Latest Derby County news from DerbyshireLive brings you the second part of an exclusive interview with the Rams head coach ahead of the game against Leeds
08:00, 10 Jan 2026
When John Eustace was approaching the end of his career, he was one of the players who always seemed destined to make the transition into management.
As one of the senior pros guiding the next generation at Watford and then Derby County, he was already preparing to take the next step.
The last three clubs he has all saved from relegation, and when he left Blues and Rovers, he departed with the club firmly in the upper echelons of the division. The ambition at Derby is to go one better and eventually return them to the top table of English football.
But when he looks back at what has been an impressive voyage into the dugout, it's clear that the grounding he had in the bearpit of non-league was just as valuable.
"Management just became a natural progression," he says. "For the last four or five years, when I was playing, I was doing it naturally on the pitch anyway.
"When I left Rangers, I came back and finished my badges. I knew the owner of Kidderminster, and he said 'it's a full-time environment, we've just been relegated from the National League into the National League North, do you fancy it?'
"I didn't really think about it and said I'll give it a go. And that was it. I had to learn on the job, but that's where I met Matt Gardiner (his assistant). We didn't know each other before then, but we hit it off, and it's been good ever since.
"People may look and go why start in non-league, but it was important. If anyone asked me what their thoughts would be on managing at that level, I would recommend it 100 per cent. It gives you an environment to learn, to develop, to manage up, and there's a lot of pressure. It's not like the under-23s, where it doesn't matter.
"You learn from day one that people's jobs are on the line and results are so important. Kidderminster is a huge club at that level. It was a fantastic stadium and there was great support. It was a brilliant two years in terms of education.
"Steve McLaren then asked me to go into QPR with him as the assistant manager. He'd seen Kiddy play on a number of occasions and was impressed. I was there for five years, had a great time, and then, obviously, Birmingham came calling.
"That was a great honour, it's my hometown club. I had four years at Birmingham as a schoolboy. A lot of my family are Blues fans, and it was a great experience to manage them. It was a really difficult period for the club, and just to keep them in the league that year was a huge achievement.
"It was the highest points tally in 10 years, and with the squad of players that we had, it was a great achievement to have the highest amount of minutes for under-21s and under-18s playing as well as trying to stay in the league.
"That was brilliant, but then obviously they got taken over at the end of that season. We started well, but I left after 11 or 12 games. But I wouldn't change anything. It was a great learning experience.
"I'm glad I could help Birmingham on their road to wherever they're going to go. Obviously, they're eventually going to the Premier League with all the money they're spending. Blackburn was also a great experience, and another big club with huge history. To go there and keep them in the league was really rewarding. They were on a terrible run before we went in.
"But we turned it around, and staying up on the last day was a good feeling. In the second season, we played some fantastic football and managed to change our style of play, which ultimately led to success. We left them in a really strong position when we came to Derby
"It was a really difficult decision at the time for sure, but I felt it was the right one to make."
When Eustace arrived at Derby in February last year, the brief was simple: survival. An instant return to League One after promotion was simply not an option and would have represented a major blow to the club's long-term aim of returning to the top flight.
The team that Eustace inherited was so low on confidence, however, that it was hard not to envisage that away trips to Leyton Orient and Stevenage would be back on the agenda. And when Derby were left seven points adrift of safety at one stage of the campaign, some pundits were already reading their last rites on their stay in the Championship.
Eustace had to devise a plan to achieve results, even if it meant straying from some of his principles. It was a case of needs must. No manager ever wants to do it, but when you're fire-fighting, it doesn't matter how you stop the flames. The transfer window had shut, so it offered no escape route. However, the addition of some vastly experienced pros, such as Jeff Hendrick and Martyn Waghorn, not to play but to offer support to the rest of the players, proved a masterstroke.
Derby then embarked on an incredible run towards the back end of the season and stayed up on the final day to complete the first mission of Eustace's assignment.
"To remain in the league last year was an unbelievable achievement when you think where we were, especially with the first three games," he said. "We'd just come from a really successful team that was used to winning and playing a certain style of football.
"I was fully prepared and expected it to be difficult. I knew it wouldn't be plain sailing, but you've always had to remain positive. I'd been in that situation and found a way to pick points up.
"It probably wasn't the traditional way of doing things, but people like Jeff Hendrick, Martyn Waghorn and Kemar Roofe came in. Players who have been there and done it and are good characters. That's what the group needed because the transfer window was closed and we couldn't do anything. You look at it and think, how can we re-energise the group? How can we give them positive thoughts?
"How can we make training better? To bring players like those in was so important. They weren't coming in necessarily to start or play; they were just coming in to help the group. It's what I needed, and it was important that the lads had some fresh voices, fresh ideas, because they were down.
"They hadn't given up, but they were just lacking so much confidence because when you're on that kind of run, your confidence has taken an absolute battering. But we found a way, and it was a huge achievement."
The next item on Eustace's agenda is to now stabilise Derby in the Championship before moving them into a position where they can challenge for promotion. They are well on track to achieve that this season, with Derby currently in mid-table, where they are closer to the top six than to the bottom three. It is a firm sign of their progress under his leadership.
The club plans to be sustainable as it can be in achieving its objectives under David Clowes, so there will be no Wrexham or Birmingham-style budgets to accelerate its position. Derby have been on that rollercoaster before, and it nearly ended with them ceasing to exist. The club has made remarkable strides since it was saved by Clowes, but patience will be key as they build towards their next goal.
"It's about stabilising now, keep doing the right things and making sure the club's ready to push when the time's ready, really," Eustace continues. "Of course, you get excited, and you want more, and you want better results, but there has to be a little bit of realism to where we are as well.
"We certainly haven't thrown millions of pounds at it. We've spent money bringing players in to make us competitive with all the other teams. But then everyone else has obviously spent money too. If you look at where we are at the halfway mark and the clubs that are below us and above us, and the teams we've competed against, I think the group has done exceptionally well.
"I know it's not the finished article but I know where I want to take the club and the team. That takes time, and it will take two or three windows to get where we want to be, which is winning more than we're not. There's a way to do things, and the club wants to do it in the right way. I want to be part of the journey to help build and put my own fingerprints on it.
"We don't want a soft team and we want to instil a really exciting brand of football. Of course, we do, but that takes time to implement. But in the world we live in, everybody wants it now. If you want to order something from the takeaway, it comes straight away through places like Deliveroo. And while it's not for me personally, you can flick through TikTok where a video is on for five seconds, and then it's the next one.
"Some will want to be winning the league straight away, but there has to be realism. I don't always get everything right, but I'm trying to do the best for the football club over the next two or three years.
"We've made good progress up to now, and we've got to keep doing that in the right way for the next 20 games. We will then get to the summer, see where we're at and hopefully we can then add some more quality to the group who are going be with us for the next two seasons or three seasons.
"We want to create that special environment. We also want to create an environment where we can sign young players, develop them and help them on their journey too. It's a long process, but it will end up being exciting."