New Derby County head coach John Eustace has just swapped a promotion push with Blackburn Rovers for a Championship relegation scrap. The obvious question is why?
In his first press conference back at the club where he ended his playing career, he was asked that same question in several different ways.
He mentioned David Clowes on multiple occasions. This Derby coup is clearly down to the vision of the club’s owner and how well that came across to Eustace.
“I want to build something special”
I asked the new head coach about those who might think this was a ‘huge risk’ to leave a team in the play-offs, for one in the bottom three.
He said: Yeah they’re probably right but the reason I’ve done it is I want to be part of going forward in the next three, four years. I want to build something special.
“I spoke to David and he told me about the plans.
“I’ve left Blackburn in a really good position, the players there have been fantastic and so have the staff but this is a chance to be at a fantastic football club with great support, fantastic stadium and try and get them back to where they should be and that’s in the Premier League.”
Notice there was no mention of the ownership at Blackburn Rovers in that answer.
There are other perks to this move. His family live in the Midlands so he will be able to spend a lot more time at home.
He says “I was fully committed at Blackburn, I was living up there 5 or 6 days a week.
“You know of course it’s great to be back with my family and family are obviously the most important thing to me, of course they are, but also I want to be successful as a manager and I think speaking to David that was the main reason that I wanted to come back to the Midlands.
“Because of the vision of the football club over the next 3 or 4 years they allow me to be part of something special and to build and grow. That’s where I want to be.”
One thing he hasn’t lost in this move is on-field drama. The battle to stay up could be as fascinating as the race to go up this season.
John says “I’ve seen enough, the attitude of the boys has been great. We’ve got to be fully committed, which they will be. It’s going to go down to the wire … but whatever happens we’ll be fully committed and ready.”
