Think that might be the catch. I'd be astonished if there was that amount to spend.

How many Championship or decent League One sides are going to loan their decent players out to Rovers until January? If we want one of their players why wouldn't they wait until January when we can make a cash buy? What incentive is there for these clubs to send people out on loan in August with agreement to buy them in a few months? The Premier League loans are likely to be short term arrangements which we either cannot afford on permanent deals or their parent clubs will not be ready to allow them out on permanent deals.

If he had a list and failed to land any of them then the obvious conclusion is that the list was unrealistic and insufficient planning had gone into it. NOBODY has said we should be buying people for the sake of it at crazy prices. That doesn't mean you don't sign anyone and run the serious risk of relegation because of it.

Will the club shop be opening early tomorrow to deal with the backlog of the 1000+ extra season tickets being sold?

What does 'at such short notice' mean?

I believe we were interested, I'm highly doubtful that it was a £4 million bid or that we ever seriously thought QPR would sell their best player to us so late in the window. Once again it doesn't actually matter because he isn't coming here, but in the meantime it seems most Rovers fans have gone giddy with excitement that Venkys are splashing the cash and there's a warchest waiting to be spent. If it doesn't actually get spent it doesn't get us anywhere. Plenty now saying they don't want us to spend 'for the sake of it'. I don't think anyone is suggesting that they do yet we've had all summer to address obvious shortages in personnel so people expect those shortages to be addressed. We've also spent all summer listening to Mowbray saying he wants another 4 or 5 on preferably permanent deals and that he has a good budget to use. No evidence of either with 2 hours to go.

Who are these 'many sources'? It began about 9pm with Alan Myers pointing people in the direction of 'Sky Sources' and everything else has spun off that tweet. Either way though it doesn't matter, because it seems highly unlikely he will be coming, so doesn't actually matter whether it was a real serious bid or not. We could bid £10 million for Messi, that doesn't mean it would ever happen or that we were even serious about it. Bids aren't serious if made knowing they won't be accepted or that personal terms wouldn't be agreed.

People call me negative and obsessed with conspiracy theories but really I'm just not ready to swallow and accept absolutely everything that gets put out as being the gospel truth, certainly not at this club with its recent history.

Quite obvious that Sharpe only cottoned on to the Freeman 'bid' after it had been announced via 'Sky Sources'. If that Sky source hadn't gone public with it then there'd be nothing. The whole think has a funny smell about it, and true to form it is now being reported that Middlesbrough are in for him. I get the feeling it is all a game and we're being used. We have a threadbare squad from an attacking point of view. Our manager has said that the squad needs help by way of 4-5 additions. Are you saying Mowbray is wrong?

The fact we've barely spent any. It will take more than 11th hour twitter rumours of bids for QPR players to convince me there's a pot of cash to spend. Spending it will convince me. If we're struggling and fighting relegation with a threadbare squad will you feel better that we didn't 'overpay' for additions or will you wish we'd spent a bit more?

What makes you think we have money?

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.