John Eustace

John Mark Eustace (born 3 November 1979) is an English professional football coach and former player who is head coach of EFL Championship club Derby County.

During his playing career, he played as a central midfielder for Coventry City, Stoke City, Watford and Derby County. He also spent time on loan at Dundee United, Middlesbrough and Hereford United.

After retiring as a player, Eustace served as manager of Kidderminster Harriers between 2016 and 2018, eventually leaving to become assistant manager of Queens Park Rangers in 2018. He had a brief spell as caretaker manager of QPR in 2019. Eustace served as head coach of Birmingham City between July 2022 to October 2023. He was appointed head coach of Blackburn Rovers in February 2024, before leaving to become Derby County head coach in February 2025.

Born in Solihull, Eustace began his career as a trainee at Coventry City. Despite the fact that he was at the club for seven years, he only recorded 98 appearances in all competitions due to injuries. At 19 he went out on loan to Dundee United to gain first team experience. He played eleven matches and scored one goal against Hearts, becoming popular with United fans who voted him their young player of the year.

He returned to Coventry where he began to establish himself in the first team. In the 2000–01 season, he appeared in 32 league games. Despite his efforts, the club were relegated from the Premier League. At the start of the next season, he was named as captain by manager Gordon Strachan. However, on 8 September 2001, Eustace suffered a knee injury during Coventry's league defeat to Grimsby which kept him sidelined for seven months. He returned to action in April 2002.

Eustace started the 2002–03 season well and attracted interest from Premier League club Middlesbrough, to whom he was loaned out for one month in January 2003. He only made one substitute appearance, away to Liverpool, where he appeared for only the final two minutes of the game, but earned himself a yellow card. Eustace made 33 league appearances over the season, his last with Coventry.

At the start of the 2003–04 season, Eustace left Coventry for fellow second-tier team Stoke City on a free transfer. He made his debut in a 3–0 win over Derby County at the start of the 2003–04 season and helped the side to 11th place in the Championship, scoring five goals. Injury problems restricted him to a handful of appearances over the next two seasons – in the Potters' 1–0 win over Wigan Athletic in February 2005, Eustace suffered a serious knee injury and was then substituted, in only his 8th appearance of the season. He missed the rest of the 2004–05 season and all of the 2005–06 season because of the injury. However, Eustace signed a one-year contract extension at the beginning of the season, which lasted until the end of the 2006–07 season.

Eustace returned from his long injury lay off in June 2006. He made his first appearance for Stoke City in over 18 months in their 2–0 friendly win over local opposition Newcastle Town. On 13 October 2006, Eustace joined Hereford United on loan to gain first team football to aid his comeback. During his time at Edgar Street he was a key part of the Hereford midfield, and his loan was extended to the New Year. However, on 14 December 2006 he was suddenly recalled by Stoke due to them suffering several injuries in midfield. John's grandfather Ken Eustace also played one match for Hereford during the 1949–50 season.