Rovers are ‘putting the brakes on’ but Tony Mowbray is confident that owners Venky’s will invest in the team when the financial picture becomes brighter.

A loans only policy appears likely for Rovers in this transfer window, with Mowbray having been given no guarantee of funds to reinvest in the side should top scorer Adam Armstrong be sold before the August 31 deadline.

Rovers, who were subject to an EFL embargo until last month, are yet to make any signings this summer and head into tomorrow’s opening game with Swansea with a depleted squad.

That followed the departure of six out-of-contract players and five loanees, with several high earners having left the club easing the wage bill following losses of £21m in the year to June 2020.

Mowbray says Rovers aren’t alone in feeling the pinch after the coronavirus pandemic, with no supporters present for the whole of last season, while the business interests of Championship owners have also been affected.

That leaves the Rovers boss facing a summer of only adding loan players to his squad which he accepts is far from ideal having spoken at length about the need to add more assets. But he believes that when the financial picture becomes clearer, investment in the side will follow.

He said: “I think that’s a lot of clubs in our league, quite a few are in the same boat. You see a few clubs spending money of course and trying to strengthen while a lot of other clubs can’t and that might give them some impetus.

“We fall into the category of a lot of clubs of being without the finance, because of the pandemic it has to be said, India has been particularly badly hit.

“As I’ve always said from the day I met the owners, they’re good people, good human beings, they have done their very best through a very difficult period in the world where revenue streams aren’t happening for them.

“Yet they continue to support the club. At this moment I’m not, as the manager, stamping my feet and demanding we need to do this and that and keep the club growing, I am being sympathetic to the fact that their business has been hit and I’m very confident when the situation resolves itself and gets rolling again invest in this team to try and take it on the journey we’re on.

“At the moment we’re putting the brakes on.”