Where might QPR and Ian Holloway be without the timely signings that have helped them in recent seasons? No wonder the Rangers boss is worried.
With the transfer window set to apply to clubs outside the Premership next term, Holloway has every reason to be one of the most vocal opponents of the change.
He hailed Simon Royce and Andy Davies after his team's draw at The Den, where the R's dominated a below-par Millwall side without converting their chances.
But the on-loan duo have merely helped Rangers during an already pleasing campaign. Without some of the other reinforcements Holloway has acquired during his four-year reign, things could have turned out very differently for him.
Rangers were 15th in the old Division Two and couldn't win a game before Kevin Gallen was re-signed in November 2001, while Holloway was desperate and on the brink of the sack when Lee Cook arrived on loan from Watford the following year.
And the likes of Kevin McLeod, Stephen Kelly, Arthur Gnohere and Marcus Bignot have been signed in the nick of time, at crucial stages of his managership.
A transfer window would be very bad news indeed for QPR. Holloway, for all his strengths, is not the type of manager that assembles a squad in a summer and sticks with it. He is rarely happy with his lot, always planning his next signing and keen to "stack 'em and rack em", as he puts it.
The amount of signings he has made and the number that have been during a season tell their own story.
The man that said "when the water in the pond stands still, it starts to stink", is facing the prospect of not being able to touch his pond for months at a time, and he isn't happy.
"It's absolutely ridiculous - I just can't believe they're doing this," he said.
"I can't see who benefits from it. Players don't. Managers don't. Clubs don't. It's just mad.
"What happens when you get a player that isn't in your plans? He can't go anywhere. That's totally crazy. In any other walk of life if you're not able to work somewhere you go and work somewhere else.
"This change is going to be a nightmare for clubs like us if we can't get people in on loan when we need them.
"We're planning for next season and it's going to be even more of a job doing that if they bring this in."
The performances of Royce and Davies strengthened Holloway's conviction that non-Premiership clubs should be able to make signings as and when they need to.
"They've been big players for us," he said.
"One's a centre-back and the other a goalkeeper, and that spine of your team is very important.
"They've given us a boost and helped the other players believe that we can carry on competing. They've made a real difference."
Davies in particular has impressed at the heart of the defence alongside Dan Shittu and shown why he is so highly rated by Middlesbrough, who have injury problems and don't want to extend his loan spell at Loftus Road.
But while their defence looked comfortable, it was at the other end that Rangers were found wanting.
Paul Furlong fired into the side netting and then, uncharacteristically, missed the best chance of the game when he steered the ball wide from close-range following Martin Rowlands' right-wing cross.
And Rangers were denied what looked a cast-iron penalty when Lee Cook exchanged passes with substitute Tony Thorpe and was tripped by Mark Phillips as he shaped to shoot.
'Was it a penalty?' Holloway was asked.
"As my wife says: 'It wasn't a penalty, because the ref didn't give one,'" he responded.
