John Eustace will surely not leave Derby County for Burnley due to one huge reason | OneFootball

Former Blackburn Rovers and current Derby boss John Eustace has been linked with the Burnley managerial job

John Eustace has been linked with the vacant managerial role at Burnley following the dismissal of Scott Parker, but one key reason may mean there surely is no chance he leaves Derby County for the Clarets.

Derby County have enjoyed a much more enjoyable campaign than last time out, with the Rams having only narrowly avoided relegation to League One by the skin of their teeth in 2025.

This time around, Derby headed into the final game of the season with a chance of securing a top-six finish, but a 2-1 home defeat to Sheffield United, as well as Hull City's victory over Norwich City, meant that they would fall just short.

Head coach John Eustace has done an excellent job since taking charge at Pride Park, and was given full license in the summer to rebuild the Rams in his image, bringing in players such as Patrick Agyemang, Lewis Travis, Carlton Morris, and Rhian Brewster on permanent deals, whilst the likes of David Ozoh, Ben Brereton Diaz, and Bobby Clark joined on loan.

However, his performance with Derby has seen him linked with the vacant post at Burnley alongside Cardiff City's Brian Barry-Murphy after the Clarets' dismissal of Scott Parker, though there is an obvious reason as to why he may have no interest in the role.

John Eustace's history with Blackburn Rovers means he will surely snub Burnley to remain with Derby County

Eustace has done a solid job almost everywhere he has gone in his career to date, with the former midfielder having taken his first role in the EFL with Birmingham City in July 2022, where he would help the Blues to their highest league finish since 2016.

Despite this, he was sacked in October 2023, with the board preferring to appoint Wayne Rooney instead, as the Blues would slip down in the table following his dismissal.

Eustace would then join Blackburn Rovers in February 2024, successfully steering the Lancashire outfit to safety, and then would continue his good work at Ewood Park heading into the next campaign, but would be poached almost exactly a year later by Derby despite the Rams sitting closer to the relegation zone and Blackburn sitting just beneath the play-offs at the time of his departure.

Blackburn and Burnley have a rivalry dating back well over a century, and whenever the two clubs meet, it's almost always a feisty affair.

Though Eustace decided to jump ship from Ewood Park to Derby, his reasoning was not down to any sort of spite towards the club, but more so that he felt he would be backed significantly more at Pride Park.

His history and affinity with Blackburn mean the chances of his jumping ship once more, this time to Turf Moor, would be extremely slim, especially considering the relationship he has forged at Pride Park with the club and the fans.

Eustace's tendency to sign former Blackburn players would also be a sticking point in any move to Burnley, with each of Lewis Travis, Ben Brereton Diaz, Dion Sanderson, Sammie Szmodics, Andreas Weimann, Danny Batth, and Owen Beck having been signed by Derby under the 46-year-old's watch.

Whether Eustace could be tempted to abandon his project at Derby for Burnley remains to be seen, though his history with Blackburn would suggest that the chances of a departure are slim.

Derby will be confident of retaining the services of John Eustace amid Burnley interest

Despite interest from Burnley, who have just two more Premier League games to play before their relegation to the Championship, Derby will be confident on their chances of keeping Eustace at the club.

Eustace has already opened up on his plans to bring back some of his loan stars from this season, whilst citing his great relationship with the club's hierarchy, saying: "We've got a fantastic owner in David (Clowes) and a great CEO in Stephen Pearce.

"It's been a group effort to get to where we are now, but there's still a hell of a lot of hard work ahead for sure.

"It's really important that we don't go backwards now and we keep stepping forwards.

"That group of players that we've got have been terrific and there's still a lot of growth to come from them too.

We have a squad that's been really competitive and very honest, but we want to bring in better players as well to help the group.

"We want to keep the loan players, of course we do, and we want to create something special at the club. We've certainly done that up to now."

Indeed, Eustace jumped ship from Blackburn to take on this project at Derby, and if he were to abandon that now, it would be a huge surprise, despite Burnley's superior financial position.