao Cup ties being squeezed in, and the October international break coming after just four fixtures, not that it reduces the clamour new additions.

Four Championship matches will have been played by the time the window closes, by then, Rovers will hope not to have the same question marks hanging over them.