Eustice 'absolutely' deserved recognition if Rams avoid relegation
Derby County boss John Eustice should "absolutely" have been in the conversation for Championship manager of the year if the Rams avoid relegation, according to former striker Malcolm Christie.Eustice has won 65 points from 44 Championship matches this season with Derby and previous club Blackburn Rovers, who were in promotion-chasing sixth place upon his departure in February and have since slipped to eighth.Following three consecutive losses after Eustice's appointment at Pride Park, a run of six wins and two draws in his past 10 matches has dragged Derby out of the drop zone with one game remaining.Now 19th in the table with a superior goal difference to the other relegation-threatened teams, the Rams will live to fight another day in English football's second tier by matching the final-day results of Preston, Luton or Hull City.Together with his exploits at Blackburn, who were tipped for relegation before the season began after narrowly avoiding the drop last year, that would be viewed by some as sufficient achievement to have earned Eustice consideration for the Championship coaching award recently won by Burnley manager Scott Parker.Responding to a fan comment proposing as much, ex-Derby forward Christie told the Rams Daily podcast: "We're incredibly biased, but he's my manager of the season for sure. "What he's done, the transformation in everything. The way I feel about this team has changed tremendously. If you go back through old Rams Daily episodes, some of the performances under [former Derby, now MK Dons manager] Paul Warne were horrible. "There was no hope, nothing we felt we could grasp hold of, we weren't organised without the ball, teams were creating too many chances against us. It got me thinking about how much better, and how much [more] confidence I feel around what John Eustice is trying to do."Christie continued: "Of course we can all get carried away a little but if we stay in the league, thinking about the potential for next season with the squad he's got at the moment, what could he do with a really good recruitment drive behind him and a full summer to work with these players as well? It's fantastic - I think it's really remarkable what he's done with the transformation of the team, the structure, the tactics. "Every game I'm seeing little tactic nuances coming in and the way John is doing that, based on what the opposition are good at, it's brilliant."I think John prefers the game not to be exciting - for us that's fine, as long as we get the result out of it."Listen to the latest episode of the Rams Daily podcast with Christie, Dominic Dietrich and Ed Dawes in full.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Glasgow Times
43 minutes ago
- Glasgow Times
Goldie sweet on Ascot aim for American Affair
The five-year-old saw his rapid improvement briefly come to a halt in Haydock's Temple Stakes when he finished fifth behind Ed Walker's mare Mgheera. However, Goldie believes a lack of early cover which forced him to run too keen, and then meeting trouble in running when he eventually did get in behind horses are enough of an excuse to believe he could have made up the two and three-quarter lengths that he was beaten. 'He's still on target for Ascot,' said Goldie. 'I think we needed a bit of cover and we didn't get it straight away, and then when he did get it he (Paul Mulrennan) couldn't get out when he needed to. 'He's one of these horses, we discovered when he won the Portland, that he is probably 10lb better if you can switch him off so you need to get cover. 'He likes getting towed along but mentally he then switches off. If you don't get proper cover, mentally he doesn't switch off and he ends up running with the choke open and that is exactly what happened. 'We were disappointed, obviously, but it wasn't that bad a run and we've still got a horse with a big engine and we'll try again another day. 'Look at last year's Derby winner (City Of Troy), when he ran in the Guineas Aidan O'Brien said he lost his race in the stalls because he got a bit upset and it turned out he was right – then he went to America and it went wrong again. 'They are highly-tuned animals and if they don't get into an absolute rhythm they rarely win. You can't get it right all the time. 'He's good enough for that level, I've never doubted that, and there's usually one or two at Ascot who go blasting off and if you are drawn next to them that helps.'
Leader Live
43 minutes ago
- Leader Live
Goldie sweet on Ascot aim for American Affair
The five-year-old saw his rapid improvement briefly come to a halt in Haydock's Temple Stakes when he finished fifth behind Ed Walker's mare Mgheera. However, Goldie believes a lack of early cover which forced him to run too keen, and then meeting trouble in running when he eventually did get in behind horses are enough of an excuse to believe he could have made up the two and three-quarter lengths that he was beaten. 'He's still on target for Ascot,' said Goldie. 'I think we needed a bit of cover and we didn't get it straight away, and then when he did get it he (Paul Mulrennan) couldn't get out when he needed to. 'He's one of these horses, we discovered when he won the Portland, that he is probably 10lb better if you can switch him off so you need to get cover. 'He likes getting towed along but mentally he then switches off. If you don't get proper cover, mentally he doesn't switch off and he ends up running with the choke open and that is exactly what happened. 'We were disappointed, obviously, but it wasn't that bad a run and we've still got a horse with a big engine and we'll try again another day. 'Look at last year's Derby winner (City Of Troy), when he ran in the Guineas Aidan O'Brien said he lost his race in the stalls because he got a bit upset and it turned out he was right – then he went to America and it went wrong again. 'They are highly-tuned animals and if they don't get into an absolute rhythm they rarely win. You can't get it right all the time. 'He's good enough for that level, I've never doubted that, and there's usually one or two at Ascot who go blasting off and if you are drawn next to them that helps.'
Powys County Times
an hour ago
- Powys County Times
Goldie sweet on Ascot aim for American Affair
Jim Goldie remains keen on a tilt at the King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot with his star sprinter American Affair. The five-year-old saw his rapid improvement briefly come to a halt in Haydock's Temple Stakes when he finished fifth behind Ed Walker's mare Mgheera. However, Goldie believes a lack of early cover which forced him to run too keen, and then meeting trouble in running when he eventually did get in behind horses are enough of an excuse to believe he could have made up the two and three-quarter lengths that he was beaten. 'He's still on target for Ascot,' said Goldie. 'I think we needed a bit of cover and we didn't get it straight away, and then when he did get it he (Paul Mulrennan) couldn't get out when he needed to. 'He's one of these horses, we discovered when he won the Portland, that he is probably 10lb better if you can switch him off so you need to get cover. 'He likes getting towed along but mentally he then switches off. If you don't get proper cover, mentally he doesn't switch off and he ends up running with the choke open and that is exactly what happened. 'We were disappointed, obviously, but it wasn't that bad a run and we've still got a horse with a big engine and we'll try again another day. 'Look at last year's Derby winner (City Of Troy), when he ran in the Guineas Aidan O'Brien said he lost his race in the stalls because he got a bit upset and it turned out he was right – then he went to America and it went wrong again. 'They are highly-tuned animals and if they don't get into an absolute rhythm they rarely win. You can't get it right all the time. 'He's good enough for that level, I've never doubted that, and there's usually one or two at Ascot who go blasting off and if you are drawn next to them that helps.'
