Blackburn Rovers have got off to a flyer under John Eustace.

The Lancashire side will be full of optimism at this moment in time, and rightly so. Their 2024/25 Championship season could not have started any better, as they welcomed newly-promoted Derby County to Ewood Park last weekend and picked up a 4-2 victory with all four different goalscorers on the scoresheet.

Their efficiency in attack proved to be no fluke though, as just four days later, they scored six goals in the Carabao Cup, knocking League One Stockport County out with ease.

Ten goals in the space of four days is phenomenal work from Blackburn, and they have a lot to thank John Eustace for this season already.

Additionally, seeing Sammie Szmodics score three of those goals would have lifted spirits at Ewood Park even higher, as there have been concerns all summer that he would be departing.

Eustace arrived at Blackburn back in February, but in truth, he did not enjoy the best of starts and was only able to guide them to a 19th-place finish, as they ended up just three points outside the drop zone.

However, now that he has had a full pre-season campaign and a summer transfer window to build an identity at the club, results on the pitch have seemingly changed, albeit the season is only two games in.

His previous club, Birmingham City, will be looking at Blackburn Rovers’ start to the season with envy and will be wondering ‘what if?’.

Birmingham City controversially sacked John Eustace last season

The 44-year-old joined Birmingham in July 2022 after the club had flirted with relegation for the past few seasons. While his first season in charge was nothing spectacular, Eustace guided Birmingham far outside the drop zone and helped them achieve their best points tally since 2016.

He remained in charge going into the 2023/24 campaign, and his fortunes began to change as the Blues found themselves in the top half of the table. After eleven games, his side had picked up a respectable 18 points, but the board decided to shockingly relieve Eustace of his duties by October. The club were in sixth place and his departure unsurprisingly came as a shock.

His replacement was Manchester United and England legend, Wayne Rooney, whose time at St Andrews could not have gone any worse. Rooney oversaw just 15 games in charge, from which he picked up an appalling two wins, which saw the club fall to 20th place.

Rooney was then sacked and eventually Birmingham suffered a surprise relegation to League One.

The Blues will surely be regretting their decision

Birmingham City are now playing their football in the third tier for the first time in 30 years, and their opening day of the season did not go as expected. Their new manager, Chris Davies, who was most recently Assistant Manager under Ange Postecoglou at Spurs, would have had a shock to the system in his first ever game in management.

His side hosted Reading in League One, and went 1-0 down before half-time, to the surprise of many. Finally, Birmingham pulled it back and equalised late on through an Alfie May penalty, but a draw at home on the opening day of the season is not what they would have wanted.

With the money that Birmingham have spent this summer, there is a huge weight of expectation lying on their shoulders to win League One with ease. However, if last weekend’s opener is anything to go by, this will be a tougher campaign than expected.

With John Eustace starting his season so well at Blackburn Rovers, the Blues will have one eye on him with huge regret. The 44-year-old was unjustly sacked last October with the club in sixth place in the Championship, so if he had not been, there is a huge chance that the Blues would not find themselves in the third tier today.