Ambition against finance will be a big discussion point for many Championship manages this summer, and Rovers are no different.

They are one of a clutch of clubs who finished in mid-table who will be looking to improve next season, feeling a top six finish is within their grasp. But how to address the gap between the top six and those mid-table positions, while remaining compliant with profit and sustainability rules, is the challenge.

Do Rovers, who have worked hard to bring their wage budget to a more manageable level in recent years, look to recruit experienced campaigners, seasoned at this level and no strangers to playing their football in the upper echelons of the division?

Or do they continue with a model which has brought them some success in recent times, buying players for small six-figure fees, largely entering the final stages of their contract, before giving them exposure in the first-team environment and then possibly sell them on at a profit in a bid to become more sustainable?

That has been the way to go in recent years, with additions such as Bradley Dack, Amari’i Bell, Joe Rothwell and Jacob Davenport, while the club hope both Adam Armstrong and Ben Brereton will have a large re-sale value despite their additions costing seven-figure fees.

For the former, targets such as Stewart Downing indicate that Mowbray is keen to add more experience to his ranks.

Whoever, they target though, given Rovers ‘are in the middle of the Championship food chain’, Mowbray knows they will face competition.

“The balance for me, we talk about ambition, is which way we’re going to do it,” he said.

“How are we going to achieve what we want?

“If we’re going to do it by signing young players, building them up and selling them as assets, and every now and then using the money from one to reinvest back in to the team to keep building the football club, then that’s okay.

“My hope would be that by Christmas if we’re in mid-table and not top of the league then you’re not clamouring for a new manager because I’m trying to be realistic.

“Recruitment is important. If you have loads of money and can buy the best players then the manager should feel the pressure, win matches and be at the top.

“If you’re not, and in the middle of the food chain, and can’t get the better players because they go where they money is and where the bigger crowds, that’s okay, but as long as we’re competitive that’s fine.

“As long as I feel we’re getting better then I’ll be happy.”

The overseas market is one where Mowbray sees both talent, and value, and would fit in to the policy of securing untapped potential for less than their market value - a strategy used by Norwich and Huddersfield to great effect in recent times.

Last summer, Davenport and Rothwell arrived from Manchester City and Oxford United respectively, for undisclosed fees, believed to be in the region of £300,000. Dack was a £750,000 signing from Gillingham, while Dominic Samuel (£500,000 from Reading) and Amari’i Bell (£250,000 from Fleetwood) are similar types of signings.

Mowbray has revealed that there is the option of matching the £6m signing of Ben Brereton from Nottingham Forest last summer, but that came as a result of missing out on several other targets in the price range of around £2million.

Mowbray feels the success of Norwich and Sheffield United last season, going from mid-table to the Premier League in 12 months, will certainly offer hope for many clubs.

He added: “Hopefully we can produce players, like Rothwell and Davenport, who we can bring in for £300,000 and turn out to be better than £300,000 footballers, Bradley being a similar case.

“If that’s the route then that’s okay, as long as there’s support behind that.

“I would like to be able to go and spend £50m this summer and the fans expecting to win every game, I’ve managed teams like that and when you don’t it’s a disaster.

“It’s about balancing expectation against revenue streams.

“For me, where we are in the middle of the food chain, we have to engineer a camaraderie and a spirit, allied with the odd bit of class and quality that can win you games, with the strength and solidity of a settled backline, will give us an opportunity to do what Norwich and Sheffield United, not the biggest teams in the league, did and manage to get promotion. If we can work off that model then we’ll hopefully be okay.”