David Clowes credits one person for hiring John Eustace at Derby County, ‘I have to take my hat off to…’

Add as preferred source on Google

Derby County owner David Clowes has penned a statement to supporters following the Rams’ dramatic survival in the Championship this season.

The campaign marked a return to the second tier for the East Midlands outfit, who spent two seasons in League One after a turbulent few years.

Paul Warne started the season off well, with Derby looking on course for a mid-table finish at the halfway point of the Championship.

Form then fell off a cliff, with the side left scrambling for points and seemingly doomed at the bottom of the table in March.

Warne, now the MK Dons boss, was dismissed as survival became a distant possibility for the Pride Park outfit.

The Championship was then stunned as John Eustace swapped play-off-chasing Blackburn Rovers to join Derby.

The former midfielder lost his first three games in charge, but a dramatic swing in form eventually saw them lifted from the bottom to survival on the final day of the season.

With the future looking bright, David Clowes has penned a statement to supporters, reflecting on the season.

• READ MORE: John Eustace made a mockery of Paul Warne’s December 2024 comments, fans were right to be furious

David Clowes reveals that Stephen Pearce was key to Derby County hiring John Eustace as manager

With Derby now officially safe in the Championship, plenty of reflection on the campaign will be conducted in the weeks ahead.

Questions surrounding recruitment, decisions on dismissals, and more will be looked at with both successes and failures addressed to chart a course forward for a more sustainable and perhaps less dramatic season to follow.

One of the undoubted successes has been the hiring of John Eustace, though, with the manager credited with completing the great escape.

While there have been some questions about how the hiring came about, Derby owner Clowes shed some light on the situation in a club statement.

He said on the decision to hire Eustace: “If you do roll that particular dice [changing manager], you have to be confident the next man is going to make a difference, and with John Eustace we were sure he could turn things around.

“His track record tells you that, but even putting past achievements aside, you only have to meet him to know that he has that something special, those innate qualities of leadership and determination to get the job done.”

With the dust settling on the campaign, Clowes also gave credit to CEO Stephen Pearce for his role in hiring Eustace.

He continued: “I have to take my hat off to Stephen Pearce on the appointment of John.

“He quickly identified the man we needed and then worked tirelessly to get the deal over the line when nobody believed a manager would swap the play-off places for a team stuck at the very bottom of the Championship.

“Of course, John knew all about the club and what makes it special from his playing days, so we had an advantage. But we also had to convince him that, no matter what happened this season, there was a clearly defined plan for the future of Derby County and that it was an exciting one.”

The building blocks will now be put into place for the next season, with the recruitment department set for a big summer to strengthen the options available to Eustace.

• READ MORE: Ebou Adams pays tribute to ‘amazing’ John Eustace after Derby County ‘miracle’

Championship survival key to Derby County investment and John Eustace’s success

With survival in the Championship now confirmed, there will be some hope that it can go a long way to securing long-term stability in the division.

Next season will be a challenge, with the promotions of Birmingham and Wrexham adding even more financial might to the Championship.

It underlines the need for further investment at board level to help Clowes finance the club forward and to keep that second-tier status for the future.

CEO Stephen Pearce last gave an update on the situation in February, when he told the official Derby website: “There are still ongoing investment conversations. David has been clear since day one, he was looking for investment into the football club.

“And I think the challenge with appointing a chairman pre that, that is always an appointment that needs to be done in conjunction with your investors, your co-investors.

“So I think for us that has been put on, I wouldn’t say the back burner, that’s probably the wrong terminology, but that is part of the ongoing investment discussions that David’s having at the moment.”

As it stands, Derby are still waiting on that investment, but security in the Championship for another season may well be a convincing factor in getting some money into the club.

That in itself will be key to helping Eustace progress with this team, with a busy summer needed to replace the outgoing players and bring in some quality to make survival that bit easier next season.