Head Coach John Eustace says he’s ‘very proud of everyone’ after Derby County secured their Sky Bet Championship status for the 2025/26 season with a 0-0 draw against Stoke City on Saturday afternoon.
Chances were few and far between before a sold-out Pride Park Stadium and the point, as well as results elsewhere, ensured Derby will be a Championship club once again next term.
The Rams finished their 2024/25 campaign 19th in the league table, with one point separating them and the drop zone.
Eustace, who joined Derby as Head Coach in February, oversaw the side's rise from bottom of the Championship and seven points adrift of safety two months ago to safety and he was delighted with the contribution of everyone associated with the club to get over the line.
Eustace spoke to RamsTV after the season finale on home turf against the Potters.
On Derby retaining their place in the Championship…
I’m delighted and very, very proud of everyone connected with the football club. It's been a group effort, not an individual effort, and we've got over the line. That is the main thing.
We’ve worked hard every day in training and every single day the boys have dedicated themselves to make sure we get over the line, and there's been a lot of hard work on the training field. The staff at the training ground and the stadium have been amazing and, most importantly, the fans have been right behind this group of players as well. They can see they're sweating blood for the football club and they're fighting and scrapping for everything and every point we've got was for them to make sure that we stayed in the Championship.
It's our job to create a good atmosphere, to give the players structure and give them belief, and that's what everyone's done. The coaching staff that we brought in are top coaches, and their work ethic is there for all to see. They're very good people who want to do the best for Derby County, as I do, and it's just been a lot of hard work. I'm glad we're over the line.
On the turning point of the season…
I think the Blackburn Rovers game in March was a huge turning point for us, obviously on the back of three defeats in a row, but the way we went about our business in that match really showed me a lot of encouragement and we got the win we needed.
To bounce back after the Luton game on Easter Friday, when we lost 1-0, and the way we have done that has been immense, really. It has been a group effort and everyone involved in that squad has played their part. We signed a number of players who were out of contract when no-one else really wanted them at a crucial time and they have played such a huge part, off the field especially, to make sure that the boys are learning every day, keeping to the standards every day and full credit to those boys. It's been a proper group effort, a proper squad effort, and I'm very proud of them.
On Sondre Langas’ performances playing with a knee injury…
He has been amazing. He's got to have an operation on Tuesday, a big operation as well. What a warrior. He's gone through the pain barrier for us to allow the team to play a certain way. If he wasn't in the team, we would have had to have changed things again.
We had to change a couple of times how we wanted to play in the early weeks of being here because of injuries, but he's kept to the task and he's been outstanding. We're really looking forward to getting him fit for next season and being part of this football club.
On next season…
We'll start preparing for next season on Monday. We weren't sure what league we were going to be in. We're in the Championship now, which is the main thing. Now it's important that we really help the group of players that are here, help them perform next season and try and improve the squad as much as we can. That will be starting on Monday.
On starting the bounce with the fans after the game…
It was amazing, and I wasn't too sure what I was doing! I've not done that before, and I did promise them last week that I'd do it if we had a positive result today. The fans are one of the main reasons why I came back to this football club. To have 32,000 on the last day is amazing. The support has been magnificent, home and away. The supporters certainly played as the 12th man. I'm here now to really help the football club and give them success as much as I can.
