This is where Doncaster Rovers' budget currently ranks in League One

Baldwin this week reaffirmed that Rovers’ ambition is to aim for Championship football whilst being financially prudent.

He repeated that the club’s strategy is to position their playing budget in and around the top six in League One with a view to winning promotion via the play-offs.

But Baldwin confirmed that this season’s budget – despite increasing by around 23 per cent from last season – does not fall within that bracket due to the financial pressures of the coronavirus pandemic.

Rovers, who host fellow strugglers Shrewsbury Town today, are currently bottom of League One and six points adrift of safety.

"We were honest at the start of the season to say we were very concerned about Covid – we had a lot of debt because of Covid – and therefore our playing budget was not challenging the top six,” said Baldwin.

"We’re aware it is 14th highest in the league at the moment.

"Therefore if our position in the league reflected the budget we wouldn’t be in the relegation zone.

"However, it will be increased again, based on the chairman’s commitments to the players on Monday, the playing budget will be increased significantly again in January so we do believe we are giving ourselves best chance of staying up.”

Baldwin flatly denied the suggestion that Rovers are content to tick along financially and do not have the ambition to play at the highest level possible.

He told the media this week that 'significant funds' will be available to strengthen the squad in January in a bid to keep the club in League One.

"The money that’s available in January for instance is because at that point we will stop paying off the Covid debts, to HMRC for instance, the player deferrals, and that money therefore can go into the playing budget,” said Baldwin.

"Next year obviously we’ve got other monies that will have been paid off and go into the playing budget. Equally, the club is raising more and more revenue every year.

"So we believe we can increase the playing budget significantly every year and that doesn’t mean going into big debt and that gives us best chance of getting into the Championship.

"We’ve been honest by saying we don’t think we can compete with a top two budget,” he added. “They’re way above us.

“But we can compete with top six budgets and therefore if we are to get into the Championship it’s more likely to be through the play-offs. That remains the strategy moving forward.”