Championship transfer window winners and losers: Middlesbrough, Derby County and Wrexham’s business analysed

Gallows humour may lead to some Blackburn fans claiming the sacking of Valerien Ismael on deadline day actually ended a challenging month with a positive, given the perceived detrimental impact the Frenchman was having on the Rovers team.

But in a strategic sense, whoever replaces Ismael inherits the same problems he has been wrestling with and zero flexibility to do anything about it until June which, by then, could be too late.

Eiran Cashin is a high-level Championship defender who would improve most teams in the division, but one extra body does not address the vast injury issues the squad has at the heart of the defence, something Ismael constantly advertised.

Financial backing did come in the form of Mathias Jorgensen’s signing from Bodo/Glimt, while Dapo Afolayan arrives with attacking pedigree, albeit largely in League One.

Those signings add greater depth, competition and, hopefully, additional quality in the final third and do directly impact the starting XI rather than being depth pieces, but the group seems short-handed, particularly at the other end of the pitch.

Results do dictate a lot of the narrative, and league position, Ismael’s dismissal and continual fan discontent is more than enough evidence that things are not well at Ewood Park, which perhaps bleeds into analysing their work over the past month.

But with a squad that does not seem to have been strengthened adequately, and the need for a new head coach to work within a very specified framework, it is hard to see if significant improvement can be made.