How Eustace's 'huge risk' kept Derby in Championship

John Eustace's relegation rescue mission at Derby County was one he took on with Premier League ambitions in mind.

He freely admitted on his first day in the job that he had taken a "huge risk" by leaving a Blackburn Rovers side that were in the play-off places at the time to instead try to keep the Rams in the Championship.

It looked like a gamble gone wrong when the Rams found themselves bottom of the table after his first three matches ended in defeat and failed to produce a single goal.

Six wins in 10 games after that and a final-day draw with Stoke City on Saturday, was enough to keep the Rams up, finishing three places and a point above relegated Luton Town in 22nd spot.

With Blackburn falling short of the play-offs and remaining in the same division as Eustace's Rams next season, the 45-year-old was asked if that "risk" he took had been vindicated.

In his response he seamlessly moved from talking about how relegation was something he always accepted as a possibility but that it would not have stopped him from believing in the club's potential.

"I wasn't here for the next two months, I was here for the next three or four years," he told BBC Sport.

"So whatever would have happened, would have happened. I was very aware of the situation leaving a great football club in Blackburn to come here.

"It was my choice to do it and if we had been relegated I wanted to be part of trying to build this football club to where it should be.

"And over the next three, four or five years we want to be challenging to get into the Premier League."

Acknowledging the threat of relegation, however, was not him saying he saw it as an inevitability.

"Don't get me wrong, I didn't want to get relegated," he stressed.

"We tried everything possible to try make sure we stayed in this league. What I'm saying is that if we did [get relegated] there was no problems, we would just go again.

"I'm very proud of the group. Being seven points off being safe in the league a few weeks ago to now finishing 19th is a fantastic achievement."

Part of the conversations that Eustace had with Derby when he took the helm in February was about the club's search for fresh investment.

In September, it was revealed that owner David Clowes had held talks with unnamed potential investors about selling a majority stake in the club.

Nothing further has come from the Rams since and when asked if Eustace knew how important staying in the Championship would be in getting any deal over the line, he said: "I don't know."

"The most important thing is that we stayed in this league," he added. "And that was through a lot of hard work and dedication from the coaching staff and the players.

"And now it's over to the club to work on the other side of it."

The Rams boss said his preparations for next season will start on Monday, with recruitment a priority for a side that former boss Paul Warne once described as being a "League One team with a bit of sugar on top".

It is not a sentiment Eustace has ever shared, as he oversaw a late-season turn-around with that sugar-topped squad that would have had them among the high-flyers on form.

Championship survival has already triggered a one-year contract extension for defender Kane Wilson, while influential Everton loanee Harrison Armstrong has said he is open to returning to Pride Park next season.

Eustace would not be drawn on what Derby could be capable of after staying up but it was on the final day last season that he also kept Blackburn Rovers in the division.

From there, he had them challenging for a place in the play-offs.

"If you look at the effort we put in the last 11 games, we are third or fourth in the form table," Eustace said.

"It's just important that you get a group of players that are willing to work hard and who are coachable and willing to do their jobs.

"Coming here with 14 games to go, the players have done that. And now we have to look at players to come in next season to help this group. And then we will see how we start."