That isn't what the manager wants to do though. He's said on numerous occasions he doesn't want to rely on loans to fill the squad and prefers the club to own its players as assets. He's also said there's a good budget for permanent signings. So what's gone wrong?

I'm sure their paths will have crossed before. Dack comes from Greenwich and Freeman from Dartford, both came through the youth setups at Charlton and Gillingham. Probably move in similar circles. May not have played together but safe to assume they will know each other or have similar social circles.

Alarming. Looks like we'll be lucky to get one.

He will know Bennett from their days at Bristol City and knows Dack from his Gillingham days.

Then if correct questions begin over why he wouldn't want to move up a league to the Championship and be part of things at Rovers?

Is that a genuine twitter account? I know Jonathan Low is a reliable Reading journalist but thought he had a more professional twitter account with a blue tick. May be a hoax.

There's clearly been something in the Maddison interest all summer long. For whatever reason it hasn't happened, perhaps because of concerns about his attitude, perhaps because he wanted to see if a better offer materialised or perhaps because we wanted to keep our options open on other possibilities, but I think we've been in the running on that one for many weeks. I'd be pleased if we got him as I think he's a player with great potential and just what we need, along with a CF of course.

Something doesn't sit right with me on this one. I can just about bring myself to believe that there is a healthy pot of money available to use on the right targets. But if that is the case I cannot understand why we have seemingly left it until yesterday to go in for him and why we are now apparently giving up on the chase. Surely we would have known some time ago if he was available or not. Hope this isn't just using a scattergun approach as the deadline nears having failed to land priority targets. Supposedly throwing around £4 million bids for Freeman on Wednesday night and £1 million bids for back up goalkeepers just seems completely bizarre and out of character.

Surely that is the same issue at every club in the land. Doesn't stop other clubs from adding decent players and strengthening and doesn't immediately mean that team spirit etc. will be undermined. If we were to sign a couple of quality Championship players who had proven themselves at Championship clubs then I would expect them to be on more than Dack, who hasn't proven himself at this level.

Further to my point yesterday we just don't seem to be the sort of club to do a load of business all at once. Last year on deadline day we brought in Harper, Hart and Downing, 2 of which were on loan and the other on a cheap contract. 2 of them didn't even make it for us in League One and it seems Downing is being sidelined away from first team contention. Point being that we need at least 2 who are going to improve our squad and team, not people like Hart and Harper who were bench fillers. Those sort of people cost serious money and are not quick deals to get done. Mowbray doesn't seem to be the sort of bloke who goes out and gets a few in at once. He seems to work on a one by one basis. The safety net being put out by the club and the Telegraph is that the loan window remains open for a few weeks but if that is what we are relying on it doesn't strike me as in any way being a positive thing.

For the QPR owner to take to twitter to explain that bids have been rejected and they won't be selling Freeman is really putting his neck on the line. For that one to happen it is likely to take a huge bid that QPR simply cannot refuse otherwise his reputation would be shot at. I echo MarkBRFC above in thinking that come 5pm we might be disappointed. Given Mowbray's comments recently of wanting another 4 I would have hoped for 3 of those to be quality permanent signings done before the deadline. I'd be surprised if we got more than 1. Time isn't against us any more than it is against any other club. If it is true we're now bidding £4 million for players the night before the window closes I wonder why it has been left so late when we've had weeks and months to spend that sort of cash on decent players in important positions. I simply do not believe at this stage that this kind of cash is available for spending, or if it is I doubt it will actually get spent. I would love nothing more than to be proven wrong on that and be sat here at 5pm with 2 or 3 quality additions signed and sealed but my prediction is we might get one at best before bemoaning time and circumstances and pointing to the loan market as the alternative.

Maybe we've gone and swung the other way. Once upon a time avoided shelling out big fees but happy to stick wasters on huge contracts, now we're being more sensible on wages and contracts but prepared to shell out a bit more on transfer fees? Probably a better way of dodging those FFP rules.

Coyle must be out job hunting as he's emerged from under his rock after the Ross County fiasco and money for old rope routine at Sky Sports. Presumably he'll get on well with Merse and Champagne Charlie in the canteen and their 'links'. Believe it when i see it on the big money bids. Gallagher would be like Armstrong - young, knows the squad and club, did pretty well last time round, manager knows him, almost certain to grow in value if he hits double figures. I'd be happy enough with him.

Not sure they do. The 17 million fine is spread over years in small installments so it won't trouble them. The rest is converting debt into equity like they've done before. Won't cost them cash to do that part.

No it doesn't. We've then to agree personal terms and wages with the player.

Making a bid doesn't cost anything...

I must be one of a small number who wouldn't be completely enthused by Chapman. I'd be content as it seems he's a popular team member and clearly has potential there, but given his injury record and given Mowbray's reluctance to play him in the league below this I wouldn't look upon him as immediately and significantly improving our team. He'd be a good option off the bench yes, provide pace yes, but perhaps we need someone ready to come straight in and hit the ground running, not an untested kid with significant injury issues recently. Not against the idea, would trust Mowbray on that one, but wouldn't be too excited by it.

Or both Graham and Chapman live in the Middlesbrough area, Graham has had the day or afternoon off training, as has Chapman after Boro's game last night so went for a catch up.

I'd be astonished if we were paying money for Chapman at this stage. Could see a loan until January then re-assess.

Jonathan Low (Reading journalist) on twitter reckons 2 Championship clubs have activated Maddison's release clause. Reading are the bookies favourites.

Norwood is a dingle, and one who has made anti-Rovers comments in the press, so I'd avoid that one.

Whilst there are ways of dragging this out until 31st August and doing loans to become permanents in January, perhaps it is worth bearing in mind that the season is underway (this afterall is the most important thing here). So rather than allow another 5 or 6 games to go by before the end of August with a small squad devoid of options, I'd rather we got those people in asap ahead of some very important fixtures. The 31st August is the worst case date, we should only be looking to that to put some icing on the cake when some more loans come available, The big permanent signings need to be made asap and if they can't be made by the end of tomorrow then we've been barking up the wrong tree.

Like Armstrong's were? I see Hugill has now joined Middlesbrough.

Assuming we don't get anyone today then I think 1 permanent addition is the best we can hope for from here. We don't seem to be in the business of making multiple signings at once and for us to get close to Mowbray's target before tomorrow's deadline then tomorrow would be chaos with 2-3 permanent additions coming in. We seem to work one by one with significant gaps in between arrivals. Not the sort of manager or club to see 3 or 4 turn up in one day. I think we might get one and potentially another on loan with someone else in a couple of weeks. Not ideal by any stretch

I wasn't referring to Leeds being 'punished', I was referring to Leeds plummeting through the Championship and into League One due to financial chaos , something many felt would never happen because they have a lot of supporters. Some were predicting similar for Villa this summer after the gamble failed to pay off. Correct me if I am wrong on this but I am not aware of a single announcement from The League, Sheffield Wednesday or Birmingham City to say that transfer embargoes are in place for either of those clubs for breaching FFP rules. Birmingham made a statement confirming that they were 'restricted' in what they could do, yet are still allowed to add 5 players and register their £2 million summer signing, so I'm not sure that qualifies as an embargo. Sheffield Wednesday are rumoured to be, heard someone say their Chairman admitted it in a fans meeting this week, but its all Chinese whispers. How come it hasn't been announced on websites etc? Pretty sure Hull can't be under an embargo given their business this summer. They've spent an estimated £2.5 million on Reece Burke and that winger from Genoa.