Took a look out of curiosity. Bristol City spent £17.9m in 16/17 on wages and salaries (on £14.3m in turnover...), and that team struggled. Looks like they had a net transfer spend of £7m+ this past transfer window, so that's likely to have risen. Good on them for their early form, but hardly an example of prudent finances. And not to call them out, as this is the norm in the Championship. Cardiff's 16/17 accounts aren't out yet, but they were spending £25.4m on wages in 15/16 (down from £30.8m the year before). Somewhat similar trajectory as us financially as their parachute payments are running out/have run out too. Turnover was £37.6m in 14/15, £31.4m in 15/16. A wage-to-turnover ratio less than 100% is impressive by Championship standards (chart below, which actually has Cardiff at 101%, so might be a mix-up), but they lost £10m that year. Would certainly be interesting to know what Rovers are spending on wages now. A little cash was splashed in the summer, but it was a relatively small amount compared to what teams are having to spend in the Championship these days. I thought to check a couple comparisons: Wolves in 13-14 and Wigan in 15-16. Both similar to Rovers in being teams that had somewhat recently been in the Premier League, so were "used" to higher wages, and then tumbled to League 1. Both also ended up getting automatic promotion, partly due to being willing to spend a little bit in League 1 (amidst many outgoings too) - Wolves had ~£3m of incomings; Wigan £1m+. Wolves' wage costs dropped from £31.1m to £20.5m. Wigan saw their wage costs drop from £26m to £11.9m. It'd purely be speculation as to the relegation clauses Rovers' players had, but those two examples suggest we're spending more like £10m-£14m this year. Certainly still exorbitant by League 1 standards, but I'd again suggest we may be on 'stabler' financial footing in League 1 compared to our years in the Championship.

I did some guesstimates earlier in the year and suspect we're on track to lose more like £5m-£7m this year (before player trading) versus last year's £18m loss (before player trading). Still not great, and huge losses by League 1 standards, but I suspect Venky's isn't as troubled by such losses compared to the £30m+ losses of yesteryear... Obviously still not a sustainable business, but few football clubs really are. The likes of Dack, Smallwood, Whittingham, etc. cost a fair bit by League 1 standards, but they probably still represent a decline in average wages relative to the Championship. Relegation clauses and Lowe, Akpan, Guthrie, Henley, etc. leaving should drop our wages a fair bit. Net transfer spend was probably under a £1m after Steele's sale. As you said, largely same old, same old, but, somewhat perversely, I'd contend League 1 isn't the gargantuan money loser that Championship football has become. Dropping from the Championship to League 1 isn't as dramatic as the end of parachute payments. The accounts have the same assurance that Venky's has sufficient funds to cover the next 12 months "regardless of whether [the Bank of India financing facility] is renewed at March 2018", etc, etc. No significant change in the overall predicament, as far as I can see at least. Turnover down £5.7m; wages and operating expenses down £6.5m = a reduced net operating loss, hurray!... edit: re: non-Venky's debt, overdraft is still at 2.65% + LIBOR, while the 'other loan' of £1.8m that we were paying 8.6% on was paid off in April. Doesn't look like any additional loans were needed, unlike when that £400k at 14% loan was needed in 15/16 (and paid off back in June 2016). These accounts won't have anything on any active loans we've taken on after that.

In a scenario where we get promoted and Chapman plays a strong part in that, and he's happy at the club, it's not hard to imagine us trying to make him a permanent signing next year. Consider it an extended audition. Loans are always going to be a lower risk than a permanent signing, just with lower potential long-term pay-off. Imagine if Chapman was playing like ****. We'd be pretty relieved he'd be heading back to Middlesbrough as soon as January. Same for Antonsson before he managed a few goals. Even if he doesn't stick around, if Chapman turns out to be the marginal factor in pushing us on to promotion, that's a loan well taken. Now, if we don't get promoted, Chapman goes back to Middlesbrough despite excelling here, and his playing time thus only served to stand in the way of players we're hoping to develop long-term, yes, obviously that's a worse case scenario. But it's a bit much to treat that as the reality today.

For this board's sake, it's probably about time that you definitively said whether you're a fan of Nyambe or not.

It was reported a few weeks ago that he's been shut down for the year. He's had a groin problem for a couple years now and those don't heal easily. They can feel fine for weeks in training but then give way again as soon you try to push it in a game. Despite the above suggestion, he didn't make it into the latest NI squad due to his injury. It's a shame as I agree and think he's our best midfielder. He and Guthrie had a brief midfield pairing earlier in the year, maybe around Nov-Dec?, and I thought it was the best midfield we had all year, but then injuries of course ended that... both are decent midfielders on their day. The sad thing is players of their quality are only really slumming it with us because of their injury woes. Same story with Mulgrew.

Connor Thomson is also on loan at Barrow. Checking now, for whatever reason Thomson wasn't in the lineup for Barrow last night (they were short a man on the bench, so maybe he's hurt?), but had started a game a couple weeks ago, otherwise sitting on the bench. Looks like it was Platt's first start. Oddly came on as a sub in the 46th minute the game before, though was then subbed off in the 67th minute... Maybe hurt, though he managed the full 90 minutes last night. Checking on our other loanee, Wharton, he started in Cambridge's game on Saturday after sitting a few after being subbed at the half in his previous start, which was a bit worrying. I certainly have hopes for the lad, but I didn't quite get the enthusiasm for throwing him to the wolves this year. Notwithstanding our defensive struggles under Coyle and him scrambing a goal in the League Cup, but a 19 year old who had reportedly had some injuries and I remember reading he had some tough games for the u23s this year too, so some time in League 2 should do him well.

Just for references sake, glancing at Mowbray's time at Coventry (purely looking at the record, no idea about context actual context, which I gather was generally less than ideal, etc.): Joined in March 2015 with Coventry in 20th place. Went 5-4-5 the rest of the year (a pace that would've put them T11th over the course of the year), and they finished 17th. 2015-16, Coventry had a very strong first half, being in 1st place as late as the end of November with a record of 11-6-3. However, they had a pretty miserable run-in, going 8-6-12 to finish the year in 11th. 2016-17, pretty awful with Mowbray resigning after starting the year 0-6-4 and dead last. May not entirely have been his fault given the apparent turmoil at Coventry, and while Coventry had a brief respite after he left, they've since had 7- and 5-game losing streaks, and are 9 points from safety (though they now have Yakubu who will surely save them). Always struck me as a bit odd that draws are often effectively ignored in evaluating manager's this way (I get it, who enjoys settling for draws and they don't exactly get you cups/promoted/etc). 40% tends to strike me as pretty 'typical' number for a managers that manage to stick around football, albeit not with the same team...

You may want to double check his passport...

Speak of the devil. Cham back to National League North with Hednesford Town on a month-long loan. http://www.rovers.co.uk/news/article/modou-cham-hednesford-town-2988509.aspx Apparently been set back by a calf injury.