The more time that passes, the more that the Rovers hierarchy have to be grateful for John Eustace and the job he and his group of players are doing.

That’s not just in terms of delivering the necessary results on the pitch, but shielding them from much more vociferous critique and questioning.

I called it after the win over Preston North End, sitting on 45 points after 30 games, that Rovers are safe from relegation.

That may be viewed as strange with the team sitting fifth in the table, but I genuinely think it is a real achievement to have said that before January was out.

I’m sure I wasn’t alone in having genuine fears of how this season could pan out, given the backdrop to the season with the ownership situation, coming off the back of the close shave that was 2023/24, and the state of the summer recruitment.

And that’s not to say I don’t have wider concerns even given the state of the Championship table.

While relegation fears have subsided, the praise for that should be bestowed to Eustace and this group of players, who now have 16 games, and an FA Cup tie against Premier League opposition, to attack and see how far they can go.

The current points per games tally would take Rovers to the 69-point mark they achieved in 2022/23 under Jon Dahl Tomasson, and have only bettered once (2013/14, 70) in the second tier since relegation from the Premier League.

Acknowledging avoiding relegation as a positive may seem like a defeatist attitude to take, but nothing the club has done off the field since Tomasson led Rovers to their highest-league position since relegation 18 months ago has suggested there has been any true ambition of returning to the top-flight, other than veiled hope.

……………………………………….

The January transfer window saw links scattered far and wide.

The result, Dion Sanderson (Birmingham City, loan), Adam Forshaw (Plymouth Argyle, free), Augustus Kargbo (Cesena, undisclosed) and Yuri Ribeiro (SC Braga, free) before the double late striking addition of Cauley Woodrow (Luton Town, loan) and Emmanuel Dennis (Nottingham Forest, loan).

Rovers’ January transfer window history has been about as smooth as the jurisdiction process at the High Court in New Delhi, and moving at a similar pace.

Last year was dominated by the failure to land Duncan McGuire, as it was with Lewis O’Brien and Ethan Brierley 12 months earlier. But let’s not also forget the likes of Billy Koumetio and the month-long pursuit of a player who is yet to make a league start (Connor O’Riordan) in disasters of Januarys past.

With Rovers well-placed in 2022, Tomasson was only delivered Sorba Thomas, the lack of a striker signing then as baffling as it was in both 2023, 2024, and also 2021 (and nearly 2025).

Then, with Rovers riding high again under Tony Mowbray, along came Deyo Zeefuik, Ryan Giles, Ryan Hedges and Dilan Markanday, but again no central striker.

This time around, the signing of Forshaw was seen as short-term cover, but that relied on him being up to speed to plug the gap of the injured Lewis Travis, and later Sondre Tronstad, but he’s looked anything but so far.

Dion Sanderson, albeit joininig from a club in the league below which felt strange, did at least come in to offer a more versatile option to Kyle McFadzean who was allowed to leave with the club’s best wishes.

Yuri Ribeiro, another signing seen as cover, arrived 44 days after the player he’s covering for got injured, which happened to come 11 days before the transfer window opened.

Augustus Kargbo appears to be in the mould of Ohashi and Gueye, with Eustace indicating this was a club signing, rather than a player that was on his radar. But while he is an unknown quantity, his is at least a permanent signing giving him time to bed in.

In the end, the double-strike deal could well be enough to appease many supporters, and the Dennis deal in particular will have cost a pretty penny. Woodrow wasn’t received as well, but was actually someone I thought of at the start of the window when it came to striking reinforcements so I’d be a hypocrite if I played that one down.

My greater concerns are wider ones though, not least having gone into an important window without a head of recruitment.

Since Stuart Harvey left in 2021, Rovers have appointed, and then reappointed, John Park, brought in Gus Williams and Sean Kimberley, but are now left with no head of recruitment once again.

Rudy Gestede came in and promised communication but has delivered very little on that front.

While I appreciate that Rovers were perhaps thinking too long-term in previous models, the current feels like it’s all done on a whim, and if it wasn’t for the last minute, nothing would get done.

Ribeiro signing on a permanent deal afforded Rovers the opportunity to bring in two more loans without going over the five allowed in an EFL matchday squad, but does now mean there are 12 players who aren’t contracted beyond the end of this season on their books (Hyam, Hedges, Markanday do have one-year options).

So there is an element of kicking the can down the road, but maybe Rovers don’t have any choice with that given the financial uncertainty that’s not financial uncertainty apparently because there are no restrictions on funding…

And there it was, another Monday as a Rovers fan, working out who will miss out on the 25-man squad and learning that last-minute deals can actually get done.