Big reason why John Eustace is set to leave Blackburn Rovers for Derby County revealed | OneFootball

The 45-year-old is set to leave Rovers and take charge of his former club soon.

John Eustace is set to leave Blackburn Rovers and join Derby County as the Rams’ new manager after a year in charge at Ewood Park.

That's according to Alex Crook on X, who has revealed that the reasoning behind the decision is that the 45-year-old does not feel supported by the club's board.

He has asked for permission to speak to the Rams, and the Lancashire side have "reluctantly" allowed him to speak to the club.

The former Birmingham City head coach was able to keep Rovers in the Championship on the final day of the 2023/24 campaign, and has taken them into a play-off place with 15 games to go. However, he will now return to Pride Park following Paul Warne's sacking on Friday.

Derby are currently 22nd in the table, and are just a point off safety after they ended a run of seven successive league defeats on Saturday at Carrow Road in a 1-1 draw with Norwich City.

The Rams face Oxford United at home on Tuesday evening, before they travel to Loftus Road to face QPR on Friday.

Eustace's reason for Blackburn exit revealed

The Rams triggered the compensation package for Eustace on Sunday, with John Percy reporting that a fee of around £500k was paid.

However, Rovers played against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup fourth round, so any further negotiations were forced to wait until after the game. The 45-year-old made it clear that he wanted to speak to the club's hierarchy following their 2-0 defeat.

He took training as normal on Monday morning before informing Blackburn of his desire to leave Ewood Park and fill the vacancy in the East Midlands.

Eustace has made no secret of wanting to return closer to home, but Crook has revealed that the main reason behind his decision to switch Lancashire for Derbyshire is the lack of support he feels from the board.

David Clowes, the Rams' owner, is searching for new investment to help the club push back towards the top-half of the Championship and eventually a return to the Premier League, and this has seemingly appealed to the retired midfielder.

Eustace is a huge coup for Derby

Derby have had a very difficult few months, and the club was forced into a decision to sack Warne before the damage inflicted became too much to reverse.

Eustace has proven himself at this level on two different occasions with two very different clubs, in Birmingham and Blackburn, and there will be hopes that he can have a repeat of this success at Pride Park.

The Rams' number one target is survival this season, but with their incoming manager joining from a club that are flying high, it seems as though he has been given assurances about his future if relegation is suffered.

Nevertheless, Derby proved against Norwich on Saturday that they do have the quality needed to secure their Championship status for a second season, and they will need to band together to ensure that survival is achieved.

Matt Hamshaw will take charge of the team's clash against Oxford on Tuesday evening, and he will be looking to leave the club in a positive manner with their first win since Boxing Day.