EUSTACE REVAMP GATHERS SPEED

Shrewd boss has earned respect

IF THE events of last autumn are anything to go by, Blackburn Rovers boss John Eustace had better watch his back.

Just as he did at Birmingham 12 months ago, the 44-year-old has steered an unfancied club with a modest squad into the highest echelons of the Championship.

Bizarrely, that minor miracle earned him the sack at St Andrew’s, but it’s probably safe to assume that nobody at Ewood Park would dream of doing something so suicidal.

Slowly but surely, Eustace has become a revered figure at Blackburn, following up last season’s painstaking rescue act with a summer of rebuilding and realignment that has turned one of the division’s most recklessly open outfits into the sort of obdurate grinders nobody wants to play.

Unlike predecessor Jon Dahl Tomasson, whose team thrilled in spades but ultimately flattered to deceive, Eustace specialises in defensive organisation and the use of tactical tweaks to stymie specific strengths in opposition sides.