John Eustace: Derby County boss on Premier League ambitions

John Eustace’s relegation rescue mission at Derby County was one he took on with Premier League ambitions in mind.

He freely admitted on his first day in the job that he had taken a “huge risk” by leaving a Blackburn Rovers side that were in the play-off places at the time to instead try to keep the Rams in the Championship.

It looked like a gamble gone wrong when the Rams found themselves bottom of the table after his first three matches ended in defeat and failed to produce a single goal.

Six wins in 10 games after that and a final-day draw with Stoke City on Saturday, was enough to keep the Rams up, finishing three places and a point above relegated Luton Town in 22nd spot.

With Blackburn falling short of the play-offs and remaining in the same division as Eustace’s Rams next season, the 45-year-old was asked if that “risk” he took had been vindicated.

In his response he seamlessly moved from talking about how relegation was something he always accepted as a possibility but that it would not have stopped him from believing in the club’s potential.

“I wasn’t here for the next two months, I was here for the next three or four years,” he told BBC Sport.

“So whatever would have happened, would have happened. I was very aware of the situation leaving a great football club in Blackburn to come here.

“It was my choice to do it and if we had been relegated I wanted to be part of trying to build this football club to where it should be.

“And over the next three, four or five years we want to be challenging to get into the Premier League.”