“I say this carefully” – Observation made on John Eustace after Derby County, Blackburn Rovers switch.

Former Swindon Town manager Mark Kennedy claims John Eustace moved from Blackburn Rovers to Derby County because the latter was a better long-term project.

The 45-year-old has taken over at Pride Park following Paul Warne’s resignation, with the Rams in danger of being relegated to League One. The decision to leave the Lancashire club came as a surprise given that they are in contention for a play-off spot this season. However, Eustace is a former Derby County player who spent the last two years of his career there, and it has been alleged that conflicts behind the scenes contributed to his departure from Ewood Park.

John Eustace long-term vision claim

Kennedy claims that Eustace will not have approached the Derby game with only the end of the season in mind. He believes the former Blackburn boss has taken a longer-term view of both clubs’ current positions, rather than focussing solely on this season. “He will have taken the Derby job with, I say this carefully because it doesn’t seem to happen in football, but with a long-term vision,” Kennedy stated via the EFL All Access channel. “He will have taken the job under the stipulation that god forbid they go down, what it looks like next year, and I know there is a long way to go and stuff like that, but he would not take it, it is not that he has taken the job for 14 games [without considering that].

“So I think he has looked at the long-term impact of where the club are going and I think he has measured that against what Blackburn are, who they are and where can they go and the potential of both teams will be massive in his decision-making.” Blackburn are presently seventh in the Championship, while Derby are 22nd and one point away from safety.

Eustace decision could pay off in the long run

If Eustace felt he wasn’t being properly supported at Blackburn, it’s evident he had no long-term prospects there. This season went quite well while he was there, but it would be difficult to maintain if they couldn’t compete financially with their opponents. Keeping up Derby will be difficult considering how terrible they have been in recent weeks, but doing so would put him in a strong position to construct something more sustainable in the long run. There is little doubt that he will be well supported in the summer, regardless of the division they compete in, giving him more peace of mind than at Ewood Park.

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