Former Swindon Town manager Mark Kennedy has claimed that John Eustace moved from Blackburn Rovers to Derby County due to the latter being a better project longer-term.
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.
Eustace, who spent the last two years of his career at Derby, has been linked to troubles behind the scenes, leading to his departure from Ewood Park.
John Eustace long-term vision claim
According to Kennedy, Eustace will not approach the Derby game solely with the goal of finishing the season.
He believes the ex-Blackburn boss has taken a longer-term view of both clubs’ current positions, rather than focused solely on this campaign.
“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,” said Kennedy, via EFL All Access.
“He will have taken the job under the provision of 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 certainly 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 currently fifth in the Championship table, while Derby are 22nd and one point adrift of safety.
