Mowbray says Rovers will have to be ‘cleverer and cuter’ than their Championship rivals in the summer transfer window.

Mowbray returns from India tomorrow after his week-long meetings with the Rovers owners to discuss the budget for next season.

The Rovers boss is looking to improve on this season’s 15th placed finish and will look to press ahead with his transfer plans.

That is likely to see Rovers delve in to the European market, with Mowbray, as well as members of his backroom and recruitment team, having travelled across the continent to watch prospective targets. Looking for value for money in an ever inflating market is becoming increasingly difficult, and Mowbray knows Rovers will have to box clever.

“You have to mould your team, be cleverer and cuter than other teams, because we can’t be the team that outbids other teams,” he said.

“Recruitment has to be good, the coaching has to be good, the infrastructure at the club has to be strong, to be able to attract players.”

Mowbray told reporters in Pune: “Footballers are like pebbles on the beach. You can find one and then polish it up and make it in to a diamond.

“You have to turn players with your coaching and how you treat them in to top players.

“To become a professional footballer they can all play to a certain level.

“You have to mould your team, be cleverer and cuter than other teams, because we can’t be the team that outbids other teams.

“Recruitment has to be good, the coaching has to be good, the infrastructure at the club has to be strong, to be able to attract players.

“If players want to go elsewhere for more money then we will let them go.

“I have to engineer it so the players care for each other and work hard for each other, they want to win together, they will run, fight and chase not just for themselves but for their team-mates and their families, the supporters, the owners.

“My job is to inspire them to want to do that. We have to be cleverer than the teams with the big money.”